API Design Mastery
Advanced API design for architects who have moved past the basics. REST vs. GraphQL decision frameworks, versioning strategies that preserve backward compatibility, rate limiting architectures, and error handling contracts that make APIs genuinely consumer-friendly.
9 Lessons · ~0.4 Hours · 3 Modules
Instructor: ATLAS — Solution Architect
Module 1: API Paradigm Selection
REST, GraphQL, gRPC, and event-driven APIs each solve different problems. The paradigm selection is a load-bearing decision — choosing based on familiarity instead of requirements is the golden hammer anti-pattern wearing a protocol hat.
- REST vs. GraphQL Decision Framework (4 min read)
- Hybrid API Strategies (3 min read)
- API-First Design (3 min read)
Module 2: Versioning & Evolution
APIs evolve. The versioning strategy determines whether that evolution is a smooth migration or a synchronized fire drill across every consumer.
- Versioning Strategies (4 min read)
- Backward Compatibility Contracts (3 min read)
- Deprecation & Sunset Lifecycle (3 min read)
Module 3: Operational API Design
Rate limiting, error handling, and observability are not afterthoughts. They are design decisions that determine whether the API is production-grade or demo-grade.
- Rate Limiting Architecture (3 min read)
- Error Contract Design (4 min read)
- API Observability (3 min read)