API Design Best Practices untuk Developer

API yang well-designed membuat frontend dan mobile developer senang. Berikut best practices yang harus kamu terapkan.

RESTful Naming Convention

GET    /api/articles        → List articles
GET    /api/articles/:id    → Get single article
POST   /api/articles        → Create article
PUT    /api/articles/:id    → Update article
DELETE /api/articles/:id    → Delete article

HTTP Status Codes

• 200: OK
• 201: Created
• 400: Bad Request (validasi error)
• 401: Unauthorized (belum login)
• 403: Forbidden (tidak punya akses)
• 404: Not Found
• 500: Internal Server Error

Response Format

{
  "data": { ... },
  "meta": {
    "page": 1,
    "limit": 20,
    "total": 100
  }
}

Error:

{
  "error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "message": "Email tidak valid"
  }
}

Pagination

Gunakan query params:

GET /api/articles?page=2&limit=20&sort=createdAt&order=desc

Input Validation

Selalu validasi di server, jangan percaya client:

if (!title?.trim()) {
  return Response.json({ error: "Title required" }, { status: 400 });
}

API yang konsisten dan well-documented adalah tanda developer yang profesional.