How do you design and document your APIs using best practices?

Like everyone else, before starting work, I will read the document to understand the purpose and impact of the API on other modules. I think we should list the main factors to avoid missing anything after coding and testing.

📍Use clear naming for endpoints and parameters. 📍Follow RESTful principles for predictable and intuitive interactions. 📍Document endpoints with examples for easy understanding. 📍Provide versioning to ensure backward compatibility. 📍Include error handling guidance for robust client interactions.

When designing APIs, adhere to RESTful principles for simplicity and scalability. Establish clear naming conventions, endpoints, and HTTP methods for each resource. Ensure consistency in response formats, error handling, and status codes. Document extensively, using tools like Swagger or OpenAPI, detailing endpoints, parameters, payloads, and expected responses. Prioritize user-friendly documentation, including usage examples and tutorials. Regularly update documentation to reflect changes. Embrace versioning to manage updates without disrupting existing users. Lastly, solicit feedback from developers to improve usability and address pain points.

Ensure endpoint and parameter names are descriptive and intuitive. Adhere to REST standards for consistent and predictable interactions Include practical examples of requests and responses for easy understanding. Implement versioning to maintain backward compatibility with existing clients.

REST and GraphQL usually return JSON data type. SOAP returns XML data type. REST is used the most then GRAPQL, and finally SOAP.

I would pinpoint which API style to go for, in most cases, you'll go for REST or GraphQL (with JSON as response). SOAP is outdated. When to use REST? - You need a simple, standardized approach, with well-defined, fixed endpoints and HTTP methods. - Simplicity, ease of caching, mature ecosystem. - Simple CRUD operations, public APIs, and services where simplicity and standardization are priorities. When to use GraphQL? - You need flexible querying, reduce over-fetching/under-fetching data, and require efficient data retrieval for complex UIs. - Single endpoint, tailored responses, strong type system, real-time updates with subscriptions. - Applications with complex relationships, dynamic client requirements, and rapid development cycles.

Design and document APIs with best practices by: 1. **Follow RESTful Principles:** - Use nouns for resources, and HTTP methods for actions. 2. **Use HTTP Status Codes:** - Indicate success or failure with appropriate status codes. 3. **Versioning:** - Implement versioning in the API to manage changes. 4. **Authentication and Authorization:** - Clearly specify authentication and authorization mechanisms. 5. **Pagination for Large Responses:** - Implement pagination for large data sets. 6. **Consistent Error Handling:** - Define consistent error responses with meaningful messages. 7. **API Documentation:** - Use tools like Swagger/OpenAPI for interactive documentation.

Select an API format and style that meet the requirements of your project and industry norms. Because they are easy to use and scalable, RESTful APIs are widely used for CRUD tasks through the use of HTTP methods. By enabling clients to request particular data structures and minimizing over-fetching, GraphQL provides flexibility. Choose JSON over XML for data communication; JSON is lighter and simpler to understand. Moreover, take into account managing modifications and preserving backward compatibility with API versioning.

When selecting and designing an API style and format, take into consideration aspects like simplicity, consistency, and ease of use. RESTful APIs have gained popularity for their stateless nature and strict adherence to HTTP principles, which offer well-defined endpoints and predictable responses. opt for JSON format for data interchange due to its lightweight and human-readable characteristics, making it easier for clients to consume. Develop straightforward endpoints and adhere to RESTful principles such as proper resource naming and appropriate usage of HTTP methods for CRUD operations. Ensure thorough documentation of the API to assist developers in integration.

From my experience, design and document APIs effectively help us understand the business requirements and user needs. There are some ways to make your APIs easy to use, maintain, and scale. First, use meaningful, resource-based URLs (e.g., /users/{id}/orders). Follow RESTful principles, use HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE) appropriately, and ensure consistent naming conventions. Next, versioning should include versioning in your endpoints (e.g., /v1/users). In addition, use tools like Swagger/OpenAPI to auto-generate and maintain up-to-date, interactive API documentation.

Designing APIs using best practices involves several key steps: 1. Consistency: • Follow RESTful principles. • Use consistent naming conventions (e.g., nouns for resources). 2. Versioning: • Implement versioning (e.g., /v1/). 3. HTTP Methods: • Use standard HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE). 4. Error Handling: • Provide meaningful error messages and status codes. 5. Security: • Implement authentication and authorization (e.g., OAuth2). • Use HTTPS. 6. Data Formats: • Use JSON for data exchange. • Provide clear data validation rules.

