REST API Basic Guidelines: Design It Right

REST APIs are a great way to expose business logic to the world. They're also very easy to misuse, which can result in things like bad performance, crashes and security vulnerabilities. In this guide, I'll explain some of the most important guidelines for designing REST APIs correctly so your API continues to operate as designed.

Resources

The very first step to designing a RESTful API is to decide what resources are in your application. Resources are the nouns of your API, and they're uniquely identified by URIs. A resource has a type and a state; for example, you might have an HTTP GET request that returns the current state of a user's account. The important thing here is that there is no ambiguity about what data you're looking at or how it should be used—and this is why REST APIs are so great!

Verbs

Verbs are the actions that can be performed on a resource. They must be explicitly defined, not inferred, and they must be consistent across the API. Verbs should be used to describe the action that is being performed.

Examples of verbs include:

• GET - Reads data from a resource

• POST - Creates new resources or adds data to existing ones

Input

• Use the right data type: A parameter should be of the same type as the data it is being sent. For example, if you are sending a phone number, do not use an integer. Instead use a string parameter like “currency” or “currencyCode” so that your API will parse out that value correctly from its query parameters (taking fxapi.com as an example, here).

• Avoid using query parameters: This can be done by changing them to headers or body depending on what makes sense for your application/service and how you plan to consume this endpoint. If there is any chance your code will be consumed by another application (like a mobile app), then use headers instead of query parameters because they are less fragile than query parameters when passing through different layers of processing between client and server applications.

Output

Output should be in the format you expect. You should always be able to trust that an API will return data in a format that is easy for you to parse and use.

Output should be in a format that is easy to parse. A JSON response, for example, allows any code with access to it (including scripts) to read through the response and pull out only those elements of interest. This makes it incredibly useful for applications that need only small pieces of information from large datasets or want to combine multiple responses into one larger dataset (like websites do with third-party APIs).

Output should be in a format that is easy to cache. It's also important that your output can easily be stored as part of your cache system so there isn't extra work involved when retrieving it repeatedly at runtime during each request cycle or page load.

Caching, Pagination and Security

There are three essential elements of your REST API design that will affect performance: caching, pagination and security. Caching is a technique used to improve performance by storing responses to frequently-requested requests in memory or on disk (or both). If your cache is invalidated too frequently, you may need to increase its size. Pagination allows you to break up large data sets into smaller chunks, which gives users more control over how they interact with your system. Security ensures that only authorized users can access the information they’re allowed to see while keeping sensitive data safe from unauthorized use or exposure.

REST API design guidelines will ensure your APIs continue to operate as designed.

REST API design guidelines are a set of rules and best practices that you can follow to make sure your APIs function as designed. These guidelines help you identify potential issues or problems with your REST APIs before they become a problem in production, saving time and money in the long run.

The following are some REST API design guidelines that can help you build a solid foundation for your APIs.

Conclusion

As you design your REST API, make sure to follow these guidelines. They’ll help you build APIs that are easier for developers to use and maintain, which means fewer errors and more satisfied customers.

About Debmalya Datta

Welcome to our blog “CYBER SUGGEST“. Debmalya Datta is a professional Blogger, Developer, Social Media Influencer, Digital Marketer and Entrepreneur. He loves doing work which makes him happy, that’s why he choose Blogging and Educate people. You will love exploring educational stuff on our blog. Live your dreams as much as you can. Be a SHAMELESS SELF-PROMOTER