Best Practices for APIs Designing.

In web Application development, REST API plays a vital role, allowing the systems to communicate over the internet with each other services and/or clients. The REST APIs are built with a set of rules and practices to ensure smooth communication between clients and servers.

When building a REST API, following best practices ensures that the API is well-designed, easy to use, and maintainable. Here are some key best practices.

• Select a descriptive URL that reflects the entity it represents and choose a noun form for the resource’s name instead of a verb form. Generally, the resource name can be plural unless a single value is expected.
• Select the correct HTTP methods.
• Use correct HTTP Status codes.
• Add the version in the REST URL. [https://localhose:8080/rest-service/v1/users/{id}]. This practice allows clients to explicitly specify which version of the API they intend to use, ensuring that changes or updates to the API do not disrupt existing client implementations.
• Choose an appropriate format (json/xml) for the response and use meaning full and consistency for naming each field of the response data.
• Handle errors gracefully and provide meaningful error messages to help developers troubleshoot issues.
• Document the build API. Provide comprehensive documentation for the API, including usage examples, endpoints, request/response formats, and authentication methods. Use the Swagger open source tool for an example to create such a document.
• Use Authentication and Authorization. Secure the API by providing credentials and developing authorization mechanisms to limit resource access.

Reference:

Best Practices for Naming REST API Endpoints - DreamFactory Software- Blog

Top 7 REST API Design Practices for Robust APIs

https://www.sitepoint.com/rest-api/