Agent skill · software engineering · aiskillstore
rest-patterns
Quick reference for RESTful API design patterns, HTTP semantics, caching, and rate limiting. Triggers on: rest api, http methods, status codes, api design, endpoint design, api versioning, rate limiting, caching headers.
Why this skill is useful
Codifies best practices for RESTful API design that the AI could infer but now doesn't have to guess.
What it needs
About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-07. 405 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
REST Patterns Quick reference for RESTful API design patterns and HTTP semantics. HTTP Methods Method Purpose Idempotent Cacheable -------- --------- ------------ ----------- GET Retrieve resource(s) Yes Yes POST Create new resource No No PUT Replace entire resource Yes No PATCH Partial update Maybe No DELETE Remove resource Yes No Essential Status Codes Code Name Use ------ ------ ----- 200 OK Success with body 201 Created POST success (add Location header) 204 No Content Success, no body 400 Bad Request Invalid syntax 401 Unauthorized Not authenticated 403 Forbidden Not authorized 404 Not Found Resource doesn't exist 422 Unprocessable Validation error 429 Too Many Requests Rate limited 500 Server Error Internal failure Resource Design Security Checklist [ ] HTTPS/TLS only [ ] OAuth 2.0 or JWT for auth [ ] Validate all inputs [ ] Rate limit per client [ ] CORS headers configured [ ] No sensitive data in URLs [ ] Use no-store for sensitive responses Common Mistakes Mistake Fix --------- ----- Verbs in URLs /getUsers → /users Deep nesting Flatten or use query params 200 for errors Use proper 4xx/5xx No pagination Always paginate collections Missing rate limits Protect against abuse Quick Reference Task Pattern ------ --------- Paginate ?page=2&limit=20 Sort ?sort=field:asc Filter ?status=active Sparse fields ?fields=id,name Include related ?include=orders When to Use Designing new API endpoints Choosing HTTP methods and status codes Implementing caching headers Setting up rate limiting Structuring error responses Additional Resources For detailed patterns, load: ./references/status-codes.md - Complete status code reference with examples ./references/caching-patterns.md - Cache-Control, ETag, CDN patterns ./references/rate-limiting.md - Rate limiting strategies and headers ./references/response-formats.md - Errors, versioning, bulk ops, HATEOAS
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills aiskillstore/rest-patterns