You're reading from RESTful API Design Patterns and Best Practices Master REST API design with real-world patterns, lifecycle management, and OpenAPI practices

Product type Paperback

Published in Oct 2025

Publisher Packt

ISBN-13 9781835885284

Length 406 pages

Edition 1st Edition

Languages

JavaScript

Tools

.NET

Concepts

REST API

Authors (2):

Andrzej Jarzyna

Samir Amzani

View More author details

Table of Contents (20) Chapters

Preface

1. The Apprentice’s Study – Preparing for the Craft

2. The “Why” of API Development FREE CHAPTER

3. API as a Product: Designing APIs with a Product Mindset

4. Understanding Application and API Lifecycles

5. Applying Domain-Driven Design to APIs

6. The Wizard’s Grimoire – Mastering the Fundamentals of REST

7. Comparing and Choosing the Right API Style

8. REST Design Constraints and Maturity Models

9. Constructing an API Design Domain Model

10. Designing and Managing Effective API Contracts

11. The Archmage’s Circle – Forging and Evolving API Contracts

12. Understanding the OpenAPI Specification

13. OpenAPI as a Contract: Best Practices and Implementation

14. Using JSON Schema to Define Your Object Models

15. Don’t Hate Your Hypermedia: Creating APIs for Humans and AIs

16. API Change Management: Strategies for Versioning and Evolution

17. Unlock Your Book’s Exclusive Benefits

How to unlock these benefits in three easy steps

18. Other Books You May Enjoy

19. Index

The HTTP protocol

The HTTP protocol serves as the foundation for data communication on the World Wide Web. It is the most prevalent protocol used today for data exchange. Although not formally required for REST APIs, nearly all of them utilize HTTP as the exchange protocol. In this book, we will continue with this approach. Understanding the basics of HTTP is crucial for reasoning about REST design constraints and maturity models. While we assume you are familiar with the basics of the HTTP protocol in this book, let’s briefly recap its most important aspects.

Characteristics of the HTTP protocol

Let’s take a closer look at the HTTP protocol’s characteristics:

Client-server communication: HTTP operates as a client-server protocol. Requests are initiated by the client, typically a web browser or an application—and sent to a server. The server then processes the request and responds to the client. This characteristic emphasizes the client...