api-designer

name	api-designer
description	REST/GraphQL API architect specializing in OpenAPI 3.1, HATEOAS, pagination, and versioning strategies

API Designer

Purpose

Provides expert REST and GraphQL API architecture expertise specializing in OpenAPI 3.1 specifications, API versioning strategies, pagination patterns, and hypermedia-driven design (HATEOAS). Focuses on building scalable, well-documented, developer-friendly APIs with proper error handling and standardization.

When to Use

• Designing RESTful or GraphQL APIs from requirements
• Creating OpenAPI 3.1 specifications for API documentation
• Implementing API versioning strategies (URL, header, content negotiation)
• Designing pagination, filtering, and sorting patterns for large datasets
• Building HATEOAS-compliant APIs (hypermedia-driven)
• Standardizing error responses and status codes across services
• Designing API authentication and authorization patterns

Quick Start

Invoke this skill when:

• Designing RESTful or GraphQL APIs from requirements
• Creating OpenAPI 3.1 specifications for API documentation
• Implementing API versioning strategies (URL, header, content negotiation)
• Designing pagination, filtering, and sorting patterns for large datasets
• Building HATEOAS-compliant APIs (hypermedia-driven)
• Standardizing error responses and status codes across services

Do NOT invoke when:

• Only implementing pre-designed API endpoints (use backend-developer)
• Database schema design without API context (use database-administrator)
• Frontend API integration (use frontend-developer)
• API security implementation (use security-engineer for authentication/authorization)
• API performance optimization (use performance-engineer)

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Core Workflows

Workflow 1: Design RESTful API with OpenAPI 3.1

Use case: E-commerce platform needs product catalog API

Step 1: Resource Modeling

# Resources identified:
# - Products (CRUD)
# - Categories (read-only, hierarchical)
# - Reviews (nested under products)
# - Inventory (separate resource, linked to products)

# URL Structure Design:
GET    /v1/products              # List products (paginated)
POST   /v1/products              # Create product
GET    /v1/products/{id}         # Get product details
PUT    /v1/products/{id}         # Update product (full replacement)
PATCH  /v1/products/{id}         # Partial update
DELETE /v1/products/{id}         # Delete product

GET    /v1/products/{id}/reviews        # Get reviews for product
POST   /v1/products/{id}/reviews        # Create review
GET    /v1/products/{id}/reviews/{reviewId}  # Get specific review

GET    /v1/categories            # List categories
GET    /v1/categories/{id}       # Get category + subcategories

# Query parameters (filtering, pagination, sorting):
GET /v1/products?category=electronics&min_price=100&max_price=500&sort=price:asc&limit=20&cursor=abc123

Step 2: OpenAPI 3.1 Specification

# openapi.yaml
openapi: 3.1.0
info:
  title: E-commerce Product API
  version: 1.0.0
  description: RESTful API for product catalog management
  contact:
    name: API Support
    email: [e-mail]

servers:
  - url: https://api.ecommerce.com/v1
    description: Production server
  - url: https://staging-api.ecommerce.com/v1
    description: Staging server

paths:
  /products:
    get:
      summary: List products
      operationId: listProducts
      tags: [Products]
      parameters:
        - name: category
          in: query
          description: Filter by category slug
          schema:
            type: string
            example: electronics
        - name: min_price
          in: query
          description: Minimum price filter
          schema:
            type: number
            format: float
            minimum: 0
        - name: max_price
          in: query
          description: Maximum price filter
          schema:
            type: number
            format: float
            minimum: 0
        - name: sort
          in: query
          description: Sort order (field:direction)
          schema:
            type: string
            enum: [price:asc, price:desc, created_at:asc, created_at:desc]
            default: created_at:desc
        - name: limit
          in: query
          description: Number of results per page
          schema:
            type: integer
            minimum: 1
            maximum: 100
            default: 20
        - name: cursor
          in: query
          description: Pagination cursor (opaque token)
          schema:
            type: string
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Successful response
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                type: object
                required: [data, meta, links]
                properties:
                  data:
                    type: array
                    items:
                      $ref: '#/components/schemas/Product'
                  meta:
                    type: object
                    properties:
                      total_count:
                        type: integer
                        description: Total number of products matching filters
                      has_more:
                        type: boolean
                        description: Whether more results exist
                  links:
                    type: object
                    properties:
                      self:
                        type: string
                        format: uri
                      next:
                        type: string
                        format: uri
                        nullable: true
                      prev:
                        type: string
                        format: uri
                        nullable: true
              examples:
                success:
                  value:
                    data:
                      - id: "prod_123"
                        name: "Wireless Headphones"
                        description: "Premium noise-cancelling headphones"
                        price: 299.99
                        currency: "USD"
                        category:
                          id: "cat_1"
                          name: "Electronics"
                        created_at: "2024-01-15T10:30:00Z"
                    meta:
                      total_count: 1523
                      has_more: true
                    links:
                      self: "/v1/products?limit=20"
                      next: "/v1/products?limit=20&cursor=eyJpZCI6InByb2RfMTIzIn0="
                      prev: null
        '400':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/BadRequest'
        '500':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/InternalServerError'

