: Use industry standards like OAuth 2.0 or JWT (JSON Web Tokens) .
: Prefix your routes (e.g., /v1/feature ) so you can update logic in the future without breaking existing integrations. API CheatSquad
: Limit the number of calls a single API key or IP address can make per minute/hour. : Use industry standards like OAuth 2
: Provide enough info for a developer to fix the issue without leaking sensitive system details (like stack traces). 4. Rate Limiting & Throttling : Provide enough info for a developer to
: Strip out dangerous characters or HTML tags from strings before they touch your database. 2. Secure Authentication & Authorization
: Ensure users can only access the specific resources required for that feature. For example, a "User" should not be able to call an "Admin" delete endpoint. 3. Meaningful Error Handling A solid feature doesn't just crash; it fails gracefully.
Never trust incoming data. A solid feature strictly validates every field to prevent common attacks like SQL Injection or Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) .