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

Why is the design stage the one that impacts everything?

As mentioned previously, the API design document is a formal, machine-readable document that acts as a resource to which every stakeholder can refer. We use it as the single source of truth during our API life cycle process. The use of structured, unambiguous, and machine-readable documents also helps us test the implementation, create documentation, deploy and publish our APIs, monitor, and more.There are multiple benefits of using the API design document as the single source of truth:

Defines expectations: The API design stage sets the expectations for what the API will do, how it will behave, and what it will deliver. It outlines the resources, operations, and data models that the API will expose.
Facilitates communication: A well-designed API serves as a contract between the API provider and the consumers. It communicates the functionality of the API to developers, product managers, and other stakeholders, ensuring everyone...