API conventions¶

JSON and data representation¶

Use the newest JSON Schema (version 2020-12 as of 2024-12). Follow the Google JSON guide. Contradicting that guide, property names may follow other conventions if needed to accommodate other needs.

Property definitions¶

Don’t try to anticipate lookup needs or pretend your JSON is an index. Let consumers build indices for fast lookup if they need to.

{
  "authorEmails": {
    "John Kerry": "john.kerry@state.gov",
    "Madeleine Albright": "albright@state.gov"
  }

{
  "people": [
    {
      "name": "John Kerry",
      "email": "john.kerry@state.gov"
    }
  ]

Property names¶

Restrict keys to one of these patterns:

• ^[a-z0-9][a-z0-9+-]*$ – kebab-case; general, and allowing + to mean and
• ^[a-z][a-z0-9-]*$ – kebab-case; trivial interoperability with Python
• ^[a-z][A-Za-z0-9]*$ – camelCase; JavaScript/Java-compatible (in practice, avoid consecutive [A-Z]; i.e. prefer ^[a-z]([A-Z]?[a-z0-9]+)*[A-Z]?$.)
• ^[a-z][a-z_]*$ – snake_case; Python-compatible
• another pattern that disallows at least ./:|{}*?#/"'`<> and non-printable characters

Doing this simplifies using JsonPath, JMESPath, jq, YAML, and TOML. Permit only 1 type for a given key or array.

Null and missing values; numerical range and precision¶

Null values (JSON null):¶

Do not use JSON null, except in JSON Merge Patch. JSON Merge Patch uses it to signal deletion, so using null for other purposes effectively prevents HTTP PATCH. It’s problematic for other reasons; refer to the rationale box. Tip: replace any {"key": null} with {} or (e.g.) {"status: "error:too_few_samples}"}. If a null value is encountered (e.g. in a received payload), pretend it isn’t there.

NaN, Inf, and -Inf:¶

JSON does not support numerical NaN, Inf, or -Inf. If NaN or infinite values are applicable for a given key or array, encode them as strings. For example, if values in an array can be a float, Inf, or -Inf, encode them like this: ["5.3", "Inf", "6.8", "-Inf"]. Write literally NaN, Inf, or -Inf, with that capitalization. (The minus sign must be U+002D.)

Range and precision¶

Generally, assume that JSON consumers will use IEEE 754 double range and precision. When writing numbers that might exceed that range or precision (where that precision is important), encode them as strings (as with NaN, Inf, and -Inf).

Case study: Representing inconclusive or unknown values¶

Null values are often used to encode types like string | null and int | null. Instead, be explicit about null’s meaning. Consider a sensor measuring electric current. The values are then divided by preceding average to get a ratio, that is, \(R(I_t) = \left. I_t \middle/ \text{Avg}_{i=1}^{t-1} I_i \right.\), where \(I_t\) is the current for trial \(t\). Compare these two representations:

[
  {"trial": 1, "value": 12.0},
  {"trial": 2, "value": null},
]

[
  {"trial": 1, "status": "success", "value": 12.0},
  {"trial": 2, "status": "error:no_signal"}
]

Encoding specific types¶

Date-times¶

Use RFC 3339, including a UTC offset. Note that the UTC offset is written with a hyphen (technically a hyphen-minus), not a minus sign. Use only IANA timezones. Note that OpenAPI uses this format for date-time and date types. For example:

{
  "date-time": "2023-11-02T14:55:00-08:00",
  "timezone": "America/Los_Angeles"
}

You can append a timezone name per RFC 9557; see affixing timezone names. Example:

2023-11-02T14:55:00-08:00[America/Los_Angeles]

Durations and intervals¶

A duration may be written these three ways:

1. A number of days, hours, minutes, seconds, etc.;
2. An ISO 8601 duration using only integral hours, minutes, and seconds and starting with PT; or
3. Hours, minutes and seconds; i.e. HH:MM:SS[.iii[iii]] (also defined by ISO 8601).

See restricted ISO-8601 specification

For intervals, both {"start": ..., "end": ...} and ISO 8601 T1--T2 syntax are acceptable. Do not separate times with / or use a start-time/duration pair.

HTTP APIs¶

Status codes¶

This section applies to REST-like HTTP APIs. Servers may only use response codes in accordance with this guideline. The acceptable responses and conditions are listed in two tables below. These are exhaustive; servers must not use status codes, methods, responses, or conditions not listed here.

General status codes¶

1. Use JSON Merge Patch for all PATCH requests; see the JSON Merge Patch section.
2. Use RFC 9457 problem details; see the problem details section.

Specialized status codes¶

† These statuses are only applicable to modifiable resources.

404 Not Found¶

404 Not Found is reserved for resources that could exist but do not; attempts to access an invalid endpoint must always generate a 400 (Bad Request). For example, if id must be hexadecimal for /machine/{id}, then /machine/zzz should generate a 400. The response body (RFC 9457 problem details) should describe the problem; e.g. {..., "detail": "{id} must match ^[0-9A-F]{16}$"}.

Occasionally, the server might know that the resource will exist later. For example, if the client PUT a resource, received a 202 Accepted, and then tried to GET the resource too early. A 404 is still appropriate for this. You can indicate the resource’s status in the problem details (detail and/or custom field).

