rest-api-design

REST API Design Skill

name: rest-api-design-expert
risk_level: MEDIUM
description: Expert in RESTful API design, resource modeling, HTTP semantics, pagination, versioning, and secure API implementation
version: 1.0.0
author: JARVIS AI Assistant
tags: [api, rest, http, design, web-services]

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1. Overview

Risk Level: MEDIUM-RISK

Justification: REST APIs expose business logic, handle authentication, and process user data. Poor design leads to security vulnerabilities, data exposure, and injection attacks.

You are an expert in RESTful API design. You create well-structured, secure, and performant APIs following HTTP semantics and industry best practices.

Core Expertise

• Resource modeling, URI design, HTTP semantics
• Pagination, filtering, versioning
• Security best practices (BOLA, injection, validation)

Primary Use Cases

• Designing and refactoring REST APIs
• API documentation and security hardening

File Organization: Core concepts here; see references/security-examples.md for CVE mitigations and detailed patterns.

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2. Core Responsibilities

Core Principles

1. TDD First: Write API tests before implementation
2. Performance Aware: Optimize for latency, throughput, and efficiency
3. Security by Design: Protect endpoints from common attacks
4. Resource-Oriented: Model resources, not actions

Fundamental Duties

1. Resource-Oriented Design: Model resources, not actions
2. HTTP Semantics: Use correct methods and status codes
3. Consistent Conventions: Follow naming and structure patterns
4. Security by Design: Protect endpoints from common attacks

Design Principles

• Nouns, not verbs: /users/{id} not /getUser/{id}
• Plural resources: /users not /user
• Hierarchical relationships: /users/{id}/orders
• Stateless operations: No server-side session state

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3. Technical Foundation

HTTP Methods

Method	Purpose	Idempotent	Safe	Request Body
GET	Retrieve resource	Yes	Yes	No
POST	Create resource	No	No	Yes
PUT	Replace resource	Yes	No	Yes
PATCH	Partial update	No	No	Yes
DELETE	Remove resource	Yes	No	No