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REST, GraphQL, RPC, and other API paradigms, including tools and best practices for scalable API development.

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Awesome APIs Awesome

A comprehensive guide to REST, GraphQL, RPC, and other API paradigms, including tools, frameworks, and best practices for building scalable API applications.

APIs (Application Programming Interfaces) are the backbone of modern software development, enabling different systems to communicate and share data. This guide covers everything from fundamental concepts to advanced patterns, tools, and best practices for designing, building, and maintaining world-class APIs.

Contents

API Paradigms

REST (Representational State Transfer)

REST is an architectural style that uses HTTP methods and standard conventions for building web services. It's the most widely adopted API paradigm.

Core Principles

  • Stateless: Each request contains all information needed to process it
  • Client-Server Architecture: Separation of concerns between client and server
  • Cacheable: Responses must define themselves as cacheable or non-cacheable
  • Uniform Interface: Standardized way of communication
  • Layered System: Architecture can be composed of hierarchical layers

HTTP Methods

  • GET - Retrieve resources
  • POST - Create new resources
  • PUT - Update/replace resources
  • PATCH - Partial update of resources
  • DELETE - Remove resources
  • OPTIONS - Get available methods
  • HEAD - Get headers without body

Status Codes

  • 2xx - Success (200 OK, 201 Created, 204 No Content)
  • 3xx - Redirection (301 Moved Permanently, 304 Not Modified)
  • 4xx - Client Error (400 Bad Request, 401 Unauthorized, 404 Not Found)
  • 5xx - Server Error (500 Internal Server Error, 503 Service Unavailable)

REST Frameworks & Tools

  • Express.js - Fast, minimalist Node.js framework
  • FastAPI - Modern Python framework with automatic API documentation
  • Spring Boot - Java framework for production-ready applications
  • Django REST Framework - Powerful toolkit for building Web APIs in Python
  • Flask-RESTful - Extension for Flask adding REST API support
  • ASP.NET Core - Cross-platform framework for building modern APIs
  • Gin - High-performance HTTP web framework written in Go
  • Ruby on Rails - Full-stack web framework with API mode
  • Actix-web - Powerful, pragmatic Rust web framework
  • Ktor - Asynchronous framework for building Kotlin applications

REST Best Practices

  • Use nouns for resource names (/users, not /getUsers)
  • Use plural nouns for collections (/products not /product)
  • Use sub-resources for relationships (/users/123/orders)
  • Use query parameters for filtering (/products?category=electronics)
  • Version your API (/v1/users, api.example.com/v2)
  • Use HTTPS everywhere
  • Implement proper error responses with meaningful messages
  • Support content negotiation with Accept headers
  • Use appropriate HTTP status codes
  • Include pagination for large datasets
  • Implement rate limiting to prevent abuse

GraphQL

GraphQL is a query language for APIs that gives clients the power to ask for exactly what they need and nothing more.

Key Features

  • Single Endpoint: One endpoint for all queries and mutations
  • Strongly Typed Schema: Define data structure with type system
  • No Over-fetching: Request only the fields you need
  • No Under-fetching: Get multiple resources in a single request
  • Real-time with Subscriptions: WebSocket-based real-time updates
  • Introspection: API can be queried for available types and operations

Core Concepts

  • Queries: Read operations to fetch data
  • Mutations: Write operations to modify data
  • Subscriptions: Real-time updates via WebSocket
  • Schemas: Type definitions for API structure
  • Resolvers: Functions that return data for each field
  • Fragments: Reusable units of fields

GraphQL Servers & Tools

  • Apollo Server - Production-ready GraphQL server
  • GraphQL Yoga - Fully-featured GraphQL server with focus on easy setup
  • Hasura - Instant GraphQL APIs on your databases
  • Prisma - Next-generation ORM with GraphQL support
  • Postgraphile - Instant GraphQL API for PostgreSQL
  • AWS AppSync - Managed GraphQL service with offline sync
  • Relay - JavaScript framework for building data-driven React applications
  • GraphQL.js - Reference implementation of GraphQL for JavaScript
  • graphene-python - GraphQL framework for Python
  • Strawberry - Python GraphQL library based on dataclasses