Follow consistent naming conventions & URL structures across your API. e.g /users for user-related operations & /products for product-related operations. Use appropriate data formats for resource representation, such as JSON or XML. Clearly define the structure of data objects returned by your API endpoints using schemas or examples. Use HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT/ PATCH, DELETE, etc.) appropriately for CRUD (Create, Read, Update, Delete) operations. For status code use standards like 200 OK,201 Created,400 Bad Request,401 Unauthorized,404 Not Found,500 Internal Server Error Include relevant headers in API responses, such as Content-Type for specifying the data format (e.g., application/json) & Cache-Control for caching directives.

Designing your API's endpoints and resources is like planning a road map for your computer program to follow. Start by understanding what your API needs to do. Figure out the main things it will work with, like users or products. If you're using RESTful principles, make your endpoints simple and organized, using clear names and actions. Think about how different parts connect, like a blog post and its comments. Keep everything easy to understand, use the right methods for actions (like getting or deleting data), and plan for changes as your program grows. Make sure to test each part and get feedback from others. This way, your API will be clear, efficient, and easy for developers to use.

Besides what has been discussed above, I think that data returned should be limited. Only return enough information within the scope of the API processing.

Security and authentication are pivotal components of API design, ensuring protection against unauthorized access & malicious attacks while complying with regulations. For security, I prioritize HTTPS to encrypt data exchanged between clients and servers, safeguarding it from eavesdropping & tampering. In terms of authentication, I prefer JWT(JSON Web Tokens) or Passport(In Laravel) for authorization. JWT offers a stateless authentication mechanism with digitally signed tokens, enhancing security and scalability. Additionally, I opt for shorter token expiration periods to mitigate risks and encourage regular login sessions, reducing the likelihood of password forgetfulness.

During the work process, I have learned some experiences: For authentication, use refresh tokens in JWT, with short-term access tokens. You can set the token expiration time to a random number within the allowed range. For example, if the access token expires in 30 minutes, we can set the expiration time to be between 25-30 minutes or slightly longer. Each API should have specific roles that are required to access it. For incoming requests, we need to check carefully and validate the input. When there is an error, return a general error message to avoid exposing IDs or very specific information. Return only the necessary data to avoid sending extra data....

Ensuring the security of your API is crucial for keeping information safe and interactions secure. Always use a secure connection (HTTPS), protect passwords and keys, and set expiry dates for access tokens. If your API involves users, prioritize strong passwords and consider additional security layers. Control the frequency of requests (rate limiting), keep detailed logs, and be selective about which domains can access your API. Validate input data, handle errors discreetly, and use special headers for added security. Regularly check for vulnerabilities to maintain a trustworthy and secure API environment.

Programming languages have built-in security. Python, for example, provides built-in security measures such as using the ORM (Object Relational Mapping), which helps to provide abstraction between the object's design and the database, thereby helping to prevent direct concatenation of user inputs, and also parameterized queries to prevent attacks like SQL Injection. One must be careful when building APIs because the primary code of ethics is to protect people, in this case, people's Personally Identifiable Information (PII). We need to ensure secure coding practices, implement the principle of least privilege, and also deploy Role-Based Access Control (RBAC). Apply Defense-in-Depth.

"HTTPS" is unrelated to "API keys, OAuth, JWT"; whereas "API keys, OAuth, JWT" are API Authentication methods, "HTTPS" is a communication protocol. The last sentence should be rewritten as technically unprecise, something like: Some common secure authentication options are API keys, OAuth, JWT (and even more). While designing the API, HTTPS should be considered as a key factor to implement in order to provide privacy for both API consumer/client.

Testing and debugging your API is essential to ensure its functionality, performance, reliability, and usability. You can do this by trying out different tools and methods, such as running small tests to check individual parts (unit testing), seeing how everything fits together (integration testing), and even putting it under pressure to handle lots of requests at once (load testing). Tools like Postman and curl can help you with this. Keep track of what you find during testing, like bugs, and how you fix them. This way, you'll keep improving your API and can address issues early on, delivering a reliable API to users.

As mentioned earlier, listing the main factors and the affected modules will reduce risks during testing and help make testing faster. In addition to testing with available cases, developers need to write unit tests for projects that require high accuracy. And always remember, good testing will significantly reduce the time spent on re-coding if bugs are found.

