API Design & Documentation Checklist

15 items · Technical · Hard difficulty · 2 hours

Design secure, consistent APIs and document them with OpenAPI best practices.

• Define API goals and usage scenarios

  List primary consumers, use cases, and SLAs before modeling endpoints.

• Design RESTful resource names

  Use nouns, plural forms, and hierarchical paths (e.g., /orders/{id}/items).

• Use correct HTTP methods for operations

  Map CRUD to GET, POST, PUT/PATCH, DELETE and avoid tunneling actions in verbs.

• Standardize HTTP status codes

  Return consistent 2xx/4xx/5xx codes and map business errors to specific 4xx codes.

• Specify request and response schemas

  Define JSON schemas, required fields, types, and example payloads for each endpoint.

• Design consistent error response format

  Include an error code, human message, optional details, and a request ID for tracing.

• Choose and implement authentication method

  Select OAuth2, JWT, mTLS, or API keys based on security and client types.

• Document token flows and grant types

  Describe Authorization Code, Client Credentials, refresh flows, and scopes.

• Secure token storage and rotation

  Specify token expiry, rotation, revocation, and client storage best practices.

• Plan API versioning strategy

  Choose URI, header, or media-type versioning and document compatibility rules.

• Add pagination, filtering, and sorting to list endpoints

  Support limit/offset or cursor pagination, plus clear filter and sort parameters.

• Implement rate limiting and throttling

  Define limits per user/API key, return 429, and document retry headers.

• Define API lifecycle and deprecation policy

  Publish deprecation notices, timelines, and migration guides for breaking changes.

• Write OpenAPI/Swagger documentation

  Produce an OpenAPI spec with paths, schemas, examples, and securitySchemes.

• Create automated contract and integration tests

  Validate responses against schemas and run API tests in CI to prevent regressions.

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