REST API design patterns including resource naming, status codes, pagination, filtering, error responses, versioning, and rate limiting for production APIs.
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What the file says
# API Design Patterns
Conventions and best practices for designing consistent, developer-friendly REST APIs.
## When to Activate
- Designing new API endpoints
- Reviewing existing API contracts
- Adding pagination, filtering, or sorting
- Implementing error handling for APIs
- Planning API versioning strategy
- Building public or partner-facing APIs
## Resource Design
### URL Structure
```
# Resources are nouns, plural, lowercase, kebab-case
GET /api/v1/users
GET /api/v1/users/:id
POST /api/v1/users
PUT /api/v1/users/:id
PATCH /api/v1/users/:id
DELETE /api/v1/users/:id
# Sub-resources for relationships
GET /api/v1/users/:id/orders
POST /api/v1/users/:id/orders
# Actions that don't map to CRUD (use verbs sparingly)
POST /api/v1/orders/:id/cancel
POST /api/v1/auth/login
POST /api/v1/auth/refresh
```
### Naming Rules
```
# GOOD
/api/v1/team-members # kebab-case for multi-word resources
/api/v1/orders?status=active # query params for filtering
/api/v1/users/123/orders # nested resources for ownership
# BAD
/api/v1/getUsers # verb in URL
/api/v1/user # singular (use plural)
…
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Source
GitHub
affaan-m/ecc · 293,827 stars · license MIT · pushed 2026-10-30 · branch main
API
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