sota-api-design SKILL.md skillA
sota-api-design from martinholovsky/sota-skills is an agent skill: a SKILL.md folder an AI agent loads when a task calls for it.
mdr add martinholovsky/sota-skills/sota-api-design@git:20261012.ae1b29bPins git:20261012.ae1b29b in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.
- Audit grade
- A, 17 of 17 checks passed
- Kind
- SKILL.md skill
- Repository
- martinholovsky/sota-skills
- Path
skills/sota-api-design/SKILL.md- Versions recorded
- 7
- Latest version
- git:20261012.ae1b29b, committed Oct 12, 2026
- First version recorded
- Jun 17, 2026
- Size
- 10,428 bytes
- Repository stars
- 23
- License
- CC-BY-4.0
State-of-the-art API design and audit guidance (2026) covering REST/HTTP, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSockets/SSE/realtime, webhooks, versioning/evolution, and API security/operations. Use when designing or building any API surface (endpoints, schemas, protos, realtime channels, webhook senders/receivers) AND when auditing/reviewing existing APIs for correctness, evolvability, security, and operational robustness. Not for browser UI, rendering, or client-framework concerns — use sota-web-frameworks or…
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
# SOTA API Design & Audit ## Purpose Expert-level rules for building and auditing API surfaces: HTTP/REST semantics, GraphQL, gRPC/protobuf, realtime (WebSocket/SSE/WebTransport), webhooks, contract evolution, and the security/operational envelope around all of them. Rules are imperative with rationale and good/bad examples; every rules file ends with an audit checklist. Use the index table below to load only the files relevant to the task — do not read all files for a narrow question. ## BUILD mode When designing or implementing an API: 1. **Pick the protocol deliberately.** Read [`rules/04`](rules/04-grpc-protocols.md) §1 first if the choice (REST vs GraphQL vs gRPC vs realtime transport) is open. Default: gRPC service-to-service, REST at the edge, GraphQL only for multi-client shape diversity, SSE for server-push, WS only for true bidirectional. 2. **Contract first.** Write the OpenAPI/SDL/proto before handlers. Get the resource model, error shape (RFC 9457), pagination, and naming right in the spec — they are nearly impossible to fix later ([`rules/01`](rules/01-rest-http-design.md), [`rules/02`](rules/02-versioning-evolution.md)). …
Read the whole file at its exact version.
How to install
mdr add martinholovsky/sota-skills/sota-api-design@sha256:dad8db3ae6449136The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20261012.ae1b29b, 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.
[](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_dtm7mr3wpd4f23pk)
4 badge image fetches in 30 days. What the badge shows.
Versions
The registry has recorded 7 versions of this file, between Jun 17, 2026 and Oct 12, 2026, about one every 20 days.
| version | committed | commit | size | audit | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| git:20261012.ae1b29b latest | 2026-10-12 | ae1b29b | 10,428 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260926.3b81c65 | 2026-09-26 | 3b81c65 | 9,480 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260925.f714894 | 2026-09-25 | f714894 | 9,479 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260925.c97f62d | 2026-09-25 | c97f62d | 9,398 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260716.e4afc80 | 2026-07-16 | e4afc80 | 9,356 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260628.82447fa | 2026-06-28 | 82447fa | 9,239 B | A | view · diff |
| git:20260617.c5d2c7b | 2026-06-17 | c5d2c7b | 9,148 B | A | view |
Audit of the latest version
- pass: Frontmatter block present
- pass: Frontmatter declares a name
- pass: Frontmatter declares a description
- pass: Size between 200 bytes and 200 KB (10428 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
martinholovsky/sota-skills · 23 stars · license CC-BY-4.0 · pushed 2026-10-21 · branch main
API
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_dtm7mr3wpd4f23pk GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=martinholovsky/sota-skills/sota-api-design GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/dad8db3ae6449136664b4d4f4126e258d027d1db355fa66b1936d4b3bffc44ff
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.