jcorpac Flask API Design
APIs should be self-documenting, consistent, and easy to consume.
Serialization (Marshmallow)
- Schemas: Transforming complex objects to/from primitive Python types.
- Validation: Enforcing data constraints at the API layer.
RESTful Routing
- Nouns not Verbs:
/users/1instead of/getUser/1. - HTTP Methods: GET (read), POST (create), PUT/PATCH (update), DELETE (remove).
Documentation
Use Flask-Smorest or Flasgger to automatically generate Swagger/OpenAPI UI for your endpoints.
Best Practices
- Status Codes: Return appropriate codes (e.g.,
201 Created,404 Not Found,422 Unprocessable Entity). - Versioning: Prefix routes with
/api/v1/.