GraphQL Clients

  • Apollo Client - Comprehensive state management library for GraphQL
  • Relay - Facebook's GraphQL client
  • urql - Lightweight and extensible GraphQL client
  • graphql-request - Minimal GraphQL client

GraphQL Best Practices

  • Design schema with business domain in mind
  • Use proper error handling with extensions
  • Implement field-level security
  • Use DataLoader to prevent N+1 query problems
  • Leverage schema directives for common patterns
  • Version schemas carefully using deprecation
  • Implement query complexity analysis
  • Use pagination (cursor-based or offset)
  • Enable persisted queries for security and performance
  • Monitor and limit query depth

RPC (Remote Procedure Call)

RPC allows calling functions on remote servers as if they were local procedures.

gRPC

Google's high-performance RPC framework using Protocol Buffers.

Features:

  • Binary protocol for efficiency
  • HTTP/2 for multiplexing
  • Bi-directional streaming
  • Code generation for multiple languages
  • Strong typing with Protocol Buffers
  • Built-in authentication and load balancing

Tools & Implementations:

  • gRPC - Official implementation
  • gRPC-Web - JavaScript client for gRPC
  • gRPC-Gateway - REST API gateway for gRPC services
  • Tonic - Native Rust gRPC implementation
  • Connect - Better gRPC with simpler protocol
  • Twirp - Simple RPC framework with Protocol Buffers
  • evans - Expressive gRPC client

JSON-RPC

Lightweight RPC protocol using JSON.

Specifications:

  • JSON-RPC 2.0 - Current standard
  • JSON-RPC 1.0 - Legacy version

Implementations:

Apache Thrift

Cross-language RPC framework developed by Apache.

Features:

  • Interface Definition Language (IDL)
  • Multiple transport protocols
  • Code generation for 20+ languages
  • Compact binary format

Resources:

RPC Best Practices

  • Use protocol buffers for schema definition
  • Implement proper error codes and messages
  • Use streaming for large data transfers
  • Implement health checks
  • Use interceptors for cross-cutting concerns
  • Enable TLS for secure communication
  • Implement request timeouts
  • Use connection pooling for performance
  • Monitor RPC metrics (latency, errors)
  • Document service contracts clearly

WebSocket APIs

WebSockets provide full-duplex communication channels over a single TCP connection.

Use Cases

  • Real-time chat applications
  • Live notifications
  • Collaborative editing
  • Gaming applications
  • Financial trading platforms
  • Live sports updates
  • IoT device communication

WebSocket Libraries

WebSocket Best Practices

  • Implement heartbeat/ping-pong for connection health
  • Use message queuing for reliability
  • Implement reconnection logic with exponential backoff
  • Validate and sanitize all messages
  • Use compression for large messages
  • Implement proper authentication
  • Handle connection limits per client
  • Use binary frames for efficiency when possible
  • Implement proper error handling and logging
  • Consider scaling with message brokers (Redis, RabbitMQ)

Server-Sent Events (SSE)

SSE allows servers to push updates to clients over HTTP.

Characteristics

  • One-way communication (server to client)
  • Text-based protocol
  • Automatic reconnection
  • Event IDs for reliability
  • Built into browsers via EventSource API

SSE Libraries

SSE vs WebSocket

Use SSE when:

  • You only need server-to-client communication
  • You want automatic reconnection
  • You need simple text-based updates
  • HTTP/2 multiplexing is available

Use WebSocket when:

  • You need bidirectional communication
  • You need binary data transfer
  • Low latency is critical
  • You need custom protocols

Webhooks

Webhooks are user-defined HTTP callbacks triggered by events.

