REST API Design Best Practices

Introduction

A well-designed API is a joy to use. It's intuitive, consistent, and follows established conventions. Let's explore the best practices for designing REST APIs that developers love.

Resource Naming

Use nouns, not verbs. Resources are things, not actions.

bash

 1# ✅ Good - nouns
 2GET    /users
 3GET    /users/123
 4POST   /users
 5PUT    /users/123
 6DELETE /users/123
 7
 8# ❌ Bad - verbs
 9GET    /getUsers
10POST   /createUser
11PUT    /updateUser/123
12DELETE /deleteUser/123

Plural vs Singular

Use plural nouns consistently:

bash

 1GET /users       # Collection
 2GET /users/123   # Single resource

Nested Resources

For related resources:

bash

 1GET /users/123/posts        # All posts by user 123
 2GET /users/123/posts/456    # Specific post by user
 3POST /users/123/posts       # Create post for user

HTTP Methods

Use the right method for each action:

| Method | Purpose | Idempotent |

|--------|---------|------------|

| GET | Read resource | Yes |

| POST | Create resource | No |

| PUT | Replace resource | Yes |

| PATCH | Partial update | Yes |

| DELETE | Delete resource | Yes |

HTTP Status Codes

Return appropriate status codes:

javascript

 1// Success
 2200 OK              // General success
 3201 Created         // Resource created
 4204 No Content      // Successful delete
 5
 6// Client Errors
 7400 Bad Request     // Invalid input
 8401 Unauthorized    // No/invalid auth
 9403 Forbidden       // Not allowed
10404 Not Found       // Resource not found
11422 Unprocessable   // Validation failed
12
13// Server Errors
14500 Internal Error  // Generic server error
15503 Service Unavailable

Error Handling

Return consistent error responses:

json

 1{
 2  "error": {
 3    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
 4    "message": "The request body contains invalid data",
 5    "details": [
 6      {
 7        "field": "email",
 8        "message": "Must be a valid email address"
 9      },
10      {
11        "field": "password",
12        "message": "Must be at least 8 characters"
13      }
14    ]
15  }
16}

Pagination

For list endpoints, always paginate:

bash

 1GET /users?page=2&limit=20

Response:

json

 1{
 2  "data": [...],
 3  "pagination": {
 4    "page": 2,
 5    "limit": 20,
 6    "total": 156,
 7    "totalPages": 8
 8  }
 9}

Filtering and Sorting

Support query parameters:

bash

 1# Filtering
 2GET /users?status=active&role=admin
 3
 4# Sorting
 5GET /users?sort=createdAt&order=desc
 6
 7# Searching
 8GET /users?search=john

API Versioning

Version your API to avoid breaking changes:

bash

 1# URL versioning (recommended)
 2GET /v1/users
 3GET /v2/users
 4
 5# Header versioning
 6GET /users
 7Accept: application/vnd.myapi.v1+json

Authentication

Use appropriate auth methods:

bash

 1# Bearer token (JWT)
 2Authorization: Bearer eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiIs...
 3
 4# API Key (for service-to-service)
 5X-API-Key: your-api-key

Rate Limiting

Protect your API with rate limits:

bash

 1HTTP/1.1 429 Too Many Requests
 2X-RateLimit-Limit: 100
 3X-RateLimit-Remaining: 0
 4X-RateLimit-Reset: 1609459200

Documentation

Document your API with OpenAPI/Swagger:

yaml

 1openapi: 3.0.0
 2info:
 3  title: User API
 4  version: 1.0.0
 5paths:
 6  /users:
 7    get:
 8      summary: List all users
 9      parameters:
10        - name: page
11          in: query
12          type: integer
13      responses:
14        200:
15          description: List of users

Conclusion

Well-designed APIs are predictable, consistent, and self-documenting. Follow these conventions and your API consumers will thank you.

REST API Design Best Practices

Introduction

Resource Naming

Plural vs Singular

Nested Resources

HTTP Methods

HTTP Status Codes

Error Handling

Pagination

Filtering and Sorting

API Versioning

Authentication

Rate Limiting

Documentation

Conclusion

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