API Development

**Judgement:** This skill is a strong, practical fit for end-to-end HTTP API work (REST-first), especially when the user needs concrete commands, scripts, or scaffolds rather than high-level theory. It appears well-suited as a default helper for typical web API development and debugging tasks. **What it does well** - Guides through the full lifecycle: endpoint scaffolding, curl-based manual testing, simple integration test runners (Bash/Python), OpenAPI 3.0 spec skeletons, and mock servers. - Provides realistic, ready-to-run examples for Node.js/Express services and for CLI tooling (curl, jq, npx-based validators). - Includes a variety of debugging patterns (CORS checks, latency timing, port conflicts, JWT inspection), which directly match common developer pain points. **Notable gaps / risks** - Focused on HTTP/REST; GraphQL is only mentioned, not deeply supported (no schema design, resolvers, or GraphQL-specific tooling shown in the snippet). - Example scripts assume a Unix-like environment with tools like `bash`, `curl`, `jq`, `lsof`, which may not map cleanly to bare Windows setups without WSL or equivalent. - Some sample code is intentionally minimal and may lack production hardening (e.g., very simple mock server, in-memory stores, no auth/rate limiting), so outputs should be treated as starting points, not final production designs. - Test runners and examples are simple and may need adaptation for more complex APIs (auth flows, pagination, complex error contracts). **Recommended scenarios** - Use this skill when a user wants to: - Quickly scaffold or refactor REST endpoints, especially in Node.js/Express. - Construct or debug curl requests, including headers, query parameters, JSON bodies, and timing/debug flags. - Draft or validate an OpenAPI/Swagger specification for an existing or new service. - Spin up a lightweight mock HTTP server for local development. - Troubleshoot HTTP issues (CORS, status codes, latency spikes, JWT payload inspection) with concrete CLI commands. - Consider complementing it with more specialized skills for: - Deep GraphQL schema/resolver design and tooling. - Advanced load/performance testing or security testing beyond simple curl loops. - Non-Node.js backend frameworks, if the user needs framework-specific scaffolding or best practices.