Webhook Patterns

  • Event Notification: Simple alerts when events occur
  • Payload Delivery: Full event data sent in request body
  • Verification: Signatures to verify webhook authenticity
  • Retry Logic: Automatic retries on failure

Webhook Tools

  • Svix - Webhooks as a service
  • Hookdeck - Webhook infrastructure platform
  • webhook.site - Testing and debugging tool
  • ngrok - Secure tunnels for local webhook testing
  • RequestBin - Inspect webhook requests
  • Smee - Webhook payload delivery service

Webhook Best Practices

  • Use HTTPS for security
  • Implement signature verification (HMAC)
  • Include event type and timestamp in payload
  • Use idempotency keys to handle duplicates
  • Implement exponential backoff for retries
  • Provide webhook logs and monitoring
  • Allow users to configure retry behavior
  • Support webhook subscriptions management
  • Include API version in webhook payload
  • Document all webhook events and payloads

API Design & Architecture

Design Principles

RESTful Design Principles

  • Resource-Based: URLs represent resources, not actions
  • HTTP Methods: Use appropriate methods for operations
  • Stateless: No client state stored on server
  • HATEOAS: Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State
  • Idempotency: Same operation produces same result

API-First Design

  • Design API before implementation
  • Use specifications (OpenAPI, GraphQL Schema)
  • Enable parallel development
  • Facilitate early feedback
  • Ensure consistency across team

Domain-Driven Design

  • Model API around business domain
  • Use ubiquitous language
  • Define bounded contexts
  • Aggregate root patterns
  • Value objects and entities

API Versioning

Versioning Strategies

URL Path Versioning

https://api.example.com/v1/users
https://api.example.com/v2/users
  • Pros: Clear, explicit, easy to route
  • Cons: URL proliferation, harder to maintain

Header Versioning

Accept: application/vnd.example.v1+json
  • Pros: Clean URLs, content negotiation
  • Cons: Less visible, harder to test manually

Query Parameter Versioning

https://api.example.com/users?version=1
  • Pros: Easy to implement, flexible
  • Cons: Can be overlooked, not RESTful

Custom Header Versioning

X-API-Version: 1
  • Pros: Clean URLs, explicit version
  • Cons: Non-standard, requires custom handling

Versioning Best Practices

  • Use semantic versioning (major.minor.patch)
  • Support at least two versions simultaneously
  • Provide clear migration guides
  • Announce deprecation well in advance
  • Version only when breaking changes occur
  • Use deprecation headers
  • Document version differences
  • Consider sunset headers for retirement

Error Handling

HTTP Status Code Strategy

  • Use standard HTTP status codes appropriately
  • Include error details in response body
  • Provide error codes for programmatic handling
  • Include helpful error messages

Error Response Format

{
  "error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "message": "Invalid input parameters",
    "details": [
      {
        "field": "email",
        "issue": "Invalid email format"
      }
    ],
    "request_id": "abc-123-def",
    "timestamp": "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
  }
}

Error Handling Best Practices

  • Be consistent across all endpoints
  • Provide actionable error messages
  • Include documentation links for errors
  • Log errors for debugging
  • Never expose sensitive information
  • Use problem+json specification (RFC 7807)
  • Include request IDs for tracing
  • Provide field-level validation errors
  • Use appropriate HTTP status codes
  • Implement global error handling

Pagination

Pagination Strategies

Offset-Based Pagination

GET /users?offset=20&limit=10
  • Simple to implement
  • Can jump to specific pages
  • Performance degrades with large offsets

Cursor-Based Pagination

GET /users?cursor=xyz123&limit=10
  • Consistent results with data changes
  • Better performance for large datasets
  • Cannot jump to arbitrary pages

Page-Based Pagination

GET /users?page=3&per_page=10
  • User-friendly
  • Easy to understand
  • Can have inconsistencies with data changes

