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api-design-principles SKILL.md skillA

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

Install it, pinned

mdr add coco-research/coco/api-design-principles@git:20260914.e75f220

Pins git:20260914.e75f220 in mdr.lock. Pin the fingerprint instead.

Audit grade: A, 17 of 17 checks passed
Kind: SKILL.md skill
Repository: coco-research/coco
Path: skills/api-design-principles/SKILL.md
Versions recorded: 3
Latest version: git:20260914.e75f220, committed Sep 14, 2026
First version recorded: Apr 26, 2026
Size: 13,589 bytes
Repository stars: 796
License: a license file GitHub does not identify

Use when designing a new REST or GraphQL API, reviewing an API spec before implementation, setting team API standards, or migrating REST to GraphQL. Covers resources, HTTP semantics, pagination, error handling, and pitfalls.

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 coco-research/coco/api-design-principles@sha256:6cd1989db136df0d

The line at the top of this page pins the label git:20260914.e75f220, 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](https://markdownregistry.com/badge/art_zyx34zapgso2bzc7.svg)](https://markdownregistry.com/a/art_zyx34zapgso2bzc7)

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

Versions

The registry has recorded 3 versions of this file, between Apr 26, 2026 and Sep 14, 2026, about one every 71 days.

version	committed	commit	size	audit
git:20260914.e75f220 latest	2026-09-14	e75f220	13,589 B	A	view · diff
git:20260802.1479e32	2026-08-02	1479e32	13,742 B	A	view · diff
git:20260426.d53cc6c	2026-04-26	d53cc6c	13,722 B	A	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 (13589 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

coco-research/coco · 796 stars · license a license file GitHub does not identify · pushed 2026-10-31 · branch main

API

GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/artifacts/art_zyx34zapgso2bzc7
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/resolve?ref=coco-research/coco/api-design-principles
GET https://markdownregistry.com/api/v1/blob/6cd1989db136df0ddcf582df907ed89b95e333aebf61525ce851bb2b62a4b542

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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