Agent skill

API Design

REST API design principles and best practices. An agent skill from cohen-liel/hivemind.

Apache-2.0Auto-check passedBackend & APIs

Install API Design

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a claude-code

Project install by default; add -g for ~/.claude/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cohen-liel/hivemind api-design --agent claude-code

Project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind.git skills-src && mkdir -p .claude/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/api-design .claude/skills/api-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.claude/skills/ instead of .claude/skills for a personal install. The folder must contain SKILL.md.

Claude Code skills documentation · loads skills from .claude/skills/

Paste into Claude Code

Install the "api-design" agent skill from https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind/tree/main/.claude/skills/api-design into .claude/skills/api-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "api-design", then confirm the skill loads.

Claude Code copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

$skill-installer

$skill-installer install https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind/tree/main/.claude/skills/api-design

Type this inside Codex. $skill-installer <name> installs a curated skill from openai/skills. The installer writes to $CODEX_HOME/skills (default ~/.codex/skills). Restart Codex if the skill does not show up.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a codex

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.codex/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cohen-liel/hivemind api-design --agent codex

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind.git skills-src && mkdir -p .agents/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/api-design .agents/skills/api-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.agents/skills/ instead of .agents/skills for a personal install.

Codex skills documentation · loads skills from .agents/skills/

Paste into Codex

Install the "api-design" agent skill from https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind/tree/main/.claude/skills/api-design into .agents/skills/api-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "api-design", then confirm the skill loads.

Codex copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a cursor

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.cursor/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cohen-liel/hivemind api-design --agent cursor

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind.git skills-src && mkdir -p .cursor/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/api-design .cursor/skills/api-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.cursor/skills/ instead of .cursor/skills for a personal install.

Cursor skills documentation · loads skills from .cursor/skills/, .agents/skills/, .claude/skills/, .codex/skills/

Paste into Cursor

Install the "api-design" agent skill from https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind/tree/main/.claude/skills/api-design into .cursor/skills/api-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "api-design", then confirm the skill loads.

Cursor copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

gemini skills install

$ gemini skills install https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind.git --path .claude/skills/api-design

--scope user (default) or --scope workspace; --path is the subfolder of the repo that holds the skill; --consent skips the security confirmation prompt.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a gemini-cli

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.gemini/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cohen-liel/hivemind api-design --agent gemini-cli

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind.git skills-src && mkdir -p .gemini/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/api-design .gemini/skills/api-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.gemini/skills/ instead of .gemini/skills for a personal install, then run /skills reload.

Gemini CLI skills documentation · loads skills from .gemini/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into Gemini CLI

Install the "api-design" agent skill from https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind/tree/main/.claude/skills/api-design into .gemini/skills/api-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "api-design", then confirm the skill loads.

Gemini CLI copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cohen-liel/hivemind api-design

Installs for Copilot at project scope by default; add --scope user for a personal install. Preview a skill first with gh skill preview. Needs GitHub CLI 2.90.0 or later (public preview).

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a github-copilot

Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.copilot/skills/.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind.git skills-src && mkdir -p .github/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/api-design .github/skills/api-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.copilot/skills/ instead of .github/skills for a personal install. Commit .github/skills so cloud agent and code review can use it.

GitHub Copilot skills documentation · loads skills from .github/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into GitHub Copilot

Install the "api-design" agent skill from https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind/tree/main/.claude/skills/api-design into .github/skills/api-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "api-design", then confirm the skill loads.

GitHub Copilot copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

skills CLI

$ npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a opencode

OpenCode documents no install command of its own. Project install goes to .agents/skills/; add -g for ~/.config/opencode/skills/.

GitHub CLI

$ gh skill install cohen-liel/hivemind api-design --agent opencode

Project scope by default (.agents/skills/); add --scope user for a personal install.

Manual copy

$ git clone --depth 1 https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind.git skills-src && mkdir -p .opencode/skills && cp -r skills-src/.claude/skills/api-design .opencode/skills/api-design && rm -rf skills-src

Use ~/.config/opencode/skills/ instead of .opencode/skills for a personal install.