Pagination Response Format

{
  "data": [...],
  "pagination": {
    "total": 100,
    "count": 10,
    "per_page": 10,
    "current_page": 3,
    "total_pages": 10,
    "links": {
      "first": "/users?page=1",
      "prev": "/users?page=2",
      "next": "/users?page=4",
      "last": "/users?page=10"
    }
  }
}

Filtering and Sorting

Filtering Patterns

GET /products?category=electronics&price_min=100&price_max=500
GET /users?status=active&created_after=2024-01-01
GET /articles?search=technology&tags=ai,ml

Sorting Patterns

GET /users?sort=created_at
GET /users?sort=-created_at          # Descending
GET /users?sort=last_name,first_name # Multiple fields

Advanced Filtering

  • Support operators (gt, lt, gte, lte, eq, ne)
  • Enable full-text search
  • Implement faceted search
  • Allow complex queries with query languages
  • Support date range filtering
  • Enable geospatial queries

Rate Limiting

Rate Limiting Strategies

  • Fixed Window: Reset at fixed intervals
  • Sliding Window: Rolling time window
  • Token Bucket: Tokens consumed per request
  • Leaky Bucket: Requests processed at constant rate

Rate Limit Headers

X-RateLimit-Limit: 1000
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 999
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1640000000
Retry-After: 3600

Rate Limiting Tools

Best Practices

  • Implement per-user and per-IP limits
  • Provide clear rate limit information
  • Use 429 status code for rate limit exceeded
  • Implement retry-after headers
  • Consider tiered rate limits
  • Allow rate limit increases for authenticated users
  • Monitor and alert on rate limit hits
  • Provide rate limit status endpoint

Authentication & Authorization

Authentication Methods

API Keys

  • Simple to implement
  • Include in header: X-API-Key: your-key
  • Suitable for server-to-server communication
  • Should be rotatable
  • Store securely (never in client-side code)

OAuth 2.0

Industry standard for authorization with multiple flows:

Authorization Code Flow

  • Most secure for web applications
  • Requires backend server
  • Supports refresh tokens

Client Credentials Flow

  • For server-to-server authentication
  • No user involvement
  • Machine-to-machine communication

Implicit Flow (Deprecated)

  • Previously for single-page apps
  • Less secure than PKCE
  • Use Authorization Code with PKCE instead

PKCE (Proof Key for Code Exchange)

  • Enhanced security for public clients
  • Recommended for mobile and SPA
  • Prevents authorization code interception

Tools & Libraries:

JWT (JSON Web Tokens)

Self-contained tokens for authentication.

Structure:

  • Header: Token type and algorithm
  • Payload: Claims (user data)
  • Signature: Verification hash

Best Practices:

  • Use strong signing algorithms (RS256, ES256)
  • Set appropriate expiration times
  • Include minimal user information
  • Validate tokens on every request
  • Store securely (httpOnly cookies)
  • Implement token refresh mechanism
  • Use short-lived access tokens
  • Include audience and issuer claims

JWT Libraries:

Basic Authentication

  • Simple username/password in Authorization header
  • Base64 encoded (not encrypted)
  • Always use with HTTPS
  • Suitable for simple scenarios
  • Easy to implement and test

OpenID Connect (OIDC)

Identity layer on top of OAuth 2.0.

Features:

  • Standardized user authentication
  • ID tokens with user information
  • UserInfo endpoint
  • Discovery and dynamic registration

Providers:

Authorization Patterns

Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

  • Users assigned to roles
  • Roles have permissions
  • Check user role for access
  • Simple and widely used

Attribute-Based Access Control (ABAC)

  • Access based on attributes
  • User, resource, and environment attributes
  • More flexible than RBAC
  • Complex to implement

Policy-Based Access Control (PBAC)

  • Centralized policy definitions
  • Evaluate policies for decisions
  • Tools: Open Policy Agent (OPA)

API Scopes and Permissions

  • Fine-grained access control
  • OAuth scopes for API access
  • Separate read/write permissions
  • Resource-level permissions

