API Design

API Design

This skill provides comprehensive guidance on designing APIs, from RESTful conventions to GraphQL and gRPC, including protocol selection and security best practices.

When to Use This Skill

Use this skill when:

• Designing new APIs
• Choosing between REST, GraphQL, or gRPC
• Implementing API endpoints
• Ensuring API security
• Optimizing API performance
• Documenting APIs

API Fundamentals

What is an API?

Application Programming Interface - defines how software components interact

┌──────────┐                      ┌──────────┐
│  Client  │ ◄── API Contract ──► │  Server  │
│(Browser/ │    - Requests        │          │
│ Mobile)  │    - Responses       │          │
└──────────┘                      └──────────┘

Four Essential Design Principles

RESTful APIs

Core Concepts

• Resource-based approach using HTTP methods
• Stateless - each request contains all needed information
• Uses standard HTTP methods

HTTP Methods (CRUD Operations)

Status Codes

REST Best Practices

1. Use Plural Nouns (not verbs):

✅ GET /products
✅ GET /products/123
❌ GET /getProducts
❌ POST /createProduct

2. Filtering, Sorting, Pagination:

GET /products?category=electronics&in_stock=true    # Filtering
GET /products?sort=price_asc                          # Sorting
GET /products?page=3&limit=10                         # Pagination
GET /products?offset=20&limit=10                     # Alternative pagination

3. API Versioning:

GET /api/v1/products
GET /api/v2/products

4. Nested Resources:

GET /products/123/reviews        # Reviews for product 123
GET /users/456/orders            # Orders for user 456

GraphQL APIs

Why GraphQL Exists

Created by Facebook to solve:

• Multiple API calls for single view
• Over-fetching data
• Under-fetching data

REST vs GraphQL

REST (Multiple calls):

GET /users/123
GET /users/123/posts
GET /users/123/followers

GraphQL (Single call):

query {
  user(id: "123") {
    name
    posts {
      title
      content
    }
    followers {
      name
    }
  }
}

Schema Definition

type User {
  id: ID!
  name: String!
  email: String
  posts: [Post]
}

type Post {
  id: ID!
  title: String!
  content: String
  author: User
}

type Query {
  user(id: ID!): User
  posts: [Post]
}

type Mutation {
  createUser(name: String!): User
  createPost(title: String!, content: String!): Post
}

Operations

Error Handling

GraphQL always returns 200 OK - errors in response body:

{
  "data": { "user": null },
  "errors": [{
    "message": "User not found",
    "path": ["user"],
    "extensions": { "code": "NOT_FOUND" }
  }]
}

gRPC

Overview

• High-performance RPC framework by Google
• Uses Protocol Buffers for serialization
• Runs on HTTP/2

Best For

• Microservices communication
• Internal system-to-system calls
• When performance is critical

Comparison

API Protocols

HTTP/HTTPS

Request Structure:

GET /api/products/123 HTTP/1.1
Host: api.example.com
Authorization: Bearer <token>
Content-Type: application/json

Response Structure:

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: application/json
Cache-Control: max-age=3600

{"id": 123, "name": "Product"}

⚠️ Always use HTTPS - encrypts data in transit with TLS/SSL

WebSockets

Problem with HTTP for real-time:

Client: "Any messages?" → Server: "No"
Client: "Any messages?" → Server: "No"
Client: "Any messages?" → Server: "Yes, here's one"
(Wasteful polling!)

WebSocket Solution:

Client ←──── Bidirectional ────→ Server
       │                         │
       │  Server can push data   │
       │  without client asking  │

Use Cases:

• Chat applications
• Live notifications
• Real-time gaming
• Stock tickers

AMQP (Advanced Message Queuing Protocol)

┌──────────┐     ┌─────────────┐     ┌──────────┐
│ Producer │ ──► │   Message   │ ──► │ Consumer │
│ (Payment │     │    Queue    │     │(Process  │
│  System) │     │   (Broker)  │     │ Orders)  │
└──────────┘     └─────────────┘     └──────────┘

Benefits:

• Decouples producers and consumers
• Handles traffic spikes (queue buffers)
• Guaranteed delivery

TCP vs UDP

Transport Layer Protocols

Application Layer (HTTP, WebSocket, gRPC)
              │
              ▼
Transport Layer (TCP or UDP)  ◄── We're here
              │
              ▼
Network Layer (IP)

TCP (Transmission Control Protocol)

Like sending a package with tracking & signature:

• ✅ Guaranteed delivery
• ✅ Ordered packets
• ✅ Error checking
• ❌ Slower (overhead)

Three-Way Handshake:

Client ──── SYN ────► Server
Client ◄── SYN-ACK ── Server
Client ──── ACK ────► Server
(Connection established!)

UDP (User Datagram Protocol)

Like sending postcards:

• ✅ Fast
• ✅ Low overhead
• ❌ No delivery guarantee
• ❌ No ordering

When to Use

API Design Best Practices

Performance

• Implement caching strategies
• Use pagination for large datasets
• Minimize payload sizes
• Reduce round trips (batch requests when possible)

Security

• Use HTTPS always
• Implement authentication (JWT, OAuth 2.0)
• Use authorization (RBAC, ABAC)
• Rate limiting
• Input validation
• CORS configuration

Documentation

• Document request/response schemas
• Include error response formats
• Provide example requests
• Use OpenAPI/Swagger for REST APIs
• Use GraphQL schema introspection

Versioning

• Version your APIs (/api/v1/, /api/v2/)
• Maintain backward compatibility
• Deprecate old versions gracefully
• Communicate breaking changes

Reference Material

For detailed examples and explanations, refer to:

• references/SYSTEM_DESIGN_MASTER_GUIDE.md - Part 3: API Design section