api-design_skill

Overview

This skill guides API, DTO, and interface design for Tauri commands and backend-to-frontend contracts. It enforces a consistent response envelope, serde-compatible DTOs, naming conventions, pagination patterns, and validation rules to produce predictable, front-end-friendly APIs.

How this skill works

When invoked, the skill inspects API requirements and outputs DTO definitions, request/response shapes, pagination formats, and validation rules following the ApiResponse<T> envelope. It recommends serde and specta::Type annotations, camelCase field names, command naming patterns, and where to perform input validation versus business error handling.

When to use it

• Designing or refactoring Tauri command interfaces that communicate with the UI
• Creating or reviewing DTOs for backend-to-frontend serialization
• Defining standard API responses and error handling for client consumption
• Specifying pagination and list endpoints for tables or feeds
• Establishing naming and validation contracts shared by frontend and backend

Best practices

• Wrap every response in ApiResponse<T> with success, data, and error fields
• Define DTOs with serde and specta::Type and use #[serde(rename_all = "camelCase")]
• Use verb+noun command names (get/create/update/delete) and DTO suffixes (CreateXDto, UpdateXDto, XDto)
• Perform input validation at the command boundary; let business layer return anyhow::Result with context
• Keep error messages concise and user-facing; avoid leaking internal errors or raw DB messages
• Prefer reusing existing paginated types and return fields ready for direct rendering

Example use cases

• Designing a CreateFactory endpoint with CreateFactoryDto, validation rules, and ApiResponse<CreateFactoryDto>
• Converting legacy list endpoints to return a MaterialsPaginatedResult ready for table rendering
• Standardizing error responses so the UI only needs to check ApiResponse.success and display ApiResponse.error
• Defining DTOs for front-end forms that map directly to camelCase JSON and specta type metadata
• Adding command-level validation to prevent SQLx errors and provide clear user-facing messages