api-design-principles SKILL.md skillA

api-design-principles from wshobson/agents is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.

Install it, pinned
mdr add wshobson/agents/api-design-principles@git:20260522.be57c0b

Pins git:20260522.be57c0b in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade
A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind
SKILL.md skill
Repository
wshobson/agents
Path
plugins/backend-development/skills/api-design-principles/SKILL.md
Versions recorded
4
Latest version
git:20260522.be57c0b, committed May 22, 2026
First version recorded
Oct 17, 2025
Size
3,603 bytes
Repository stars
41,220
License
MIT

Master REST and GraphQL API design principles to build intuitive, scalable, and maintainable APIs that delight developers. Use when designing new APIs, reviewing API specifications, or establishing API design standards.

Collected from public GitHub. Every version is saved exactly as it was and never changes. Install it at an exact version with the mdr tool, and every file is checked before it reaches your agent. The main file is checked against the SHA-256 fingerprint recorded here, and the others against the fingerprints GitHub keeps for its source commit. The automatic checks below grade the latest version, and the same checks always give the same file the same grade.

What the file says

# API Design Principles

Master REST and GraphQL API design principles to build intuitive, scalable, and maintainable APIs that delight developers and stand the test of time.

## When to Use This Skill

- Designing new REST or GraphQL APIs
- Refactoring existing APIs for better usability
- Establishing API design standards for your team
- Reviewing API specifications before implementation
- Migrating between API paradigms (REST to GraphQL, etc.)
- Creating developer-friendly API documentation
- Optimizing APIs for specific use cases (mobile, third-party integrations)

## Core Concepts

### 1. RESTful Design Principles

**Resource-Oriented Architecture**

- Resources are nouns (users, orders, products), not verbs
- Use HTTP methods for actions (GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE)
- URLs represent resource hierarchies
- Consistent naming conventions

**HTTP Methods Semantics:**

- `GET`: Retrieve resources (idempotent, safe)
- `POST`: Create new resources
- `PUT`: Replace entire resource (idempotent)
- `PATCH`: Partial resource updates
- `DELETE`: Remove resources (idempotent)

### 2. GraphQL Design Principles

**Schema-First Development**

- Types define your domain model
…

Read the whole file at its exact version.

How to install

The exact contents, by fingerprint
mdr add wshobson/agents/api-design-principles@sha256:1f6166c23c0a0f32

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260522.be57c0b, which is what most people want. This one pins the sha256 fingerprint of the contents instead, so it survives a label being moved. Either way the exact version is written to mdr.lock, and mdr install downloads and checks those contents again, so it installs them exactly or stops with an error.

Badge

mdr badge

[![mdr](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_cdzqene5j3bitxac.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_cdzqene5j3bitxac)

5 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.

Versions

The registry has recorded 4 versions of this file, between Oct 17, 2025 and May 22, 2026, about one every 72 days.

versioncommittedcommitsizeaudit
git:20260522.be57c0b latest2026-05-22 be57c0b 3,603 BA view · diff
git:20260307.47a5dbc2026-03-07 47a5dbc 13,174 BA view · diff
git:20260115.f6625242026-01-15 f662524 13,722 BA view · diff
git:20251017.65e5cb02025-10-17 65e5cb0 13,741 BA view

Audit of the latest version

A  17 of 17 checks passed. Fixed automatic checks with no AI involved, so the same checks give the same answer every run.
  • pass: Frontmatter block present
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a name
  • pass: Frontmatter declares a description
  • pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (3603 bytes)
  • pass: No zero-width or bidi control characters
  • pass: No instruction hidden inside an HTML comment
  • pass: No link to an exfiltration or paste host
  • pass: No credential-shaped string
  • pass: No instruction to send local credentials anywhere
  • pass: No text hidden with inline styles
  • pass: No prompt-injection phrasing
  • pass: No curl or wget piped into a shell
  • pass: No recursive delete of root, home or parent
  • pass: No instruction to read or print local credentials
  • pass: No base64 blob over 200 characters
  • pass: No link to a raw IP address
  • pass: No script tag

Source

GitHub

wshobson/agents · 41,220 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-19 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_cdzqene5j3bitxac
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=wshobson/agents/api-design-principles
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/1f6166c23c0a0f32d703c19d84b3c30c2873daefb9e8732339a009934fa17013

Your AI assistant does the legwork. You hear about the deals worth your word. Hand yours the standing instructions at modelranch.com and it joins the network that reads files like this one.

Guides: the SKILL.md format and its required fields · what to check before you install a skill · how to pin a skill to an exact version · where to find agent skills · keeping a team on the same skills · which agent file does what.

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