Build a terrible API for people you hate
summary
Six concrete anti-patterns and their fixes for APIs the transcript calls out by name including using screenshots in Excel instead of an OpenAPI spec, using GET for everything with a request body, putting IDs and search criteria only in request bodies instead of path/query parameters, always returning 200 with errors buried in the body, chaotic endpoint naming, and non‑atomic updates that leave half‑created users and force DB hotfixes. Each anti‑pattern includes the practical replacement to make clients predictable and retryable.
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chapters (9)
- 0:00Introduction
- 1:09Six steps to terrible APIs
- 1:30Worst API docs with Excel
- 4:00Abuse HTTP methods
- 6:11Terrible endpoint names
- 8:00Ignore path/query params
- 10:06Always return 200
- 14:05Break atomic updates
- 16:32Six good API tips