API Security

Security Best Practices

HTTPS/TLS

  • Mandatory for all API endpoints
  • Use TLS 1.2 or higher
  • Implement HSTS headers
  • Use valid SSL certificates
  • Regular certificate renewal

Input Validation

  • Validate all input parameters
  • Sanitize user input
  • Use allowlists over denylists
  • Validate data types and formats
  • Implement size limits
  • Prevent injection attacks

SQL Injection Prevention

  • Use parameterized queries
  • Use ORMs properly
  • Never concatenate user input
  • Apply principle of least privilege
  • Validate and sanitize all inputs

Cross-Site Scripting (XSS)

  • Encode output data
  • Use Content Security Policy
  • Sanitize user input
  • Use secure frameworks
  • Validate content types

Cross-Site Request Forgery (CSRF)

  • Use CSRF tokens
  • Check Origin/Referer headers
  • Use SameSite cookie attribute
  • Require re-authentication for sensitive operations

Security Headers

X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff
X-Frame-Options: DENY
X-XSS-Protection: 1; mode=block
Strict-Transport-Security: max-age=31536000
Content-Security-Policy: default-src 'self'

API Security Tools

Data Encryption

  • Encrypt sensitive data at rest
  • Use encrypted communication (TLS)
  • Implement field-level encryption
  • Secure key management
  • Use strong encryption algorithms

Secrets Management

  • Never hardcode secrets
  • Use environment variables
  • Implement secrets rotation
  • Use vault solutions
  • Principle of least privilege

Secrets Management Tools:

OWASP API Security Top 10

  1. Broken Object Level Authorization - Validate user access to objects
  2. Broken Authentication - Implement strong authentication
  3. Broken Object Property Level Authorization - Control property exposure
  4. Unrestricted Resource Consumption - Implement rate limiting
  5. Broken Function Level Authorization - Verify function access
  6. Unrestricted Access to Sensitive Business Flows - Protect critical flows
  7. Server Side Request Forgery - Validate URLs and destinations
  8. Security Misconfiguration - Follow security best practices
  9. Improper Inventory Management - Document all API versions
  10. Unsafe Consumption of APIs - Validate third-party API data

API Documentation

Documentation Standards

OpenAPI Specification (Swagger)

Industry standard for REST API documentation.

Features:

  • Machine-readable format (YAML/JSON)
  • Interactive documentation
  • Code generation
  • Validation tools
  • Wide tool support

Tools:

API Blueprint

Markdown-based API documentation format.

Tools:

RAML (RESTful API Modeling Language)

YAML-based language for API design.

Tools:

Documentation Best Practices

  • Comprehensive Examples: Provide request/response examples
  • Authentication Guide: Clear authentication instructions
  • Error Documentation: Document all error codes and meanings
  • Quickstart Guide: Get developers started quickly
  • Code Samples: Examples in multiple programming languages
  • Interactive Playground: Allow testing in documentation
  • Versioning: Document version differences
  • Changelog: Maintain API changelog
  • SDKs: Provide client libraries
  • Webhooks: Document webhook events and payloads

Documentation Tools

  • Postman - API platform with documentation
  • Insomnia - API client and designer
  • ReadMe - Interactive API documentation
  • GitBook - Documentation platform
  • DocuAPI - Beautiful API docs from OpenAPI
  • Slate - Static API documentation
  • MkDocs - Documentation from Markdown
  • Docusaurus - Documentation website generator
  • RapiDoc - OpenAPI documentation component
  • Elements - OpenAPI powered documentation

API Testing

Testing Types

Unit Testing

  • Test individual functions and methods
  • Mock external dependencies
  • Fast execution
  • High code coverage

Integration Testing

  • Test API endpoints
  • Verify request/response formats
  • Test authentication flows
  • Database interactions

Contract Testing

  • Verify API contracts between services
  • Consumer-driven contracts
  • Prevent breaking changes
  • Enable independent deployment

Load Testing

  • Test system under expected load
  • Identify performance bottlenecks
  • Measure response times
  • Determine capacity limits

