API-Design-Reviewer: Catch API Design Flaws Before They Become Production Debt

Your API is your contract with every consumer — agents, developers, and integrations alike. API-Design-Reviewer applies a rigorous, automated critique to your OpenAPI specs and actual endpoint implementations, scoring RESTfulness, consistency, error handling hygiene, and discoverability — before design decisions calcify into breaking changes.

10-Second Pitch

  • RESTfulness Scoring: Quantifies how well your API follows REST conventions — and explains why deviations matter.
  • Error Contract Analysis: Checks that every error code has a consistent shape, a human-readable message, and actionable remediation hints.
  • Version Skew Detection: Catches endpoints that changed behavior without a version bump — a silent breaking change.
  • Agent Usability Score: Rates how easily an autonomous agent can discover, understand, and call your API correctly.

Setup Directions

  1. Run against your OpenAPI spec: api-review --spec openapi.yaml --score
  2. Review the generated api-review-report.html with prioritized findings.
  3. Add to CI: api-review --spec openapi.yaml --gate 80 to enforce a minimum design score.
  4. Integrate with git hooks: api-review --pre-commit --spec openapi.yaml

Pros/Cons

ProsCons
Catches design issues before they become breaking changesREST orthodoxy may not fit all API styles (GraphQL, gRPC)
Agent usability scoring is uniquely valuable for agentic consumersRequires a well-formed OpenAPI spec to get full value
Actionable scoring with specific recommendationsMay require cultural shift to prioritize API design quality

Verdict: A forcing function for API quality that pays compounding dividends — every developer and agent that consumes your API benefits from the improved design. Run it in CI and treat the score as a first-class release criterion.