  /products/{id}:
    get:
      summary: Get product details
      operationId: getProduct
      tags: [Products]
      parameters:
        - name: id
          in: path
          required: true
          description: Product ID
          schema:
            type: string
            pattern: '^prod_[a-zA-Z0-9]+$'
      responses:
        '200':
          description: Product found
          content:
            application/json:
              schema:
                $ref: '#/components/schemas/Product'
        '404':
          $ref: '#/components/responses/NotFound'

components:
  schemas:
    Product:
      type: object
      required: [id, name, price, currency]
      properties:
        id:
          type: string
          description: Unique product identifier
          example: "prod_123"
        name:
          type: string
          minLength: 1
          maxLength: 200
          example: "Wireless Headphones"
        description:
          type: string
          maxLength: 2000
          nullable: true
        price:
          type: number
          format: float
          minimum: 0
          example: 299.99
        currency:
          type: string
          enum: [USD, EUR, GBP, JPY]
          default: USD
        category:
          $ref: '#/components/schemas/Category'
        images:
          type: array
          items:
            type: string
            format: uri
          maxItems: 10
        inventory_count:
          type: integer
          minimum: 0
          description: Available stock
        created_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time
        updated_at:
          type: string
          format: date-time

    Category:
      type: object
      required: [id, name, slug]
      properties:
        id:
          type: string
          example: "cat_1"
        name:
          type: string
          example: "Electronics"
        slug:
          type: string
          pattern: '^[a-z0-9-]+$'
          example: "electronics"
        parent_id:
          type: string
          nullable: true

    Error:
      type: object
      required: [error]
      properties:
        error:
          type: object
          required: [code, message]
          properties:
            code:
              type: string
              description: Machine-readable error code
              example: "invalid_parameter"
            message:
              type: string
              description: Human-readable error message
              example: "The 'price' parameter must be a positive number"
            details:
              type: object
              description: Additional error context
              additionalProperties: true

  responses:
    BadRequest:
      description: Invalid request parameters
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
          example:
            error:
              code: "invalid_parameter"
              message: "The 'min_price' parameter must be a non-negative number"
              details:
                parameter: "min_price"
                value: "-10"

    NotFound:
      description: Resource not found
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
          example:
            error:
              code: "resource_not_found"
              message: "Product with ID 'prod_999' not found"

    InternalServerError:
      description: Internal server error
      content:
        application/json:
          schema:
            $ref: '#/components/schemas/Error'
          example:
            error:
              code: "internal_server_error"
              message: "An unexpected error occurred. Please try again later."
              details:
                request_id: "req_abc123"

  securitySchemes:
    ApiKey:
      type: apiKey
      in: header
      name: X-API-Key
    BearerAuth:
      type: http
      scheme: bearer
      bearerFormat: JWT

security:
  - ApiKey: []
  - BearerAuth: []

Step 3: Generate Documentation

# Install Redoc CLI
npm install -g redoc-cli

# Generate static HTML documentation
redoc-cli bundle openapi.yaml -o api-docs.html

# Host documentation
npx serve api-docs.html

# Interactive Swagger UI
docker run -p 8080:8080 -e SWAGGER_JSON=/docs/openapi.yaml \
  -v $(pwd):/docs swaggerapi/swagger-ui

# Open http://localhost:8080 for interactive API testing

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Anti-Patterns & Gotchas

❌ Anti-Pattern 1: Inconsistent Error Responses

What it looks like:

// Endpoint 1: Login failure
{
  "error": "Invalid credentials"
}

// Endpoint 2: Validation failure
{
  "errors": [
    { "field": "email", "message": "Invalid email format" }
  ]
}

// Endpoint 3: Server error
{
  "status": "error",
  "message": "Internal server error",
  "code": 500
}

// Problem: Clients need custom error handling per endpoint

Why it fails:

• Client code becomes complex (multiple error parsing strategies)
• Frontend developers frustrated (inconsistent contracts)
• Error logging/monitoring difficult (no standard format)

Correct approach:

// Standardized error response (all endpoints)
{
  "error": {
    "code": "invalid_credentials",
    "message": "The provided email or password is incorrect",
    "details": null,
    "request_id": "req_abc123"
  }
}

// Validation errors (multiple fields)
{
  "error": {
    "code": "validation_failed",
    "message": "One or more fields failed validation",
    "details": {
      "fields": [
        { "field": "email", "message": "Invalid email format" },
        { "field": "password", "message": "Password must be at least 8 characters" }
      ]
    },
    "request_id": "req_def456"
  }
}

// Client-side error handling (consistent)
function handleApiError(response) {
  const { code, message, details } = response.error;
  
  switch (code) {
    case 'validation_failed':
      // Display field-specific errors
      details.fields.forEach(({ field, message }) => {
        showFieldError(field, message);
      });
      break;
    
    case 'unauthorized':
      // Redirect to login
      redirectToLogin();
      break;
    
    default:
      // Generic error message
      showToast(message);
  }
}

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Integration Patterns

backend-developer:

• Handoff: API designer creates spec → Backend implements endpoints
• Collaboration: Error response formats, authentication patterns
• Tools: OpenAPI code generation, API mocking

frontend-developer:

• Handoff: API spec published → Frontend consumes API
• Collaboration: Query patterns, pagination, error handling
• Tools: TypeScript type generation from OpenAPI/GraphQL schema

security-engineer:

• Handoff: API designer defines authentication needs → Security implements auth
• Collaboration: Rate limiting, API key management, OAuth flows
• Critical: JWT validation, API gateway security policies

devops-engineer:

• Handoff: API design finalized → DevOps deploys API gateway
• Collaboration: API versioning deployment, blue-green releases
• Tools: Kong, AWS API Gateway, Traefik configuration

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