Stress Testing

  • Push system beyond normal limits
  • Find breaking points
  • Test recovery mechanisms
  • Evaluate error handling

Security Testing

  • Penetration testing
  • Vulnerability scanning
  • Authentication testing
  • Authorization testing

Testing Tools

API Testing Frameworks

Load Testing Tools

  • Apache JMeter - Load testing tool
  • k6 - Modern load testing tool
  • Gatling - Load testing framework
  • Locust - Python-based load testing
  • Artillery - Modern load testing toolkit
  • Vegeta - HTTP load testing tool
  • wrk - Modern HTTP benchmarking tool
  • hey - HTTP load generator

Mocking and Stubbing

Testing Best Practices

  • Write tests before or alongside code (TDD)
  • Test happy paths and edge cases
  • Test error scenarios
  • Use meaningful test names
  • Maintain test data fixtures
  • Implement continuous testing in CI/CD
  • Monitor test coverage
  • Test across different environments
  • Automate regression testing
  • Test API documentation accuracy
  • Validate response schemas
  • Test rate limiting and throttling
  • Verify security requirements
  • Test backward compatibility
  • Document test scenarios

API Monitoring & Analytics

Monitoring Essentials

Key Metrics

  • Availability: Uptime percentage
  • Latency: Response time (p50, p95, p99)
  • Throughput: Requests per second
  • Error Rate: Percentage of failed requests
  • Success Rate: Percentage of successful requests

What to Monitor

  • API endpoint performance
  • HTTP status code distribution
  • Request/response sizes
  • Authentication failures
  • Rate limit hits
  • Database query performance
  • Third-party API dependencies
  • Resource utilization (CPU, memory)
  • Network performance
  • Cache hit rates

Monitoring Tools

APM (Application Performance Monitoring)

API Monitoring Services

Logging Solutions

Distributed Tracing

Analytics Tools

Best Practices

  • Set up alerts for critical metrics
  • Define SLAs and SLOs
  • Create dashboards for visibility
  • Implement health check endpoints
  • Log structured data (JSON)
  • Include correlation IDs
  • Monitor third-party dependencies
  • Track API usage patterns
  • Analyze error trends
  • Set up anomaly detection
  • Monitor geographic performance
  • Track user behavior
  • Implement real-user monitoring (RUM)
  • Regular review of metrics
  • Document incident response procedures

API Gateways

API Gateways act as a single entry point for all API requests, providing routing, composition, and cross-cutting concerns.

Gateway Features

  • Request Routing: Direct requests to appropriate services
  • Load Balancing: Distribute traffic across instances
  • Authentication/Authorization: Centralized security
  • Rate Limiting: Control API usage
  • Caching: Improve performance
  • Request/Response Transformation: Modify data formats
  • Monitoring: Track API metrics
  • Service Discovery: Find available services
  • Circuit Breaking: Handle service failures
  • API Composition: Combine multiple API calls

API Gateway Solutions

Cloud-Managed Gateways

Self-Hosted Gateways

Gateway Best Practices

  • Use for cross-cutting concerns only
  • Keep gateway lightweight
  • Implement proper monitoring
  • Use service mesh for complex scenarios
  • Cache aggressively when possible
  • Implement circuit breakers
  • Use connection pooling
  • Enable request/response logging
  • Implement proper error handling
  • Version gateway configuration
  • Test gateway thoroughly
  • Document gateway policies
  • Secure gateway admin interface
  • Monitor gateway performance
  • Plan for high availability

API Development Tools

API Design Tools

API Development Environments

  • Postman - API development environment
  • Insomnia - API client and designer
  • Paw - Mac API tool
  • RapidAPI - API marketplace and testing
  • HTTPie - Command-line HTTP client
  • curl - Command-line tool for URLs
  • Bruno - Open source API client

Code Generators

API Debugging Tools

API Validation Tools

API Management Platforms

Full-featured platforms for API lifecycle management.

