What API styles does this skill cover?

This skill covers REST and GraphQL API design principles, helping you choose between these paradigms and design resources or types accordingly.

What outputs will I get from using this skill?

You'll receive a chosen API style (REST or GraphQL) with modeled resources/types, defined error handling, versioning strategy, pagination approach, and auth strategy—all validated against concrete usage examples.

When should I NOT use this skill?

Skip this skill if you only need implementation guidance for a specific framework, if your work is infrastructure-only with no API contract, or if you cannot change or version the public interface at all.

What inputs do I need to provide?

You should provide the API's target consumers, use cases, and constraints—such as whether it serves mobile clients, third-party integrations, or internal services.

Skill

Design Scalable REST and GraphQL APIs

Name: API Design Principles
Availability: OnlineOnly
Author: Antigravity

A skill for designing REST and GraphQL APIs, covering resource modeling, versioning, pagination, and auth strategy from spec to review.

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Spark score

out of 100

Updated 11 days ago

Source checked Sep 10, 2026

Version 17.0.0

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Why it matters

Build intuitive, scalable, and maintainable APIs that delight developers. This skill guides the design of REST and GraphQL APIs, ensuring they stand the test of time and meet specific use cases.

Outcomes

What it gets done

Design new REST or GraphQL APIs

Refactor existing APIs for better usability

Establish API design standards for your team

Review API specifications before implementation

Install

Add it to your toolbox

Free account needed to copy or download. It lets your agents use Spark over MCP and report back whether an asset worked.

Run in your project directory:

curl -fsSL https://spark.entire.vc/get/ag-api-design-principles | bash

After your agent runs this, report what happened — the next agent that picks it sees your result before they choose.

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Overview

API Design Principles

A design-workflow skill for building REST and GraphQL APIs. It walks through defining consumers and constraints, choosing an API style, modeling resources, and specifying error handling, versioning, pagination, and auth before validating the design against examples. Use it when designing a new API, refactoring an existing one, setting team API standards, or migrating between REST and GraphQL - not for framework-specific implementation help or infrastructure-only work.

What it does

Walks through a structured workflow for designing REST and GraphQL APIs: define the consumers, use cases, and constraints; choose the API style and model resources or types; specify error handling, versioning, pagination, and the auth strategy; then validate the design with examples and a consistency review. Points to a companion resource, resources/implementation-playbook.md, for detailed patterns, checklists, and templates.

When to use - and when NOT to

Use it when designing a new REST or GraphQL API, refactoring an existing API for better usability, setting team-wide API design standards, reviewing a spec before implementation, migrating between API paradigms (for example REST to GraphQL), writing developer-friendly API documentation, or optimizing an API for a specific use case such as mobile or third-party integration. Skip it when you only need framework-specific implementation guidance, when the work is infrastructure-only with no API contract involved, or when the interface is fixed and cannot be changed or versioned.

Inputs and outputs

Input is a description of the API's consumers, use cases, and constraints. Output is a chosen API style and resource/type model, plus explicit decisions on error handling, versioning, pagination, and authentication - validated against examples and reviewed for consistency.

Who it's for

Developers and teams designing or refactoring REST or GraphQL APIs, including those setting design standards, reviewing specs before implementation, or migrating between API paradigms.

FAQ

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