ios-networking

name	ios-networking
description	Standards for URLSession, Alamofire, and API communication. Use when implementing URLSession networking, Alamofire, or API clients in iOS. (triggers: **/*Service.swift, **/*API.swift, **/*Client.swift, URLSession, Alamofire, Moya, URLRequest, URLComponents, Codable)

iOS Networking Standards

Priority: P0

Implementation Guidelines

URLSession (Native)

• Tasks: Use dataTaskPublisher (Combine) or async/await (e.g., let (data, response) = await URLSession.shared.data(...)).
• Configuration: Use URLSessionConfiguration.default for standard tasks and ephemeral for private browsing/clearing cache.
• Request Building: Use URLComponents and URLQueryItem to build URLs safely with parameters. Never use string interpolation for URL parameters.

Alamofire (Standard Third-Party)

• Session: Maintain a singleton or DI-injected Session instance.
• Request: Use .validate() to automatically check for 200..299 status codes.
• Encoding: Use JSONParameterEncoder.default for body parameters.
• Retriers: Handle a 401 token refresh with a RequestInterceptor. Use onRetry to call the refreshToken() API.

Best Practices

• Codable: Use Codable for all JSON decoding/mapping. Prefer snake_case strategies for API data consistency.
• Bearer Token Auth: Use RequestInterceptor to add the Bearer header (Authorization: Bearer <token>) to all API requests.
• SSL Pinning: Implement using ServerTrustManager or TrustKit for production-grade security.

Anti-Patterns

• No UI updates in background task: Always dispatch to MainActor or main thread.
• No manual JSONSerialization: Use Codable and JSONDecoder.
• No indefinite wait: Set a reasonable timeoutInterval (30s default).

References

• Native & Alamofire Implementation