Enterprise Platforms

Developer-Focused Platforms

  • RapidAPI - API marketplace and hub
  • Postman - Complete API platform
  • Apiary - API design and documentation
  • readme - API documentation platform
  • Stoplight - API design and documentation

Mock Servers

Mock servers simulate API responses for development and testing.

Mock Server Tools

Mock Server Use Cases

  • Frontend development before backend ready
  • API prototyping and design validation
  • Integration testing without dependencies
  • Simulating error scenarios
  • Testing rate limiting behavior
  • Offline development
  • Demo and presentation environments
  • Load testing without affecting production

SDK Generators

Automatically generate client libraries from API specifications.

SDK Generation Tools

Language-Specific Generators

API Frameworks by Language

JavaScript/TypeScript

REST Frameworks

  • Express.js - Fast, unopinionated framework
  • Fastify - Fast and low overhead
  • Koa - Next generation framework
  • Hapi - Rich framework for APIs
  • NestJS - Progressive Node.js framework
  • Restify - Optimized for REST APIs
  • Sails.js - MVC framework

GraphQL Frameworks

Python

REST Frameworks

GraphQL Frameworks

Java

REST Frameworks

Go

REST Frameworks

  • Gin - HTTP web framework
  • Echo - High performance framework
  • Fiber - Express inspired framework
  • Chi - Lightweight router
  • Gorilla Mux - URL router

gRPC

  • gRPC-Go - Official Go implementation

Ruby

REST Frameworks

PHP

REST Frameworks

C#/.NET

REST Frameworks

Rust

REST Frameworks

API Standards & Specifications

REST Standards

GraphQL Standards

RPC Standards

Other Specifications

Learning Resources

Books

  • RESTful Web APIs by Leonard Richardson & Mike Amundsen
  • Designing Data-Intensive Applications by Martin Kleppmann
  • Building Microservices by Sam Newman
  • API Design Patterns by JJ Geewax
  • The Design of Web APIs by Arnaud Lauret
  • REST API Design Rulebook by Mark MassĂ©
  • GraphQL in Action by Samer Buna
  • gRPC: Up and Running by Kasun Indrasiri

Online Courses

Documentation & Guides

Blogs & Communities

Podcasts

  • API the Docs - API documentation
  • APIs in the Wild - API design and development
  • The Rabbit Hole - Software development practices

YouTube Channels

Real-World API Examples

Public APIs for Practice

Free APIs

Well-Designed APIs

API Collections

API Design Patterns

Common Patterns

Backend for Frontend (BFF)

  • Separate APIs for different client types
  • Optimized for specific UI needs
  • Reduces over-fetching and under-fetching
  • Each BFF tailored to client capabilities

API Aggregation

  • Combine multiple API calls
  • Reduce network roundtrips
  • Simplify client logic
  • Gateway-level composition

Circuit Breaker

  • Prevent cascading failures
  • Fail fast when service unavailable
  • Automatic recovery attempts
  • Fallback mechanisms

Bulkhead

  • Isolate resources
  • Prevent resource exhaustion
  • Limit concurrent requests
  • Protect critical operations

Saga Pattern

  • Distributed transaction management
  • Compensating transactions
  • Event-driven orchestration
  • Eventual consistency

CQRS (Command Query Responsibility Segregation)

  • Separate read and write models
  • Optimize independently
  • Scale reads and writes separately
  • Event sourcing integration

Event Sourcing

  • Store events, not state
  • Audit trail of all changes
  • Temporal queries
  • Event replay capability

API Throttling

  • Control API usage
  • Prevent abuse
  • Implement tiered limits
  • Fair resource allocation

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

  • Chatty APIs: Too many small requests
  • God Endpoints: Endpoints doing too much
  • Breaking Changes: Changes without versioning
  • Ignoring HTTP Standards: Improper status codes and methods
  • Over-Engineering: Unnecessary complexity
  • Poor Error Messages: Unhelpful error responses
  • Missing Documentation: Undocumented endpoints
  • No Rate Limiting: Allowing API abuse
  • Inconsistent Naming: Mixed conventions
  • Security Through Obscurity: Relying on hidden endpoints

