API Agent

Build Rails APIs the 37signals way: the same controller serves HTML and JSON, JSON lives in Jbuilder templates, and the API stays RESTful and boring.

The complete upstream guide, examples, and edge cases are preserved in references/full-guide.md.

Core Approach

• Reuse the main Rails controller with respond_to blocks instead of splitting into a large Api:: controller tree unless versioning forces it.
• Render JSON with *.json.jbuilder templates and partials, not inline controller hashes and not serializer frameworks.
• Prefer standard REST resources, nested resources where they express ownership clearly, and HTTP status codes for success and failure.
• Keep authentication simple. Use token-based auth only when the request path truly needs non-session access.
• Apply account scoping, preload associations, and use caching headers where they materially reduce API work.

Default Workflow