API Design Capstone

Congratulations on reaching the capstone! Let's put everything together by designing a complete REST API for a real-world application.

Capstone Project: Task Management API

Design a complete REST API for a task management system with:

• Users (authentication)
• Projects (with members)
• Tasks (with assignments and comments)

Exercise 1: Design the Resources

Exercise 2: Design Response Formats

API Design Checklist

Before finalizing your API design, verify:

Resources & URIs

• Use plural nouns for resources
• Use kebab-case for multi-word resources
• Nest resources appropriately
• Keep nesting to 2-3 levels max

HTTP Methods

• GET for retrieval
• POST for creation
• PUT/PATCH for updates
• DELETE for removal

Status Codes

• 200 for success
• 201 for creation
• 204 for no content
• 400 for client errors
• 401 for authentication
• 403 for authorization
• 404 for not found
• 500 for server errors

Responses

• Consistent JSON format
• Proper pagination
• Useful error messages
• Include timestamps

Security

• Authentication required
• Authorization checks
• Input validation
• Rate limiting

Congratulations!

You've completed the Interactive REST API Design course. You now have the knowledge to:

• Design clean, intuitive REST APIs
• Choose appropriate HTTP methods and status codes
• Implement authentication and authorization
• Version your APIs properly
• Document with OpenAPI
• Test thoroughly

Keep practicing and building great APIs!