Performance Optimization

Caching Strategies

Client-Side Caching

  • HTTP cache headers (ETag, Cache-Control)
  • Browser caching
  • Service worker caching
  • Local storage caching

Server-Side Caching

  • In-memory caching (Redis, Memcached)
  • Database query caching
  • CDN caching
  • API gateway caching

Cache Invalidation

  • Time-based expiration (TTL)
  • Event-based invalidation
  • Version-based invalidation
  • Purge API endpoints

Caching Tools

Database Optimization

  • Use appropriate indexes
  • Implement connection pooling
  • Optimize queries with EXPLAIN
  • Use read replicas for scaling
  • Implement database sharding
  • Cache frequent queries
  • Use materialized views
  • Batch operations when possible
  • Implement lazy loading
  • Use database-specific optimizations

Network Optimization

  • Enable HTTP/2 or HTTP/3
  • Use compression (gzip, brotli)
  • Minimize payload size
  • Implement content delivery networks
  • Use connection keep-alive
  • Reduce DNS lookups
  • Enable parallel requests
  • Implement request multiplexing

API Response Optimization

  • Paginate large result sets
  • Support field filtering (GraphQL-style)
  • Use appropriate data formats (Protocol Buffers for gRPC)
  • Compress responses
  • Implement partial responses
  • Use streaming for large data
  • Minimize nested data
  • Remove unnecessary metadata

Asynchronous Processing

  • Use message queues (RabbitMQ, Kafka)
  • Implement background jobs
  • Return immediate response with status endpoint
  • Use webhooks for completion notification
  • Implement long-polling or WebSockets
  • Queue time-consuming operations

Load Balancing

  • Round-robin distribution
  • Least connections algorithm
  • IP hash for session persistence
  • Geographic load balancing
  • Health check-based routing
  • Weighted load balancing

API Governance

Governance Components

API Standards

  • Naming conventions
  • Error handling standards
  • Authentication methods
  • Versioning strategy
  • Documentation requirements
  • Security requirements

API Lifecycle Management

  • Design phase guidelines
  • Development standards
  • Testing requirements
  • Deployment procedures
  • Deprecation process
  • Retirement planning

API Catalog

  • Centralized API registry
  • API discovery mechanism
  • Version tracking
  • Dependency management
  • Usage documentation
  • Consumer tracking

API Quality Gates

  • Design review requirements
  • Security scanning
  • Performance benchmarks
  • Documentation completeness
  • Test coverage minimums
  • Compliance verification

Governance Tools

  • SwaggerHub - API design governance
  • Stoplight - API governance platform
  • Apigee - API management with governance
  • Kong - API governance capabilities
  • Postman - API governance features

Best Practices

  • Establish clear API standards
  • Create API design guidelines
  • Implement automated governance checks
  • Regular API audits
  • Track API metrics and usage
  • Enforce security policies
  • Manage API lifecycle consistently
  • Document governance processes
  • Train teams on standards
  • Foster API-first culture
  • Regular governance reviews
  • Stakeholder communication
  • Change management process
  • Deprecation policies
  • Compliance monitoring

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Please feel free to submit pull requests to add new resources, tools, or corrections. Make sure additions are relevant to API development and follow the existing format.

Related Awesome Lists

Note: This guide is continuously updated to reflect the latest in API development. Last updated: 2024

About

REST, GraphQL, RPC, and other API paradigms, including tools and best practices for scalable API development.

github.com/awesome-webdevs/apis

Topics

graphql webhooks serialization validation rest data-mapping rate-limits openapi error-handling api-gateways contract-testing observability api-versioning api-security trpc serverless-api documentation-tools sdk-generation api-caching rpc-protocols

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