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Best Practices

This guide outlines industry-standard best practices for developing with AgentSync's internal APIs and services. Following these practices will help you build robust, secure, and maintainable integrations.

🔐 Security Best Practices

Authentication & Authorization

✅ Do

  • Use OAuth 2.0 - Always use OAuth 2.0 for authentication
  • Store tokens securely - Use secure storage mechanisms (environment variables, key vaults)
  • Implement token refresh - Automatically refresh tokens before expiration
  • Use least privilege - Request only the permissions you need
  • Validate tokens - Always validate tokens on the server side

❌ Don't

  • Hardcode credentials - Never commit API keys or secrets to version control
  • Use deprecated auth methods - Avoid API keys for new integrations
  • Ignore token expiration - Always handle token expiration gracefully
  • Share credentials - Never share authentication credentials between applications

Data Protection

✅ Do

  • Encrypt sensitive data - Use HTTPS for all API communications
  • Validate input data - Sanitize and validate all user inputs
  • Use secure headers - Implement proper security headers
  • Log security events - Monitor and log authentication failures

❌ Don't

  • Send credentials in URLs - Never include sensitive data in query parameters
  • Store sensitive data in logs - Avoid logging authentication tokens or personal data
  • Ignore security warnings - Address security vulnerabilities promptly

🚀 Performance Best Practices

API Usage

✅ Do

  • Implement caching - Cache responses when appropriate
  • Use pagination - Handle large datasets with pagination
  • Batch requests - Combine multiple requests when possible
  • Monitor rate limits - Respect API rate limits and implement backoff
  • Use compression - Enable gzip compression for large responses

❌ Don't

  • Make unnecessary requests - Avoid redundant API calls
  • Ignore rate limits - Don't exceed API rate limits
  • Fetch large datasets - Use pagination instead of loading all data at once
  • Block on API calls - Use asynchronous patterns when possible

Error Handling

✅ Do

  • Implement retry logic - Retry failed requests with exponential backoff
  • Handle all error codes - Implement proper error handling for all HTTP status codes
  • Log errors appropriately - Log errors with sufficient context for debugging
  • Provide user feedback - Give users meaningful error messages

❌ Don't

  • Ignore errors - Always handle API errors gracefully
  • Retry indefinitely - Implement maximum retry limits
  • Expose internal errors - Don't expose sensitive error details to users

📝 Code Quality Best Practices

Code Organization

✅ Do

  • Use consistent naming - Follow consistent naming conventions
  • Write self-documenting code - Use clear variable and function names
  • Add comments - Document complex logic and business rules
  • Follow DRY principles - Don't repeat yourself, extract common functionality
  • Use version control - Commit changes frequently with descriptive messages

❌ Don't

  • Write monolithic functions - Break down complex functions into smaller ones
  • Use magic numbers - Use named constants instead of hardcoded values
  • Ignore code reviews - Always have code reviewed by peers

Testing

✅ Do

  • Write unit tests - Test individual functions and methods
  • Write integration tests - Test API integrations end-to-end
  • Mock external dependencies - Use mocks for external API calls in tests
  • Test error scenarios - Test both success and failure cases
  • Automate testing - Use CI/CD pipelines for automated testing

❌ Don't

  • Skip testing - Always test your code before deployment
  • Test only happy paths - Test error conditions and edge cases
  • Ignore test failures - Fix failing tests before merging code

🔄 API Integration Best Practices

Request/Response Handling

✅ Do

  • Use appropriate HTTP methods - GET for reading, POST for creating, PUT for updating, DELETE for removing
  • Include proper headers - Set Content-Type, Accept, and User-Agent headers
  • Handle timeouts - Set appropriate timeout values for API calls
  • Validate responses - Always validate API response data
  • Use idempotent operations - Make operations idempotent when possible

❌ Don't

  • Use GET for mutations - Don't use GET requests for operations that change data
  • Ignore response codes - Always check HTTP status codes
  • Assume response format - Don't assume API response structure without validation

