APIs on Coderrob

GitHub Actions: GitHub API Rate Limit Check Action

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 22:49:06 -0600

GitHub Actions doesn’t (seem to?) provide built-in insights into API rate limits, making it difficult to diagnose runtime failures caused by hitting request limits.

To address this, I created a reusable GitHub Action that proactively logs GitHub current limit, the max limit, and the next reset time in UTC.

This GitHub Action provides an automated, real-time check of your repository’s GitHub API rate limits, giving you instant visibility into your API consumption. With detailed reporting and proactive alerts, you can prevent unexpected disruptions and optimize API usage in your workflows.

Backstage.io Cisco Webex Scaffolder Backend Plugin

Mon, 09 Sep 2024 20:35:53 -0500

Looking to integrate Webex messaging in Backstage? The Webex Module for Backstage Scaffolder makes it simple.

This plugin enables seamless integration with Webex Incoming Hooks, allowing you to send messages to one or more spaces within your template actions. Just efficient, automated messaging right from your Backstage workflows.

Ready to enhance your Webex integrations?

Check out the @coderrob/backstage-plugin-scaffolder-backend-module-webex details and installation guide on NPM.

Partial Updates with PATCH: Targeting Only What Needs to Change

Sun, 01 Sep 2024 19:01:56 -0500

When working with RESTful APIs, there are times when you need to update an entire resource, and other times when you only need to tweak a specific part of it.

This is where the PATCH method shines. Unlike PUT, which expects the complete resource object to be sent in the request body, PATCH is all about making targeted updates.

You provide the resource’s ID in the URL, and only the properties you want to change in the request body.

A Quick Guide to Designing RESTful Endpoints for Your API

Sun, 01 Sep 2024 16:45:12 -0500

Let’s dive into the world of RESTful API design, especially for those of you transitioning from Java or other back-end heavy environments.

One of the common mistakes I see everyday is naming API endpoints based on the actions they perform, using prefixes like /submitSomething/, /startSomething/, /getSomething/, or /updateSomething/.

While this might feel natural for function naming, it’s not the RESTful way to do things.

REST Basics: Start with the Resource

When designing a RESTful API, everything starts with the resource. If you can name it (think nouns), then it’s probably a resource.

How to Create a Backstage.io Custom Entity Relationship: A Complete Guide

Thu, 08 Jun 2023 16:38:49 -0500

While working with Backstage.io, you might come across a requirement to create a custom entity relationship. Though the official documentation provides some insights, you may find it too high level. This post offers a practical, step-by-step walkthrough of how to create a custom entity relationship.

Understanding Entity Relationships

To start, we must understand what types of relationships we wish to create. Relationships in Backstage.io can be one of two types:

Building Better REST APIs: A Hybrid Approach with JSend and JSON:API Guidelines

Mon, 01 May 2023 18:00:00 -0600

This hybrid API design guide combines elements from both JSend and JSON:API to create a powerful and user-friendly approach for developing REST APIs. By adopting the best practices from both, this guide offers a consistent and maintainable API design.

Versioning

API versioning can be achieved using a variety of methods such as URI-based route prefix, version in the header of the request, or as a query string value.

The most common approach is using a URI-based route prefix for RESTful routes to define versions. This approach requires including the API version identifier as a part of the URL path, preferably as the first segment. For example, the API endpoint URL could look like:

Netlify Functions RESTful API Without Express

Sun, 14 Nov 2021 12:27:52 -0600

What are Netlify Functions?

Netlify Functions provide a simple way to build a serverless API layer for any front-end projects.

These serverless functions are executed atop AWS’s Lambda platform. The rule here is keep it simple… keep it safe. No, wait, keep it simple, and keep it fast.

These functions have a default timeout of 10 seconds. Netlify does support background functions that can run around 15 minutes, but focus here is on the short-lived functions.