API Patterns
SkillMediaThis skill equips your AI with API design principles so it can help you make sound decisions when building an interface for other software to use. Once added, your AI can guide you through choosing between REST, GraphQL, and tRPC, and advise on response formats, versioning, and pagination.
Available today. Use it from your connected AI after setup.
No other account needed.
Add the skill, then ask your AI for help with an API design decision, such as which approach fits your project or how to handle versioning and pagination.
Then ask your AI: use the API Patterns skill
What your AI can do with it
- Choose between REST, GraphQL, and tRPC for your API
- Design clear response formats for API outputs
- Plan versioning so changes do not break existing users
- Set up pagination for long lists of results
- Apply design principles when weighing API trade-offs
What this skill tells your AI
The instructions your AI receives, as published by agent-skills-hub/agent-skills-hub in skills/api-patterns/SKILL.md and read by ahel’s review.
API design principles and decision-making for 2025. Learn to THINK, not copy fixed patterns.
🎯 Selective Reading Rule
Read ONLY files relevant to the request! Check the content map, find what you need.
📑 Content Map
| File | Description | When to Read |
|---|---|---|
api-style.md | REST vs GraphQL vs tRPC decision tree | Choosing API type |
rest.md | Resource naming, HTTP methods, status codes | Designing REST API |
response.md | Envelope pattern, error format, pagination | Response structure |
graphql.md | Schema design, when to use, security | Considering GraphQL |
trpc.md | TypeScript monorepo, type safety | TS fullstack projects |
versioning.md | URI/Header/Query versioning | API evolution planning |
auth.md | JWT, OAuth, Passkey, API Keys | Auth pattern selection |
rate-limiting.md | Token bucket, sliding window | API protection |
documentation.md | OpenAPI/Swagger best practices | Documentation |
security-testing.md | OWASP API Top 10, auth/authz testing | Security audits |
🔗 Related Skills
| Need | Skill |
|---|---|
| API implementation | @[skills/backend-development] |
| Data structure | @[skills/database-design] |
| Security details | @[skills/security-hardening] |
✅ Decision Checklist
Before designing an API:
- Asked user about API consumers?
- Chosen API style for THIS context? (REST/GraphQL/tRPC)
- Defined consistent response format?
- Planned versioning strategy?
- Considered authentication needs?
- Planned rate limiting?
- Documentation approach defined?
❌ Anti-Patterns
DON'T:
- Default to REST for everything
- Use verbs in REST endpoints (/getUsers)
- Return inconsistent response formats
- Expose internal errors to clients
- Skip rate limiting
DO:
- Choose API style based on context
- Ask about client requirements
- Document thoroughly
- Use appropriate status codes
Script
| Script | Purpose | Command |
|---|---|---|
scripts/api_validator.py | API endpoint validation | python scripts/api_validator.py <project_path> |
Signals
- GitHub stars
- 96
- Forks
- 35
- Last commit
- Aug 2026
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api-patterns- Source
- github.com/agent-skills-hub/agent-skills-hub