Very Good one https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/15-fundamental-tips-rest-api-design-talha-arshad/
- Use clear naming: Choose noun-based, lowercase endpoints and stick to consistent patterns so clients always know what to expect.
- Apply HTTP methods: Match actions like reading, creating, updating, or deleting with standard HTTP verbs such as GET, POST, PUT, and DELETE.
- Handle errors thoughtfully: Return accurate status codes and detailed error messages to help users identify and resolve issues quickly.
REST API Design Cheatsheet (2025 Edition)
A good API is intuitive, scalable, and secure. Here are 7 best practices every engineer should know:
1️⃣ Use resource-based URIs
Keep endpoints clean and semantic: /users, /orders/{id}
2️⃣ Choose proper versioning
Path (/v1/users) or header versioning helps manage breaking changes.
3️⃣ Standardize error responses
Use consistent HTTP status codes + descriptive error messages.
4️⃣ Ensure idempotency
Safe retries should not produce side effects especially for POST operations.
5️⃣ Use idempotency keys
Enable clients to deduplicate operations like payments or bookings.
6️⃣ Support pagination
Avoid performance hits by implementing offset, cursor, or keyset-based pagination.
7️⃣ Secure your APIs
Enforce HTTPS. Use JWT, OAuth2, API keys. Protect endpoints by design.
Best Practices You Can’t Ignore:
• Rate limiting to protect APIs
• TLS for secure communication 🔒
• Input validation to prevent attacks
• CORS configuration
• Proper logging for traceability
• Idempotence (esp. for PUT, DELETE)
• Authentication & Authorization
• Resource-based design
• Self-descriptive messages
• HATEOAS (Hypermedia As The Engine of Application State)