Data Management

✅ Do

  • Use consistent data formats - Follow established data format standards
  • Implement data validation - Validate data before sending to APIs
  • Handle data migrations - Plan for API version changes and data migrations
  • Backup important data - Implement proper backup strategies

❌ Don't

  • Send invalid data - Always validate data before API calls
  • Ignore data consistency - Ensure data consistency across systems
  • Store unnecessary data - Only store data that you actually need

🛠️ Development Workflow Best Practices

Environment Management

✅ Do

  • Use environment variables - Store configuration in environment variables
  • Separate environments - Use different environments for development, staging, and production
  • Document environment setup - Provide clear setup instructions
  • Use configuration management - Use tools like Docker or Kubernetes for consistent environments

❌ Don't

  • Mix environment configs - Don't use production configs in development
  • Hardcode environment values - Use configuration files or environment variables
  • Skip environment testing - Test in staging before production deployment

Deployment

✅ Do

  • Use CI/CD pipelines - Automate build, test, and deployment processes
  • Implement blue-green deployments - Use zero-downtime deployment strategies
  • Monitor deployments - Monitor application health after deployments
  • Rollback quickly - Have rollback procedures ready

❌ Don't

  • Deploy without testing - Always test changes before production deployment
  • Ignore deployment failures - Monitor and address deployment issues promptly

📊 Monitoring & Observability

Logging

✅ Do

  • Use structured logging - Use JSON or structured log formats
  • Include correlation IDs - Add correlation IDs to track requests across services
  • Log at appropriate levels - Use DEBUG, INFO, WARN, ERROR levels appropriately
  • Include context - Add relevant context to log messages

❌ Don't

  • Log sensitive data - Never log passwords, tokens, or personal information
  • Over-log - Don't log excessive information that impacts performance
  • Ignore log levels - Use appropriate log levels for different types of messages

Metrics & Monitoring

✅ Do

  • Monitor key metrics - Track response times, error rates, and throughput
  • Set up alerts - Configure alerts for critical issues
  • Use health checks - Implement health check endpoints
  • Monitor dependencies - Track the health of external dependencies

❌ Don't

  • Ignore performance metrics - Monitor application performance continuously
  • Set up noisy alerts - Configure alerts to avoid false positives
  • Monitor only errors - Monitor both success and failure metrics

🔧 Tooling & Automation

Development Tools

✅ Do

  • Use API clients - Use official SDKs and client libraries when available
  • Use API testing tools - Use tools like Postman or Insomnia for API testing
  • Use code formatters - Use automated code formatting tools
  • Use linters - Use static analysis tools to catch issues early

❌ Don't

  • Ignore tooling - Use available tools to improve development efficiency
  • Use outdated tools - Keep development tools up to date
  • Skip code quality tools - Use linters and formatters consistently

Documentation

✅ Do

  • Document APIs - Keep API documentation up to date
  • Write clear README files - Provide clear setup and usage instructions
  • Document decisions - Document architectural and design decisions
  • Keep examples current - Update code examples when APIs change

❌ Don't

  • Skip documentation - Always document your code and APIs
  • Write outdated docs - Keep documentation synchronized with code changes
  • Ignore user feedback - Update documentation based on user feedback

🚨 Common Anti-Patterns to Avoid

Security Anti-Patterns

  • Hardcoded credentials - Never hardcode API keys or passwords
  • Insecure token storage - Don't store tokens in localStorage or cookies
  • Missing input validation - Always validate and sanitize inputs
  • Insecure communication - Never use HTTP for sensitive data

Performance Anti-Patterns

  • N+1 queries - Avoid making multiple API calls in loops
  • Synchronous blocking - Don't block the main thread on API calls
  • No caching - Implement caching for frequently accessed data
  • Ignoring rate limits - Always respect API rate limits

Code Quality Anti-Patterns

  • All-powerful objects - Don't create classes or functions that do too much
  • Copy-paste programming - Don't duplicate code, extract common functionality
  • Magic numbers - Use named constants instead of hardcoded values
  • No error handling - Always handle errors gracefully

📚 Additional Resources

Documentation

Resources

Need help implementing these practices? Reach out to the development team in #api-support.