Question

Well, created my personal API server, setted proper response codes, content and cache control(Ex. 404 Not Found, application/json, no-cache, must-revalidate) What else could be setted (in headers) to achieve “perfect” API ?

This API is public, but in future there are plans to create private API for registered user’s. Is there any header’s “settings” for this kind of API (like Unauthorized, WWW-Authenticate etc.)

Answer 1

You can add a parameter to suppress HTTP codes. Twitter has suppress_response_codes parameter. Quote from dev.twitter.com

suppress_response_codes: If this parameter is present, all responses will be returned with a 200 OK status code – even errors. This parameter exists to accommodate Flash and JavaScript applications running in browsers that intercept all non-200 responses. If used, it’s then the job of the client to determine error states by parsing the response body. Use with caution, as those error messages may change

Here is some resources for good RESTful api design.

1. Restful API Design
2. RESTful Service
3. Mobile API Design – Thinking Beyond REST
4. Create a REST API with PHP