Reliable REST APIs

What you will learn

• Model resources and collections with stable identifiers and predictable URLs
• Choose a versioning strategy that protects clients without freezing delivery
• Design error responses that are actionable for integrators
• Apply pagination, filtering, and idempotency patterns correctly
• Define ownership and operational checks for production API surfaces

About this course

Teams often ship APIs that work for the first client and then become expensive to change. This course focuses on the craft of reliable REST APIs: resource modeling, contract discipline, versioning without chaos, and operational habits that keep integrations calm. You will work through concrete examples of request/response design, pagination, idempotency, and error taxonomies. Each section pairs a principle with a short workshop so you leave with artifacts you can reuse on a live service. By the end, you should be able to review an API design for longevity, explain trade-offs to product partners, and put monitoring and ownership around the surfaces that matter most.

Who it is for

• Backend engineers shipping public or partner APIs
• Tech leads reviewing API designs across squads
• Full-stack engineers owning client and server contracts