Best Practices for Route Naming

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Best Practices for Route Naming

Technical Overview of REST API Endpoint Naming Conventions and Best Practices

When you’re designing RESTful APIs, how you name your endpoints is more than just a minor detail—it directly affects how easy your API is to maintain internally and how pleasant it is for developers to use. This article pulls together and builds on key ideas from existing best-practice guides, covering clarity, consistency, resource focus, and versioning. Below, we’ll dive into the technical details and suggest strategies for naming API endpoints in a RESTful setup.

1. Use Nouns to Represent Resources

  1. Primary Resource Representation (remember, they’re objects)
    • Recommendation: always use nouns to represent resources (e.g., GET /users instead of GET /getUsers).
    • Reasoning: using verbs can get confusing because it mixes up the actual resource with what you’re doing to it. The HTTP methods—GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH—are already the verbs that specify the actions. So, keep your resource names strictly as nouns.
  2. Plurality for Collections
    • Recommendation: use plural nouns to represent collections (e.g., /users instead of /user).
    • Reasoning: a RESTful API usually deals with sets of resources. A plural form clearly indicates that the endpoint handles a collection, while a singular form is better suited for a single resource endpoint, like /users/{userId}.

2. Hierarchical Endpoint Structures for Sub-Resources

  1. Nested Paths (to access attributes of that object or fields of that entity, or even to perform a sort of “join”, see below)
    • Recommendation: when a resource is strictly contained or logically nested within another, reflect this hierarchy in the path (e.g., /users/{userId}/posts/{postId}). [It’s like a kind of join: select posts from users inner join posts on users.userId=posts.userId where posts.postId == "<postId>"]
    • Reasoning: a hierarchical structure clearly shows the relationship between parent and child resources [between the primary key and the foreign key].
    • Example:
      • Top-level resource: /projects
      • Sub-resource: /projects/{projectId}/tasks
  2. Avoid Redundant Nesting
    • Recommendation: keep nesting levels to a minimum and try to avoid deeply nested routes (e.g., /users/{userId}/tasks is fine, but /company/{companyId}/department/{departmentId}/teams/{teamId}/members/{memberId} often becomes too much to handle).
    • Reasoning: too much nesting can make things unclear and can make path definitions overly long or complicated for both API consumers and your internal team.

3. Consistent Formatting Conventions

  1. Case and Delimiters
    • Recommendation: stick to lowercase letters with dashes (-) or underscores (_) to separate words (e.g., /user-accounts or /user_accounts).
    • Reasoning: using MixedCase or camelCase can cause confusion in environments where case sensitivity is a factor. Dashes or underscores improve readability and are widely accepted conventions.
  2. Resource Identifiers
    • Recommendation: use single segments for IDs, typically in path parameters (e.g., /users/{userId}).
    • Reasoning: short, clear identifiers (like UUIDs, numeric IDs, or other unique keys) keep paths clean and easy to parse.

4. Leverage Query Parameters for Filtering and Sorting

  1. Query Parameters vs. Resource Paths
    • Recommendation: keep your endpoints focused on representing resources (i.e., /users) and move any extra criteria or operations to query parameters (e.g., GET /users?sort=desc&role=admin).
    • Reasoning: this approach fits well with REST’s resource-centered philosophy and keeps resource paths clean and general. Queries can then handle optional filtering or sorting logic. Focus on entities and classes, not methods and actions.
  2. Common Patterns
    • Sorting: sort=asc|desc, sortBy=createdDate
    • Filtering: status=active, type=premium
    • Pagination: page=2&limit=50

5. Reflect Domain Semantics

  1. Avoid Overly Generic Resource Names
    • Recommendation: use language that clearly reflects your domain’s entities (e.g., /customers instead of /persons if the resource specifically represents customers).
    • Reasoning: precise domain terms reduce ambiguity and make the API more readable for end-users and developers who are familiar with the business context.
  2. Encourage Semantic Coherence
    • Recommendation: if sub-resources are part of a unique domain language, use that specialized terminology (e.g., /customers/{customerId}/orders rather than /customers/{customerId}/transactions).
    • Reasoning: aligning endpoint names with your domain model makes for a more intuitive API.

6. Proper Usage of HTTP Methods over RPC-Style Endpoints

  1. Action Endpoints vs. HTTP Verbs
    • Recommendation: try to resist creating RPC-style endpoints (e.g., POST /users/createUser). Instead, rely on HTTP verbs to indicate the operation on the resource (e.g., POST /users to create a user).
    • Reasoning: overly verbose endpoints add confusion since the HTTP method already tells you the type of operation.
  2. Non-CRUD Operations
    • Recommendation: for specialized actions not covered by standard CRUD semantics, you can still use noun-based URLs. You might include the action as a sub-resource or in a clear, minimal way (e.g., POST /users/{userId}/activate).
    • Reasoning: some actions, like “activate,” don’t neatly fit the create/read/update/delete pattern. A consistent way to handle these is to treat such actions as state changes on the existing resource.

7. Avoid Conflicts with Reserved Words

  1. Reserved Keywords
    • Recommendation: check for any reserved or conflicting words in your server environment, database, or frameworks. For instance, words like “admin,” “test,” or certain platform-specific terms can cause issues.
    • Reasoning: using reserved words could break your underlying router logic or database queries, leading to unpredictable behavior.
  2. Namespace Collisions
    • Recommendation: if your API deals with multiple services that might share the same resource name, prefix or namespace them meaningfully (e.g., /billing/accounts vs. /user/accounts).
    • Reasoning: ensuring unique routes for different services helps avoid accidental collisions and confusion in large-scale systems.

Applicable to All Routes (to be set globally)

Incorporate Versioning Strategically

  1. When to Version
    • Recommendation: introduce version numbers (v1, v2, etc.) only when it’s necessary to avoid breaking changes for existing consumers.
    • Reasoning: versioning ensures stability and backward compatibility. However, try to avoid too much version fragmentation to keep maintenance manageable.
  2. Versioning in Path vs. Header
    • Recommendation: place the version number in the path (e.g., /v1/users). Alternatively, some APIs use custom headers for versioning.
    • Reasoning: path-based versioning is generally easier for third-party developers to discover and simpler to handle in your routing logic. Header-based versioning can keep paths cleaner but requires developers to have more specialized knowledge.

Conclusion

Well-structured REST endpoint names don’t just make it easier for developers to interact with your service; they also reinforce clear domain semantics and lead to more maintainable codebases. By prioritizing resource-based naming, consistent formatting, careful nesting, strategic versioning, and explicit domain language, your API endpoints will more naturally reflect the underlying business logic and provide an intuitive interface for client developers.

Implementing these technical guidelines helps establish a robust, future-proof design where clarity, discoverability, and consistency are key. Ultimately, this reduces the burden of refactoring and fosters a seamless experience for consumers at every stage of your API’s lifecycle.

References