Design and Build Great Web APIs

Notes on the Assets Checklist

As a rule, each asset should be something you can create in less than a day. If your API is extensive (dozens of actions), you can break the API into smaller subsections and produce assets for each subset. For example, the API Definition document and API Test collection may take several days to complete, but it should not take more than a workweek. If that seems unlikely, break the definition and tests into smaller collections and complete those as needed.

You’ll notice that each asset in the list that follows is marked with MUST, SHOULD, and MAY references as well as brief notes about formats and recommendations. These reflect my common experience, and YMMV (your mileage may vary). Feel free to modify the recommendations ...