We are mixing concepts again with the following sentence: "You need to test and debug your API using various tools and methods, such as unit testing, integration testing, load testing, postman, curl, and more". I'd say: "When testing and debugging your API, it's highly recommened to implement tests (like unit testing, integration testing or load testing); propietary tools like Postman provides a smooth way to maintain your API as well as to share and collaborate with the team.". I would not mention cURL, as it doesn't provide any valuable information at this point.

For API, which is reliable and well-performing it must be tested and debugged. The first step should be to conduct the unit tests to verify endpoints and functions individually; hereby you may ascertain if your API has been implemented as expected. These tools like Postman can be of great value in terms of manual testing of requests and responses by detecting problems that can be rectified early enough. When tracking errors or monitoring the behavior of the API in real-time, implementation logging makes it possible for you to do this effectively.

To test and debug an API, start by checking that it works as expected with both correct and incorrect data. Make sure it handles requests quickly and securely, gives useful error messages, and follows the limits set. Use tools to recreate and identify problems, check logs for clues, and verify that the setup and dependencies are correct. Review the API’s documentation to ensure it matches what the API actually does. Fix issues as you find them, and test again to make sure everything works properly.

From my exp, we love to have Swagger that runs with our service as a document and also for many other usages. We have Swagger UI for the OpenAPI format of our endpoint. But when I worked with 3rd party service, they provided really nice document and format of api in form of it also (swagger). Sometimes we have a hard copy of this on our wiki (conflu) and our dev team also has POSTMAN as the document. So beat it.

The factors that define a good document are ease of construction, accessibility, and comprehensibility. Step 1: I choose some tools to automatically generate API files, such as Swagger, to create the raw documentation. Step 2: Import the raw documentation into Postman. I choose Postman as the API documentation tool simply because it is popular and everyone knows about it. Step 3: Use the grouping function in Postman. Developers in the team can add and describe their coded APIs in this group. Those who are shared with can access the documentation immediately.

In my company, the business domain is banking, which involves complex business logic. Therefore, formats and tools like OpenAPI and Swagger are not always sufficient. For API users and developers, your API must have detailed documentation, that includes some diagrams that describe the behavior of your API and a table explaining each step in detail. The documentation must also include input and output field definitions as well as examples of requests and responses made to your API. Additionally, providing test scripts on Postman with detailed test cases will be very beneficial. The detailed documentation will be written on Jira confluence - a well-known project management tool from Atlassian.

Designing and documenting APIs effectively is crucial for ensuring usability and efficiency. In my experience, clear and concise documentation, supplemented with visual aids like diagrams and examples, significantly enhances understanding. Using a standard format such as OpenAPI or Swagger helps maintain consistency and ease of use. I've found that integrating real-world examples in the documentation can bridge gaps between theory and practice, making the API more accessible for developers. This approach not only improves usability but also accelerates integration and troubleshooting.

In my work with API development in Node.js, one tool I’ve found extremely useful is Swagger. Swagger makes setting up and creating documentation for your APIs straightforward, and it provides a clear and organized view of your API structure. Advantages of Swagger: 1. Interactive Interface: Allows you to view and test endpoints directly within the documentation. 2. Ease of Use: Quick and easy setup, even for smaller projects. 3. Clear Documentation: Generates well-structured documentation that is easy for developers and stakeholders to understand. If you're interested, I can share a sample JSON configuration I used. It’s a great way to see how Swagger can be implemented in your projects.

Building and refining your APIs requires a careful approach to defining how they work and what they offer. This involves strategic decisions on how endpoints are structured, how data is exchanged, and how errors are handled to guarantee a seamless experience for developers and users alike. Following established industry practices and standards ensures that your APIs are reliable, scalable, and easy to integrate with other systems. Thorough documentation, including detailed examples and real-world usage scenarios, plays an important role in helping developers grasp the API's capabilities quickly, leading to faster and more successful implementations.

Most of the points covered above cover documenting the API for the user (consumer) of the API. This is necessary but not sufficient. As the designer of the API, there is a need to also document for the internal developer of the API. This could include using the C4 model to document the architecture, appropriate UML diagrams (eg. sequence diagram) to document the internal design. The API content itself could be documented using Open API and then the user documentation generated using a tool such as ReDoc.