422 Unprocessable Entity and 409 Conflict¶

Use 422 Unprocessable Entity for errors with respect to the model semantics and/or data. For example, in {"robot: "22-1-44", "action": "sit"}, a 422 might be sent if robot 22-1-44 does not exist or lacks sit/stand functionality. A 409 Conflict might result if it 22-1-44 cannot accept the command because it is currently handling another. Respond 409 Conflict for conflicting state, most notably to a request to delete a resource that other resources reference.

418 I’m a Teapot¶

This is an optional response. 418 I’m a Teapot may be used to communicate with a client that has been locked out, for reasons other than ratelimiting. Although this status is nonstandard, some servers use it for similar reasons.

Clients should respond to these situations very differently than to other 4xx responses, such as 401, 403, and 429. A 418 conveys that:

1. The client cannot rectify the problem;
2. The server may or may not be willing to process a different request; and
3. The server may or may not accept the same request if it is re-sent later.

Use cases:

• Suspicious queries: The client has previously sent several suspicious queries.
• Clearly malicious query: The client is currently sending a query that is clearly malicious.
• Excessive data: The client has sent an excessive amount of data over a short period.

JSON Merge Patch¶

For JSON, all PATCH endpoints must use JSON Merge Patch. Because JSON Merge Patch uses null to signal deletion, null may not be used for any other purpose. See the null section for more information.

For non-JSON data, there are two options:

1. Use JSON Merge Patch with a JSON string. If the data is binary, encode it as base64.
2. Use a multipart request with a JSON Merge Patch, with the Merge Patch first. The Merge Patch might choose to reference the additional files by filename.

Problem details¶

Use RFC 9457 (“problem details”). All 4xx and 5xx responses must include an RFC 9457 body with media-type application/problem+json.

{
  "title": "Internal server error",
  "type": "https://domain.tld/help/error/server.internal"
  "status": "500",
}

{
  "title": "DSL parse error",
  "type": "https://domain.tld/help/error/client.dsl-parse"
  "status": "422",
  "detail": "Line number 22 contains an unidentified symbol '@' at column 14.",
  "lineNumber": 22,
}

{
  "title": "Malformed parameter.",
  "status": "400",
  "detail": "Parameter 'name' is malformed. It must be a 10-digit hexadecimal string.",
  "parameter": "name"
}

Keys:

• title (required): A short, human-readable title that ends with a period.
• detail (required sans 500 Server Error and 418 I’m a Teapot): A human-readable description of the problem in one or more complete sentences.
• type (optional; if used, it should be used for all responses): A URI at which the client can find more information about the problem type (see below).
• status (optional): The status code (e.g. 400) shared with the response status code.
• instance (optional; if used, it should be used for all responses sans 500 and 418): A URI that identifies the specific occurrence of the problem for this response.
• extensions: Any additional keys that a client may find useful.

There must be a 1-1 correspondence between type and title. It is recommended that the same type/title only map to one status code.

RFC 9457 type key¶

Example: https://domain.tld/help/error/client#dsl-parse As shown in the example, a URI fragment is perfectly acceptable. The response body must include the problem detail’s title alongside a more detailed description.

Multiple representations must be available via content negotiation:

• text/html; charset=utf-8 (required per RFC 9457): Include the title in an <h1>, ⋯, <h6>.
• application/json (required): Include at least the keys title and description.
• text/x-markdown (recommended): Include the title in an #, ⋯, #####. If OpenAPI is used, use the schema’s response.description.

RFC 9457 extensions¶

Always include extensions that a client would likely want to parse. For example, specify the incorrect request parameter or header, or the dependent resource for a 409 Conflict. Use kebab-case or camelCase according to the convention your overall API uses. These extensions might occasionally be redundant to headers, such as Accept and RateLimit-Limit; that’s fine.

Response headers¶

Links¶

If HATEOAS links are used, they should be limited to direct connections. For example, if a species resource links to its genus, which links to family, species should not link to family. To avoid polluting JSON response bodies, put the links in Link headers or See headers.

Content types¶

Provide Accept: on non-HEAD requests – for example, Accept: text/json. Similarly, provide Content-Type: on POST – for example, Content-Type: text/json.

Rate-limiting¶

Use draft IETF rate-limiting headers: RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, and RateLimit-Reset. These should always be included for 429 (Too Many Requests) responses along with a Retry-After header. RateLimit-Limit, RateLimit-Remaining, and RateLimit-Reset MAY be included for other responses as well.

Content-Disposition¶

Include Content-Disposition: attachment where it would be useful for browsers, even if access via browsers is not expected. This should include responses of > 10 MB. The filename should include the resource type, a resource id (or other value with a 1-1 correspondence with the resource), and a filename extension. Example:

Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="store-item-5221-3q.parquet"

Warnings¶

Use the nonstandard header Warning for non-fatal issues. The header should follow this format:

Warning: <description>{; <key>="<value>"}

Other headers¶

Include:

• Content-Length
• Content-Range for 206 Partial Response responses
• Location for 201 Created responses
• ETag for modifiable resources
• Last-Modified for modifiable resources (optionally)
• Vary (optionally)
• Cache-Control (optionally)

You can omit Date, Age, Origin, Host, Server, and From. If they’re already being sent, that’s also fine.