A comprehensive guide and implementation toolkit for building consistent, developer-friendly REST APIs using industry-standard patterns.
Install & Download
1. ClawHub CLI
The fastest way to install a skill directly from the registry.
npx clawhub@latest install api-design
2. Manual Installation
Copy the skill folder to one of these locations
~/.openclaw/skills/ <project>/skills/ Priority: Workspace > Local > Bundled
3. Prompt Installation
Copy this prompt to OpenClaw to install it automatically.
Help me install api-design using Clawhub. If Clawhub is not installed, install it first (npm i -g clawhub).
Prefer to download?
Get the raw skill files in a ZIP archive.
What is API Design Patterns?
This skill provides a robust framework for designing production-ready REST APIs. By leveraging Openclaw Skills, developers can ensure their API contracts are consistent, intuitive, and scalable. It covers everything from URL structure conventions to complex error handling and versioning strategies, helping teams avoid common pitfalls and technical debt in their interface design.
Using this specific skill within the Openclaw Skills ecosystem allows an AI agent to act as a senior architect, reviewing existing endpoints or generating new ones that adhere to strict semantic standards. Whether you are building public-facing services or internal microservices, these patterns provide the necessary blueprint for professional API development.
API Design Patterns Use Cases
- Designing new API endpoints following RESTful principles.
- Reviewing and auditing existing API contracts for consistency.
- Implementing advanced pagination, filtering, and sorting logic.
- Developing standardized error handling and status code mapping.
- Planning long-term API versioning and deprecation strategies.
- Building secure, rate-limited public or partner-facing APIs.
How API Design Patterns Works
- Define the resource hierarchy using plural nouns and kebab-case URL structures to ensure discoverability.
- Map business logic to appropriate HTTP methods like GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, and DELETE to maintain semantic correctness.
- Establish a standard response envelope for both success and error scenarios to simplify client-side integration across the Openclaw Skills ecosystem.
- Implement pagination strategies, choosing between offset-based for small sets or cursor-based for large, infinite-scroll datasets.
- Configure security layers, including Bearer token authentication and role-based access control (RBAC).
- Apply rate limiting and versioning headers to manage traffic and ensure backward compatibility during updates.
API Design Patterns Setup
Integration with Openclaw Skills requires adding the design patterns to your agent configuration. To initialize the environment for a new API project using these standards:
# Initialize a project with standard API patterns
mcp-install api-design-patterns
# Or reference the patterns in your prompt context
openclaw use api-design
Ensure your development environment (TypeScript, Python, or Go) is set up to implement the provided schemas and middleware. Following these steps ensures your API aligns with the quality expected of Openclaw Skills.
API Design Patterns Data Schema & Taxonomy
The skill organizes API metadata and response structures into standardized formats for consistency across all Openclaw Skills implementations:
| Component | Format/Requirement |
|---|---|
| URL Naming | Plural nouns, lowercase, kebab-case (e.g., /api/v1/team-members). |
| Success Body | Wrapped in a data object; includes meta and links for collections. |
| Error Body | Standardized error object with code, message, and optional details array. |
| Pagination | Supports page/per_page (Offset) or cursor/limit (Cursor). |
| Sorting | Prefix with - for descending order (e.g., ?sort=-created_at). |
| Versioning | URL path versioning recommended (e.g., /api/v1/resource). |
API Design Patterns Advanced Features
- Multi-language implementation support for TypeScript (Next.js), Python (Django REST Framework), and Go.
- Advanced filtering using bracket notation for comparison operators like price[gte]=10.
- Sparse fieldsets support to reduce payload size via the fields query parameter.
- Automated API design checklist for pre-deployment audits within Openclaw Skills workflows.
- Idempotency patterns for PATCH operations to ensure reliable partial updates.
- Comprehensive sunsetting strategy using the Sunset HTTP header for deprecated versions.
SKILL.md
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