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

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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

Understanding Application and API Lifecycles

This chapter explains how taking a holistic look at the whole API Lifecycle can influence your API design. We’ll cover how your API and application lifecycles are interwoven and provide a comprehensive overview of the stages that an application and its APIs go through, from inception to deprecation.

In this chapter, we’re going to cover the following main topics:

What is the API Lifecycle and how does it relate to your application lifecycle?
What are the main stages of the API Lifecycle?
Why thinking about your API design from the perspective of its whole life will make it better
How to plan your API Lifecycle based on target audience, purpose, and business model