REST API's Design

Designing REST APIs with Spring Boot involves not only adhering to REST principles but also ensuring the APIs are maintainable, scalable, and user-friedly.

Here the key points for REST API design best practices in Spring Boot:

  1. Resource Naming and URL Structure

    • URL patterns and conventions

    • Resource identification

    • Nested resources handling

    • Query parameter usage

  2. HTTP Methods and Status Codes

    • Proper HTTP method selection

    • Appropriate status code usage

    • Idempotency considerations

    • Bulk operations handling

  3. Request/Response Design

    • Request payload structure

    • Response envelope patterns

    • Error response standardization

    • Data pagination approaches

  4. Versioning Strategies

    • URI versioning

    • Header versioning

    • Content negotiation

    • Version migration strategies

  5. Security Patterns

    • Authentication mechanisms

    • Authorization levels

    • API key management

    • Rate limiting implementation

  6. Documentation and Contracts

    • OpenAPI/Swagger implementation

    • API documentation standards

    • Contract-first approach

    • Example payloads

  7. Data Transfer Objects (DTOs)

    • DTO design patterns

    • Mapping strategies

    • Validation approaches

    • Custom serialization

  8. Filtering and Searching

    • Query parameter standards

    • Search criteria implementation

    • Filter combinations

    • Sort parameters

  9. Caching Strategy

    • Cache headers

    • ETag implementation

    • Cache invalidation

    • Conditional requests

  10. HATEOAS and Links

    • Link relations

    • Resource discovery

    • Navigation patterns

    • State transitions

  11. Batch Operations

    • Bulk create/update/delete

    • Transaction handling

    • Progress tracking

    • Partial success handling

  12. API Evolution

    • Backward compatibility

    • Deprecation strategy

    • Breaking changes handling

    • Feature toggles

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