OpenCode skills documentation · loads skills from .opencode/skills/, .claude/skills/, .agents/skills/

Paste into OpenCode

Install the "api-design" agent skill from https://github.com/cohen-liel/hivemind/tree/main/.claude/skills/api-design into .opencode/skills/api-design/ in this project. Copy the whole folder (SKILL.md and every file beside it), keep the folder name "api-design", then confirm the skill loads.

OpenCode copies the folder itself, the same result as the manual copy. Check what it changed before you commit it.

Facts

Skill name: api-design
GitHub stars: 110
Used in: 1 other repo
Token cost: ~857 tokens
SKILL.md length: 84 words
Files: 1
Skills in repo: 33
Repo updated: Apr 18, 2026
First seen: Oct 7, 2026
Licence: Apache-2.0

At a glance

REST API design principles and best practices. An agent skill from cohen-liel/hivemind.

Designing API endpoints
SKILL.md covers URL Structure, Status Codes, Request / Response Format and Filtering & Pagination, plus 3 more sections
Instructions only: no scripts, shell commands, URLs or credentials in SKILL.md
Request/response schemas

What it does

API Design is an agent skill from cohen-liel/hivemind. REST API design principles and best practices. Use when designing API endpoints, request/response schemas, versioning, error formats, or reviewing API design.

Its SKILL.md is about 860 tokens, which your agent loads only when the skill is triggered. It is a single SKILL.md file with no bundled scripts.

It sits in Backend & APIs, covering API design and REST APIs. The repository describes itself as: One prompt. A full AI engineering team. Go lie on the couch. 🧠. The licence is Apache-2.0.

When your agent uses it

Designing API endpoints
Request/response schemas
Reviewing API design

Example prompts

“/api-design”

What it can do on your machine

Read from SKILL.md and the folder at commit 918dd9b. It shows what the files ask for, not the result of running them.

Tool permissions
Pre-approves nothing: there is no allowed-tools line, so your agent's usual permission prompts apply.
From allowed-tools in the SKILL.md frontmatter.
Runs code
No scripts in the folder and no shell commands in SKILL.md (its code samples are json).
From the folder's file list and the shell code blocks in SKILL.md.
Network
No URLs in SKILL.md.
From URLs in SKILL.md, links to its own repository left out.
Credentials
Names no API keys, tokens, secrets or passwords.
From names ending in _API_KEY, _TOKEN, _SECRET, _KEY or _PASSWORD in SKILL.md.

Context cost

API Design loads about 857 tokens when it runs. Until then it costs about 42 tokens; SKILL.md has 84 words of instructions outside code blocks.

Always · name and description, kept in context so the agent knows when to use it: ~42
When it runs · the whole SKILL.md, loaded when a task matches: ~857

Estimates: characters ÷ 4, the usual rule of thumb; real counts depend on the model's tokenizer. Scripts and assets cost tokens only if the agent reads them.

Safety

Auto-check passed

The automated check found no risky patterns in SKILL.md.

Automated static check — not a guarantee. Review scripts before installing. It scans the text of SKILL.md for risky patterns (piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files, hidden Unicode, destructive commands); files beside SKILL.md are not scanned.

SKILL.md

The full file from cohen-liel/hivemind at commit 918dd9b, republished under its Apache-2.0 licence (© cohen-liel). 84 words, ~857 tokens.

Download SKILL.mdSave it as .claude/skills/api-design/SKILL.md (or your agent's skills folder).

name: api-design
description: REST API design principles and best practices. Use when designing API endpoints, request/response schemas, versioning, error formats, or reviewing API design.

REST API Design Patterns

URL Structure

# Resources (nouns, plural, lowercase-kebab)
GET    /api/v1/users           # List users
POST   /api/v1/users           # Create user
GET    /api/v1/users/{id}      # Get user
PUT    /api/v1/users/{id}      # Replace user
PATCH  /api/v1/users/{id}      # Update user partially
DELETE /api/v1/users/{id}      # Delete user

# Nested resources
GET    /api/v1/users/{id}/posts        # User's posts
POST   /api/v1/users/{id}/posts        # Create post for user

# Actions (when CRUD doesn't fit)
POST   /api/v1/users/{id}/activate
POST   /api/v1/auth/login
POST   /api/v1/auth/logout
POST   /api/v1/auth/refresh

