Resource Naming Guide

In REST, primary data representation is called Resource. Having a strong and consistent REST resource naming strategy – will definitely prove one of the best design decisions in the long term.

Handle trailing slashes gracefully

Wrong convention
GET: /articles/
Correct convention (This is much better version)
GET: /articles

Avoid using verbs in URIs

Wrong convention
GET: /articles/:slug/generateBanner/

POST: /articles/createNewArticle/
Correct convention
GET: /articles/:slug/banner

POST: /articles

Use plural resource nouns

Should you use /article/:id (singular) or /articles/:id (plural)?

I recommend using the plural form.

Why? Because it fits all types of endpoints very well.

I’d agree that GET /article/2 is fine, but what about GET /article/
Are we getting the one and only one article in the system, or all of them?
To prevent this kind of ambiguity, let’s be consistent (life advice!) and use plural everywhere:

Wrong convention
GET: /article/2
POST: /article
Correct convention
GET: /articles/2
POST: /articles