Design and version an API
Shape a clean, consistent API against a clear API design standard - resources, standard methods, typed errors, cursor pagination, idempotency - then version and deprecate it under a versioning policy so no consumer is ever broken without consent.
Units5
Duration28 min
Levelintermediate
By the end of this module, you'll be able to:
- Design a resource-oriented, contract-first API that meets the same shape across HTTP, gRPC, GraphQL, and MCP, using the conventions the API design standard fixes.
- Apply the estate-wide MUST invariants - the RFC 9457 error model, the
codetaxonomy, cursor pagination bounds, and idempotency on creating writes - and know when a default needs a recorded deviation. - Pick the right versioning scheme per surface and evolve a contract additively without breaking a live consumer.
- Walk a contract through the deprecation lifecycle - deprecated, sunset, retired - keeping the API, docs, and changelog in lockstep from one deprecation manifest.
Prerequisites
- Familiarity with HTTP APIs (methods, status codes) and reading a schema.
- Helpful but not required: the AGENTS floor and the request lifecycle.
Units
- 01Introduction4 min
- 02Design a clean API8 min
- 03Version and deprecate without breaking consumers8 min
- 04Knowledge check5 min
- 05Summary3 min
Related
- Apply the naming standards Name a new identifier, file, repo, or branch the way an AI-native org does - keyword-first, no redundant prefix, cased by role - and tell a functional keyword apart from a product codename, so your first artifact passes the naming gate by default.
- Read the pipeline that ships your change Follow a change from a pull request through the canonical CI stage set to a gated production deploy - the ordered gates a pipeline runs, why CI is the real gate, and how the deployment model promotes one signed artifact dev to staging to prod.
- Commits and versioning Write Conventional Commits whose type, scope, and breaking marker drive Semantic Versioning; see how release-please turns merged commits into a human-approved Release-PR, changelog, and tag; and how the trunk-based, protected-main model gates every release.