# Search / filtering
GET    /api/v1/posts?status=published&author=123&sort=-created_at&page=2&limit=20

Status Codes

200 OK              — GET/PATCH/PUT success with body
201 Created         — POST success (include Location header)
204 No Content      — DELETE success
400 Bad Request     — Invalid input (validation error)
401 Unauthorized    — Not authenticated (no/invalid token)
403 Forbidden       — Authenticated but not allowed
404 Not Found       — Resource doesn't exist
409 Conflict        — Duplicate email, version conflict
422 Unprocessable   — Semantically invalid (used by FastAPI for validation)
429 Too Many Reqs   — Rate limit exceeded
500 Server Error    — Unexpected error (never expose details)

Request / Response Format

json

// List response with pagination
{
  "data": [...],
  "pagination": {
    "total": 248,
    "page": 2,
    "limit": 20,
    "has_next": true
  }
}

// Single resource
{
  "data": { "id": 1, "email": "user@example.com", "name": "Alice" }
}

// Error response (consistent across ALL endpoints)
{
  "error": {
    "code": "VALIDATION_ERROR",
    "message": "Invalid input",
    "details": [
      { "field": "email", "message": "Invalid email format" },
      { "field": "password", "message": "Must be at least 8 characters" }
    ]
  }
}

Filtering & Pagination

# Filtering
GET /posts?status=published&tag=python&author_id=123

# Sorting (- prefix for DESC)
GET /posts?sort=-created_at,title

# Pagination
GET /posts?page=2&limit=20

# Field selection (reduce payload)
GET /users?fields=id,name,email

# Search
GET /posts?q=fastapi+tutorial

Versioning

# URL path versioning (simplest, most visible)
/api/v1/users
/api/v2/users

# When to version: breaking changes only
# Non-breaking changes (adding fields, new endpoints) = no new version needed

Response Headers

Content-Type: application/json
X-Request-ID: uuid  # For distributed tracing
X-RateLimit-Limit: 100
X-RateLimit-Remaining: 87
X-RateLimit-Reset: 1711234567
Location: /api/v1/users/123  # After POST 201

Rules

Use nouns for resources, verbs only for actions
Be consistent: same error format everywhere
Always version the API
Never expose internal IDs in public APIs (use UUIDs or slugs)
Include created_at/updated_at in all resource responses
Use ISO 8601 for all dates: 2024-03-15T10:30:00Z
Paginate ALL list endpoints (even if only 10 items now)
Document with OpenAPI/Swagger (FastAPI auto-generates this)
Make POST idempotent with client-provided idempotency keys for payments

Files

Just SKILL.md in .claude/skills/api-design of cohen-liel/hivemind.

Open the folder on GitHubat commit 918dd9b

Used in 1 other repository

We found 1 copy of this SKILL.md (exact, near-identical or edited) in other folders, from 1 other GitHub owner. This page covers the copy in cohen-liel/hivemind, which our catalogue first saw on October 7, 2026.

majiayu000/claude-skill-registryskills/api/api-design-cohen-liel-hivemind

Compare with similar skills

API Design next to the 5 skills that share the most tags, products or categories with it. Stars are the repository's; “used in” counts other GitHub owners with a copy.

API Design compared with similar skills
Skill	Stars	Used in	Tokens	Auto-check	Licence	Repo updated
API Design this skillcohen-liel/hivemind	110	1 repos	~857	Automated safety check: Pass	Apache-2.0	5 mo ago
API DesignerJeffallan/claude-skills	12k	2 repos	~2k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	5 days ago
Nodejs Backend Patternsever-works/ever-works	158	18 repos	~4k	Automated safety check: Pass	AGPL-3.0	3 days ago
Pangolin CRUD Endpointsfosrl/pangolin	23k	—	~461	Automated safety check: Pass	Custom licence	yesterday
Old Coder API DesignAmazingAng/old-coder	749	1 repos	~3.4k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	1 mo ago
REST API Contract Reviewdecebals/claude-code-java	751	1 repos	~2.8k	Automated safety check: Pass	MIT	1 mo ago

