About REST Guide

Our mission, our team, and the standards behind our guides.

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Our Mission

REST Guide exists to provide developers with a single, reliable reference for REST API design and best practices. Whether you're building your first API or refining a production system, our guides cover HTTP methods, status codes, authentication, versioning, and more — all with real-world examples.

The web is full of outdated tutorials, conflicting advice, and incomplete explanations. REST Guide is different: every article is grounded in the official RFCs, cross-referenced with real production patterns, and kept up to date as standards evolve. We believe that good API design should be accessible to every developer, regardless of their background or experience level.

  • Free and open — no paywalls, no account required
  • Grounded in official standards (RFC 9110, RFC 7231, RFC 5789)
  • Written for practitioners, with real code examples
  • Continuously updated as best practices evolve

What You'll Find Here

REST Guide covers the full breadth of REST API design — from foundational concepts to advanced patterns. Our guides are written for backend developers, full-stack engineers, API designers, and students learning web development.

HTTP Methods

GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE, OPTIONS — when to use each and why.

HTTP PATCH Deep Dive

Partial updates, upsert patterns, idempotency, and JSON Patch format.

HTTP OPTIONS & CORS

CORS preflight requests, response headers, and implementation guidance.

HTTP Status Codes

Every 2xx, 3xx, 4xx, and 5xx code explained with when to use each.

Authentication

API keys, JWT Bearer tokens, OAuth 2.0, and security best practices.

Best Practices

URL design, versioning, naming conventions, and API design patterns.

Pagination

Cursor-based, offset, and keyset pagination strategies for large datasets.

Error Handling

Consistent error response formats, error codes, and client guidance.

API Versioning

URL versioning, header versioning, and managing breaking changes.

Rate Limiting

Throttling strategies, response headers, and client retry patterns.

REST API Tutorial

Complete beginner's guide: from your first API call to design principles.

Real-World Examples

Full API examples across e-commerce, social, and SaaS use cases.

About the Team

REST Guide is written and maintained by experienced backend engineers with 10+ years designing production REST APIs across a range of industries — from fintech and e-commerce to developer tooling and SaaS platforms.

Our team has collectively designed, built, and maintained APIs that serve millions of requests per day. We've made the mistakes so you don't have to: we've shipped poorly versioned APIs, struggled with inconsistent error formats, and debugged CORS issues at 2am. That experience informs every article on this site.

  • 10+ years of production REST API design experience
  • Background in backend engineering, API architecture, and developer experience
  • Familiar with the full API lifecycle: design, build, document, version, deprecate
  • Committed to standards-based guidance, not just opinions

REST Guide is maintained by a team of backend engineers passionate about API design standards. All guides are reviewed for technical accuracy before publication and updated when standards or best practices change.

Our Sources & Standards

Every recommendation on REST Guide is grounded in official standards and authoritative sources. We don't publish opinions without backing them up. Here are the primary references we use:

Source What It Covers
RFC 9110 — HTTP Semantics The definitive specification for HTTP methods, status codes, headers, and message semantics. Supersedes RFC 7231.
RFC 7231 — HTTP/1.1 Semantics Earlier HTTP semantics spec, still referenced for historical context and compatibility.
Roy Fielding's 2000 Dissertation The original academic paper that defined REST (Representational State Transfer) as an architectural style.
RFC 5789 — PATCH Method Defines the HTTP PATCH method for partial resource updates.
RFC 6902 — JSON Patch Specifies the JSON Patch document format for describing changes to a JSON document.
RFC 7396 — JSON Merge Patch Defines the JSON Merge Patch format, a simpler alternative to JSON Patch.
WHATWG Fetch Standard Defines how browsers send requests and handle CORS, relevant for our OPTIONS and CORS guides.

We also cross-reference MDN Web Docs, the OpenAPI Specification, and established industry patterns from major API providers (Stripe, GitHub, Twilio) where they represent widely accepted best practices.

Feedback & Contact

REST Guide is a living resource. If you find an error, a misleading explanation, or a topic that should be covered but isn't, we want to know.

  • Found an error or want to suggest a topic? Open an issue on our repository.
  • Spotted outdated information? Let us know — we prioritize keeping guides current.
  • Want to contribute an example or use case? Contributions are welcome.

Our goal is for every developer who lands on REST Guide to leave with a clear, accurate, actionable answer to their question. If we've fallen short of that, please tell us.