RESTful API Design, HTTP Status Codes & Best Practices
Design developer-friendly, secure, and predictable REST APIs following industry standards and RFC conventions.
1. Resource Naming & HTTP Methods
RESTful endpoints represent nouns (resources), while HTTP verbs define the action.
/* Canonical Endpoint Patterns:
* GET /api/v1/courses - List all courses
* POST /api/v1/courses - Create a new course
* GET /api/v1/courses/:id - Retrieve specific course
* PUT /api/v1/courses/:id - Replace complete course
* PATCH /api/v1/courses/:id - Partially update course
* DELETE /api/v1/courses/:id - Delete course
* GET /api/v1/courses/:id/weeks- Nested resource relationship
*/2. Essential HTTP Status Codes
Return precise HTTP status codes to communicate client vs server errors clearly.
// 2xx Success
// 200 OK - Standard successful request
// 201 Created - Resource successfully created (POST)
// 204 No Content - Success with empty response body (DELETE)
// 4xx Client Errors
// 400 Bad Request - Malformed payload or validation error
// 401 Unauthorized - Authentication token missing or invalid
// 403 Forbidden - Authenticated user lacks permission
// 404 Not Found - Resource does not exist
// 409 Conflict - Duplicate record (e.g. email already exists)
// 5xx Server Errors
// 500 Internal Error - Unhandled exception on serverFrequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between PUT and PATCH in REST APIs?
PUT replaces the entire representation of the target resource with the request payload, whereas PATCH applies partial modifications to specific fields.
How should API errors be formatted?
Return a structured JSON object with a machine-readable error code, human-readable message, and optional field-level validation details (e.g. RFC 7807 Problem Details specification).
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