Similar skills

API Designer
Jeffallan/claude-skills
Designs REST and GraphQL APIs from resource modeling to an OpenAPI 3.1 contract, with versioning, pagination and RFC 7807 error handling.
12k GitHub starsUsed in 2 repos~2k tokens
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Build production-ready Node.js backend services with Express/Fastify, implementing middleware patterns, error handling, authentication, database integration, and API design best practices.
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Backend & APIsAuto-check passed
Pangolin CRUD Endpoints
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Use whenever asked to add, create, or scaffold a CRUD endpoint, router, or entity in this repo's server (create/list/get/update/delete handlers, new…
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Backend & APIsAuto-check passed
Old Coder API Design
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Reviews or designs an HTTP/JSON API's endpoints, auth, pagination, versioning and deprecations, guarding against inventing a bespoke interface or silently breaking consumers.
749 GitHub starsUsed in 1 repo~3.4k tokens
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REST API Contract Review
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Questions about API Design

What does API Design do?

REST API design principles and best practices. An agent skill from cohen-liel/hivemind. API Design is an agent skill from cohen-liel/hivemind. REST API design principles and best practices.

When should I use API Design?

API Design fits situations like: designing API endpoints; request/response schemas; reviewing API design.

How do I install API Design in Claude Code?

Run `npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a claude-code`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/api-design in cohen-liel/hivemind) into .claude/skills/api-design in your project. Claude Code loads it when a task matches its description.

How do I install API Design in Codex?

Run `npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a codex`. Or copy the skill folder (.claude/skills/api-design in cohen-liel/hivemind) into .agents/skills/api-design in your project. Codex loads it when a task matches its description.

Can I use API Design in Cursor, Gemini CLI or GitHub Copilot?

Cursor, Gemini CLI, GitHub Copilot and OpenCode also load SKILL.md folders. With the skills CLI, run `npx skills add cohen-liel/hivemind --skill api-design -a cursor` (or -a gemini-cli, github-copilot or opencode for the others). To copy it by hand, put the folder in .cursor/skills/api-design, .gemini/skills/api-design, .github/skills/api-design and .opencode/skills/api-design in your project.

What does API Design need to run?

SKILL.md names no scripts, command-line tools or credentials: API Design is instructions for the agent only.

Does API Design access the network?

SKILL.md contains no URLs. Any network use would come from the scripts or tools the agent runs. This is read from the text; nothing was executed.

Is API Design safe to install?

Our automated static check of SKILL.md found no risky patterns, such as piping downloads into a shell, reading credential files or hidden Unicode. It is not a guarantee. Review the folder before installing.

What licence does API Design use?

API Design is published under the Apache-2.0 licence (the repository's licence). It allows redistribution, so the full SKILL.md is shown on this page.

How many tokens does API Design use?

About 857 tokens (SKILL.md is roughly 3.4k characters). Agents keep only the skill's name and description in context until a task matches; then they load SKILL.md in full.

What are the alternatives to API Design?

Skills that share tags, products or a category with API Design: API Designer (Jeffallan/claude-skills, 12k stars), Nodejs Backend Patterns (ever-works/ever-works, 158 stars), Pangolin CRUD Endpoints (fosrl/pangolin, 23k stars) and Old Coder API Design (AmazingAng/old-coder, 749 stars). The comparison table on this page puts their stars, adoption, token cost, safety result and licence side by side.

Who maintains API Design?

cohen-liel (a GitHub user) maintains it in cohen-liel/hivemind, which has 110 GitHub stars. The repository holds 33 skills in this directory. The repository was last updated on April 18, 2026.

Source: cohen-liel/hivemind on GitHub. Facts on this page come from the repository at the commit we read; the author's words are quoted as theirs.

API Design

Install API Design

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

REST API Design Patterns

URL Structure

Status Codes

Request / Response Format

Versioning

Response Headers

Rules

Files

Used in 1 other repository

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

API Designer

Nodejs Backend Patterns

Pangolin CRUD Endpoints

Old Coder API Design

REST API Contract Review

Backend Fundamentals

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Docker Deployment

E2E Testing

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Questions about API Design

Install API Design

Facts

At a glance

What it does

When your agent uses it

Example prompts

What it can do on your machine

Tool permissions

Runs code

Network

Credentials

Context cost

Safety

SKILL.md

REST API Design Patterns

URL Structure

Status Codes

Request / Response Format

Filtering & Pagination

Versioning

Response Headers

Rules

Files

Used in 1 other repository

Compare with similar skills

Similar skills

More from cohen-liel/hivemind

Related

Questions about API Design