API Development Patterns

Complete patterns and best practices for building production-grade REST APIs in Rails 7.x/8.x.

RESTful API Conventions

Resource-Oriented Design

Core Principles:

• Resources are nouns (not verbs): /users, /posts, not /get_user
• Use HTTP methods for actions: GET (read), POST (create), PATCH/PUT (update), DELETE (destroy)
• Nest resources for relationships, but limit nesting to 1-2 levels
• Use plural resource names: /users not /user

Standard Resource Routes:

# config/routes.rb
Rails.application.routes.draw do