REST API Development Tutorial
Design and build HTTP APIs that other developers can use without reading your source code
Intermediate4 lessonsabout 27 min of reading
This course is for developers who can already write a function and have used an API, but have not yet designed one. You should be comfortable reading JSON and running commands in a terminal; the server examples are short Flask (Python) applications and every request is made with curl, so you see exactly what travels over the wire. If you prefer Node, the same ideas appear in Node.js, where the last lesson builds a service from the built-in HTTP module.
You will learn to model a problem as resources, choose the right method and status code for each operation, shape request and response payloads that will not need breaking changes next quarter, and add pagination, filtering, sorting and versioning. The final lesson covers what separates a demo from a dependable API: structured errors, idempotency keys so retries are safe, conditional requests with ETags, and documenting the contract in OpenAPI and checking the server against it.
The lessons are ordered from vocabulary to practice. First the building blocks (resources, methods, status codes), then design (naming and payloads), then the features every list endpoint eventually needs, and finally reliability and documentation. Each lesson uses a different small domain, so you practise the ideas rather than memorising one example. When you are ready to protect these endpoints, continue with JWT Authentication.
REST API Development lessons
- 1REST API Basics: Resources, HTTP Methods and Status CodesLearn how REST APIs model resources, which HTTP method to use for each action, and which status codes to return, with a runnable Flask API and curl.7 min read
- 2REST API Design: Endpoint Naming and JSON Payload Best PracticesDesign clean REST endpoints and JSON payloads: naming, nesting, actions as sub-resources, ISO timestamps, money as integers and field-level validation errors.6 min read
- 3REST API Pagination, Filtering, Sorting and Versioning ExplainedAdd offset and cursor pagination, filters, safe sorting and API versioning to a REST endpoint, and see why offset paging repeats items, with real output.7 min read
- 4REST API Errors, Idempotency, Headers and OpenAPI DocumentationMake a REST API dependable: problem+json errors, Idempotency-Key retries, ETag and If-Match, key headers, and an OpenAPI spec the server is checked against.7 min read
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