What it means for an API to be RESTful
5 hours ago
- A RESTful API is a complete implementation of REST architectural style, reaching Level 3 of the Richardson Maturity Model with hypermedia.
- Hypermedia (HATEOAS) makes APIs self-descriptive and navigable by including links in responses for clients to discover resources.
- The six rules of a RESTful API include not depending on a single protocol, not changing the protocol, focusing on media types, not assuming URI structures, avoiding resource types, and starting with a root resource bookmark.
- Media types like application/vnd.myshop.product+json should be documented instead of URIs, allowing clients to decide actions based on Content-Type.
- Errors should follow RFC 9457 (Problem Details for HTTP APIs), using application/problem+json with standardized fields.
- Versioning is best handled via Accept header negotiation rather than URI, e.g., application/vnd.dream.v2.1+json.
- Pagination includes metadata (total, page, perPage, hasNext, hasPrevious) and navigable links (self, next, first, last).