# The Architecture of Professional REST APIs

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/software-engineer-interview-prep-podcast-7756520/the-architecture-of-professional-rest-apis
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/software-engineer-interview-prep-podcast-7756520/the-architecture-of-professional-rest-apis.md
Podcast: [Software Engineer Interview Prep Podcast](https://stenobird.com/podcast/software-engineer-interview-prep-podcast-7756520)
Published: 2026-04-17T13:57:03+00:00
Episode link: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/prabuddha-ganegoda/episodes/The-Architecture-of-Professional-REST-APIs-e3i22ee
Audio file: https://anchor.fm/s/10f2c0f8c/podcast/play/118605710/https%3A%2F%2Fd3ctxlq1ktw2nl.cloudfront.net%2Fstaging%2F2026-3-17%2Fd90de213-a50a-bdc2-80c2-dfed32e6f12a.m4a
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/software-engineer-interview-prep-podcast-7756520/episodes/the-architecture-of-professional-rest-apis
Duration seconds: 1667

## Resource

HTTP Contracts & Status Codes: The podcast will cover why returning a 200 OK for an error is a massive anti-pattern. Jenny explains the exact contract of 2xx, 4xx, and 5xx status codes, and emphasizes the use of trace IDs and machine-readable error envelopes so clients know exactly what went wrong and how to fix it. Versioning & Pagination: They will discuss the trade-offs of URI, Header, and Query Parameter versioning, with Jenny recommending URI versioning (/v1/users) for public APIs. For pagination, the episode will strongly contrast Offset Pagination (which can skip records or show duplicates during mutations) with Cursor-Based Pagination (which uses an opaque token for stable, high-performance data fetching). Idempotency & Safe Operations: You will learn how to design systems for network failures. The hosts clarify the difference between a safe operation (like GET) and an idempotent one (like PUT or DELETE), and how to implement client-supplied Idempotency-Key headers for POST requests so you never accidentally double-charge a user. Performance Levers: Jenny walks through using Cache-Control and ETag headers for conditional requests, sparse fieldsets to save bandwidth, and standardizing rate limits using algorithms like the Token Bucket or Leaky Bucket. Expert Territory (HATEOAS & Governance): To close out, they will discuss the Richardson Maturity Model , defining Level 3 (HATEOAS) where the server dictates the next possible actions via hypermedia links. The episode ends with the philosophy that API documentation (via OpenAPI) and contract testing are first-class engineering concerns, because breaking an API is a "social contract violation".

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## Transcript

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