API Design Principles

API Design Principles is a DevOps skill for Claude Code, published by wshobson in agents.

38.8K stars4.1K forkson wshobson/agentsAdded 2026/08/13Repository updated 2026/08/05

agent-skillsagentic-aiagentsai-agentsanthropicautomationclaude-codeclaude-code-pluginscodex-clicopilotcursorcursor-rulesdeveloper-toolsgemini-climcpmulti-agentopencodeorchestrationprompt-engineeringworkflows

Install in seconds

Install API Design Principles

Copy API Design Principles into your Claude Code skills folder. Run the command in your terminal, or review the source on GitHub before installing.

terminal

npx degit https://github.com/wshobson/agents/tree/main/plugins/backend-development/skills/api-design-principles ~/.claude/skills/api-design-principles

Requires Node.js. Downloads this skill only — not the rest of the repository — into your Claude Code skills folder.

Without Node.js

git clone https://github.com/wshobson/agents.git

Clones the whole repository, then copy the skill’s own directory into your skills folder yourself.

In this catalog

Source file: plugins/backend-development/skills/api-design-principles/SKILL.md in wshobson/agents
Installs to: ~/.claude/skills/api-design-principles
Collection: One of 25 skills cataloged from this repository
Category: DevOps — 798 skills

What API Design Principles does

API Design Principles covers REST and GraphQL API design patterns, versioning strategies, and best practices for building intuitive, scalable, maintainable APIs. Use it when designing new APIs, reviewing API specifications, or establishing API design standards.

API Design Principles is cataloged under DevOps on DirSkills. API Design Principles comes from a repository tagged agent-skills, agentic-ai, agents, ai-agents and anthropic.

Documentation

README

Excerpt

API Design Principles

Master REST and GraphQL API design principles to build intuitive, scalable, and maintainable APIs that delight developers and stand the test of time.

When to Use This Skill

Designing new REST or GraphQL APIs
Refactoring existing APIs for better usability
Establishing API design standards for your team
Reviewing API specifications before implementation
Migrating between API paradigms (REST to GraphQL, etc.)
Creating developer-friendly API documentation
Optimizing APIs for specific use cases (mobile, third-party integrations)

Core Concepts

1. RESTful Design Principles

Resource-Oriented Architecture

This is the opening of the README. Read the full README on GitHub.

Commands API Design Principles provides

Slash commands named in this skill’s SKILL.md, listed in the order they first appear.

/users
/user

Frequently asked about API Design Principles

What else does wshobson publish alongside API Design Principles?
API Design Principles is one of 25 skills that DirSkills catalogs from wshobson/agents, the repository it ships in. Its siblings there include Architecture Patterns, Before You Build and Block No-Verify Hook. Each one is a separate skill with its own page in this directory, installs the same way API Design Principles does, and is maintained by wshobson in that same repository. The rest of the collection is listed on the wshobson/agents page.
How does API Design Principles compare to other DevOps skills?
API Design Principles ranks #35 by stars among the 798 DevOps skills in this catalog. The most-starred ones next to it are Backend Patterns, API Connector Builder and Migration. DirSkills ranks by the star count of the repository each skill ships in, so that order reflects how popular those repositories are rather than any review of API Design Principles against them. Open each page to compare what they document and how they install.