api-design

Design REST APIs by using clear plural nouns for resource collections and applying proper GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE semantics. This ensures predictable status codes, explicit ownership relationships, and structural consistency across your service endpoints.

The best way to handle REST API versioning and pagination is using URL path versioning and cursor-based pagination. This approach provides sane defaults and maintains backward compatibility while ensuring scalable data retrieval across services.

Structure REST API error handling and authentication by implementing standardized auth flows and RFC 7807-compliant error responses. This standardizes security mechanisms and ensures consistent, predictable error formats for clients.

Yes, you can use this approach to plan API documentation and governance for multiple services. It provides contract checklists, naming conventions, and testability guidance to ensure endpoints remain well-documented and standardized across your architecture.

Use cursor-based pagination when designing scalable REST APIs that require stable data retrieval across large datasets. It provides sane defaults and backward compatibility, preventing performance degradation common with offset-based pagination patterns.