--- title: API Design 101: From Basics to Best Practices | daily.dev description: This post provides an in-depth explanation of API design, focusing on the basics and best practices. It covers topics such as CRUD operations, communication... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-101-from-basics-to-best-practices-gybjn53cd twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: API Design 101: From Basics to Best Practices | daily.dev og:description: This post provides an in-depth explanation of API design, focusing on the basics and best practices. It covers topics such as CRUD operations, communication... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-101-from-basics-to-best-practices-gybjn53cd og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/gYbJn53Cd.png og:image:alt: API Design 101: From Basics to Best Practices og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # API Design 101: From Basics to Best Practices **[Community Picks](https://daily.dev/sources/community)** · 4 min read · 4091 upvotes · 130 comments ## Summary This post provides an in-depth explanation of API design, focusing on the basics and best practices. It covers topics such as CRUD operations, communication protocols, REST, GraphQL, and more. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Community discussion Top comments from developers on daily.dev. **@zataara** · 28 upvotes > Great explanations and wonderful visuals. Bookmarked and will reference on my next api build! **@dimitriszerdevas** · 17 upvotes > As a front-end developer, with little experience on APIs / back-end, I really appreciate it when these articles are language-agnostic. > > Would recommend this article to someone starting out with the basic concepts. **@sunilsson** · 6 upvotes > Great article! This is quite simple and logical but somehow it's still overlooked by a lot of API:s out there (some of my own hehe). **@unknoxx** · 2 upvotes > Although I am still a beginner, reading this well-constructed and detailed article has helped me understand the concepts of APIs even before getting into it. **@waleedshoaib** · 2 upvotes > Really informative stuff ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [Don’t just attend KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon, Merge Forward your experience\!](https://daily.dev/posts/don-t-just-attend-kubecon-cloudnativecon-merge-forward-your-experience--l0rpp73x8) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Announcing H2 2026 KCDs](https://daily.dev/posts/announcing-h2-2026-kcds-m96goajm1) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Two months of Open Community Groups](https://daily.dev/posts/two-months-of-open-community-groups-asf52zhbs) · CNCF · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Unveils Schedule for KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Europe 2026](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-unveils-schedule-for-kubecon-cloudnativecon-europe-2026-ikhcoa5cb) · CNCF · 2 upvotes · 0 comments - [CNCF Debuts KubeCon \+ CloudNativeCon Japan 2026 Schedule](https://daily.dev/posts/cncf-debuts-kubecon-cloudnativecon-japan-2026-schedule-xp5pyudub) · CNCF · 1 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#architecture](https://daily.dev/tags/architecture), [#graphql](https://daily.dev/tags/graphql), [#rest-api](https://daily.dev/tags/rest-api) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-101-from-basics-to-best-practices-gybjn53cd) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"API Design 101: From Basics to Best Practices","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-101-from-basics-to-best-practices-gybjn53cd","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-101-from-basics-to-best-practices-gybjn53cd"},"datePublished":"2024-05-23T09:47:04.879Z","dateModified":"2024-08-23T14:44:08.033Z","description":"This post provides an in-depth explanation of API design, focusing on the basics and best practices. It covers topics such as CRUD operations, communication...","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/41bbe2d87e36f7348dd299b6ea96314d?_a=AQAEuiZ","thumbnailUrl":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/f_auto,q_auto/v1/posts/41bbe2d87e36f7348dd299b6ea96314d?_a=AQAEuiZ","isAccessibleForFree":true,"articleSection":"Community Picks","inLanguage":"en","publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180}},"author":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Community Picks","logo":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/t_logo,f_auto/v1655817725/logos/community","url":"https://daily.dev/sources/community"},"commentCount":130,"discussionUrl":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-101-from-basics-to-best-practices-gybjn53cd","interactionStatistic":[{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":4091},{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"CommentAction"},"userInteractionCount":130}],"keywords":"architecture,graphql,rest-api","timeRequired":"PT4M"} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https://daily.dev"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Community Picks","item":"https://daily.dev/sources/community"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"API Design 101: From Basics to Best Practices"}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/api-design-101-from-basics-to-best-practices-gybjn53cd","comment":[{"@type":"Comment","text":"Great explanations and wonderful visuals. Bookmarked and will reference on my next api build!","datePublished":"2024-05-24T05:54:58.340Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gYbJn53Cd#c-cZuFEWMDN","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Bryant MacMahon","url":"https://daily.dev/zataara","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/75229911?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":28}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"As a front-end developer, with little experience on APIs / back-end, I really appreciate it when these articles are language-agnostic.\nWould recommend this article to someone starting out with the basic concepts.","datePublished":"2024-05-24T08:41:05.554Z","dateModified":"2024-05-24T08:41:31.475Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gYbJn53Cd#c-GRLhwyyzJ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Dimitris Zerdevas","url":"https://daily.dev/dimitriszerdevas","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--PLdZQGdP--/f_auto/v1776013346/avatars/avatar_vN1HdXC71K1EeMEqcwTU3?_a=BAMAMiWQ0"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":17}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Great article! This is quite simple and logical but somehow it’s still overlooked by a lot of API:s out there (some of my own hehe).","datePublished":"2024-05-24T06:22:02.919Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gYbJn53Cd#c-Jo3Z8DdPQ","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Linus Larsson","url":"https://daily.dev/sunilsson","image":"https://media.daily.dev/image/upload/s--0uNuj4yV--/f_auto/v1715861447/avatars/avatar_fcAyQrqGoPuZfSSQgsoZc"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":6}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Although I am still a beginner, reading this well-constructed and detailed article has helped me understand the concepts of APIs even before getting into it.","datePublished":"2024-05-25T08:28:18.094Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gYbJn53Cd#c-xHm7AXeXH","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Tobi","url":"https://daily.dev/unknoxx","image":"https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/81586558?v=4"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}},{"@type":"Comment","text":"Really informative stuff","datePublished":"2024-05-25T13:33:41.007Z","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/gYbJn53Cd#c-OmJIopeof","author":{"@type":"Person","name":"Waleed Shoaib","url":"https://daily.dev/waleedshoaib","image":"https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/a/ACg8ocJHSbc4smfjOKnelaus8vCF7IKqDw0ZLjnSY8LIW5_Gq9mtB6Jn=s96-c"},"interactionStatistic":{"@type":"InteractionCounter","interactionType":{"@type":"LikeAction"},"userInteractionCount":2}}]} ```