91-api-routes

A set of rules for developing API routes, which are the parts of an application that receive requests and return data. It applies automatically to files in API or route directories and requires input validation and consistent errors.

In plain words
What is it for?
Use it when creating or changing API routes, including request validation, authentication, rate limiting, and error responses.
Why use it?
It reduces common endpoint problems such as accepting invalid input or returning inconsistent responses and status codes.

Cursor rule for Cursor

Install

Getting it into your agent

One page per mod, every tool's command on it. A separate URL per tool would split the same page into five that compete with each other.

agentmods
npx agentmods add rules/luxvil/ai-coding-rules/91-api-routes
Clone the repo
git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/Luxvil/ai-coding-rules

Made for: Cursor.

Per session 0 Nothing until a file matches its globs; then the whole rule loads.
When invoked 819 The whole file, excluding the scripts and references it only reads on demand.
Security scan A 0 findings. Scan, not verified.
Origin 100% copy Near-identical to another mod in the catalogue.
Token cost

What it costs to keep this loaded

Counted locally with the o200k_base tokenizer, which is exact for GPT models; Claude uses its own tokenizer and its counts differ. Treat this as one consistent yardstick across the catalogue rather than a bill. Prices are per million input tokens.

ModelPer sessionOnce invoked
Fable 5 $0.00000 $0.00819
Opus 5 $0.00000 $0.00409
Sonnet 5 $0.00000 $0.00164
Haiku 4.5 $0.00000 $0.00082

Measured 2d ago against content hash d5a8783c1c18, method: parsed. Prices are Anthropic first-party input rates as of 2026-08-30, from the pricing page.

Security

Grade A, and why

91-api-routes scanned grade A with 0 findings against 26 rules in 11 categories — prompt injection, anti-refusal, data exfiltration, privilege escalation, supply chain, agent snooping, system-prompt leakage, SSRF and excessive agency — measured 2d ago.

A static scan of the body, not an audit. Every finding is printed with the line that produced it so you can judge whether it matters here. A mod is markdown that instructs an agent; that is exactly why what it instructs is worth reading.

Nothing flagged

None of the 26 patterns this scan looks for appear in this file: no shell pipes, no recursive deletes, no credential paths, no hidden text, no instruction-override or anti-refusal phrasing, no agent-config snooping. That is not a guarantee, it is the absence of the things that are checkable.

Origin

This is a copy

100% identical to 91-api-routes — 0 lines differ, which has more behind it and is treated as the original. This page carries a canonical link to it rather than competing with it.

.cursor/rules/91-api-routes.mdc · 138 lines

How it starts

The opening of the file, as written. The whole thing — 138 lines — stays where its author put it; the contents beside it link to each section on GitHub.

🔌 API Routes Rules

Auto-activated for files in /api/ or /routes/ directories.

Route Structure

api/
├── users/
│   ├── route.ts          # Next.js App Router
│   ├── [id]/route.ts     # Dynamic route
│   └── schema.ts         # Zod validation
├── middleware.ts         # Auth, rate limiting
└── types.ts              # Shared types

Rules

1. Input Validation (STRICT)

// ✅ ALWAYS validate all inputs
import { z } from 'zod';

const CreateUserSchema = z.object({
  email: z.string().email(),
  name: z.string().min(2).max(100),
  age: z.number().int().positive().optional(),
});

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const body = await request.json();
  const result = CreateUserSchema.safeParse(body);
  
  if (!result.success) {
    return Response.json({ error: result.error.flatten() }, { status: 400 });
  }
  
  // Use result.data (validated)
}

2. Error Handling (STRICT)

// ✅ Consistent error envelope
interface ApiResponse<T> {
  data?: T;
  error?: {
    code: string;
    message: string;
    details?: unknown;
  };
}

// ✅ Proper status codes
// 200 - Success
// 201 - Created
// 400 - Bad Request (validation failed)
// 401 - Unauthorized
// 403 - Forbidden
// 404 - Not Found
// 500 - Internal Server Error

3. Authentication (STRICT)

// ✅ ALWAYS check auth before processing
export async function GET(request: Request) {
  const session = await getServerSession(authOptions);
  
  if (!session) {
    return Response.json({ error: { code: 'UNAUTHORIZED' } }, { status: 401 });
  }
  
  // Check authorization (permissions)
  if (!hasPermission(session.user, 'users:read')) {
    return Response.json({ error: { code: 'FORBIDDEN' } }, { status: 403 });
  }
  
  // Process request...
}

4. Rate Limiting

// ✅ Apply rate limiting for public endpoints
import { rateLimit } from '@/lib/rate-limit';

const limiter = rateLimit({
  interval: 60 * 1000, // 1 minute
  uniqueTokenPerInterval: 500,
});

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  try {
    await limiter.check(5, 'API_ROUTE_NAME'); // 5 requests per minute
  } catch {
    return Response.json({ error: { code: 'RATE_LIMITED' } }, { status: 429 });
  }
}

Read the full file on GitHub · 138 lines

Changes

What this file has done since we first saw it

Hashed on every crawl. A supply-chain change to an agent config is a question of when, not whether, so the history is kept rather than the latest state alone.

  1. 2d ago First seen · 138 lines · 0 tokens per session scan A d5a8783c1c18

Subscribe to this mod's changes

91-api-routes is a cursor rule published in the GitHub repository Luxvil/ai-coding-rules (3 stars, last pushed 3d ago), licensed MIT. It costs nothing until one of its globs matches a file; then it loads 819 tokens. A static security scan graded it A with 0 findings. It is 100% identical to 91-api-routes, differing in 0 lines, and is treated as a copy.