# interagent/http-api-design

HTTP API design guide extracted from work on the Heroku Platform API

Repository: https://github.com/interagent/http-api-design
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/http-api-design
Homepage: https://geemus.gitbooks.io/http-api-design/content/en/
License: NOASSERTION
License Family: other
Last push: 2024-01-16T20:27:54+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 32/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 0, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 4501, "days_push": 960, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 13684, forks 1040 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:04.531327+00:00)

## What it is
A community-maintained HTTP+JSON API design guide extracted from the Heroku Platform API work. It documents consistent conventions for designing REST APIs, covering requests, responses, errors, caching, and resource organization.

## Use cases
- design a consistent REST API
- decide on HTTP status codes and error formats
- standardize JSON API conventions across a team
- learn best practices for HTTP+JSON APIs
- avoid bikeshedding when designing API endpoints
- review an existing API against established conventions

## When to choose
- you are designing a new HTTP+JSON REST API and want proven conventions
- your team needs a shared API style guide to reduce design debates
- you want guidance grounded in a real production API (Heroku Platform API)

## When to avoid
- you need GraphQL, gRPC, or non-REST API design guidance
- you need a tool or library rather than a written guide
- you need exhaustive coverage of HTTP fundamentals for beginners

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: maintenance
- function: documentation, api-framework
- domain: apis, web-development, documentation, developer-tools
- platform: -
- tags: http-api, api-design, rest, style-guide, best-practices, heroku, web-server

## Member repositories
- interagent/http-api-design (main) score 32

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:04.531327+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:13:07.218419+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/interagent/http-api-design (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:04.531327+00:00, sha d1545e858611)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.