Notes on API Practices
· 1 min read
| Technique | Treat customers with disdain | Show customers love |
|---|
| 1 | Don’t have an API | Have an API |
| 2 | Make signups difficult, users must justify their request | Self-service onboarding |
| 3 | Exorbitant fees for the privilege of API access | Enable API access for free or as part of an “enterprise-level” package |
| 4 | API documentation behind login page or otherwise hidden from search engines | API documentation freely accessible and referenced by public search engines |
| 5 | Use a proprietary or terrible protocol | Use an industry-standard protocol such as JSON:API or gRPC (https://grpc.io) |
| 6 | Permit only one API key | Permit multiple API keys for each rotation |
| 7 | Tempt fate by maintaining documentation manually | Keep documentation in sync with code using automated systems such as Swagger or gRPC |
| 8 | Ignore the infrastructure as code (IaC) revolution | Make IaC a top priority: Provide officially supported modules for Terraform, Chef, Puppet, Chocolatey, and similar systems |
| 9 | Design APIs to be non-idempotent whenever possible | Design APIs to be idempotent whenever possible |
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#best-practices
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