A Claude skill that generates (or updates) API best practice documentation tailored to a specific API. Built for PMs, Solution Engineers, Architects, Developer Evangelists, and Developer Relations teams.
Give this skill your OpenAPI/Swagger spec and answer a few questions about your API's behavior. It produces a complete best practice skill with:
- Main SKILL.md — Orchestrator that identifies endpoints, loads per-endpoint rules, and validates user code
- Per-endpoint files — One file per endpoint covering required fields, idempotency, error handling, retries, rate limits, and context-dependent requirements
The generated skill can then validate API integrations (curl commands, code snippets, or full implementations) against your documented best practices.
| Topic | Description |
|---|---|
| Authentication | Credential storage, environment config, testing |
| Required fields | Context-dependent fields by use case, region, or segment |
| Error handling | Your error format, status codes, retryable vs permanent |
| Retry & backoff | Exponential backoff, Retry-After headers |
| Rate limiting | Limits, detection headers, staying within bounds |
| Idempotency | Key format, which operations need them, window duration |
| Timeouts | Recommended values per operation type |
| Webhooks | Signature verification, delivery guarantees |
| Pagination | Cursor/offset patterns, iterating through results |
You can provide your API details in three ways — pick whichever works best for you:
Provide your OpenAPI spec and ask the skill to generate a customized intake template. It will parse your spec and search your public developer docs to produce a template with your actual API name, endpoints, auth method, error format, rate limits, and more pre-filled. Fields from your spec are marked [auto] and fields from public docs are marked [web] so you know what to review. You just confirm, correct, fill in any gaps, and paste it back.
Use the Intake Template to gather everything upfront offline. Fill in the sections, then paste the completed template into Claude along with your OpenAPI spec. This is ideal when multiple people are contributing details.
See Intake Example for a fully completed version using a fictional Payments API.
Just provide your OpenAPI spec and the skill will walk you through it step by step — asking about rate limits, idempotency, context-dependent fields, etc. as it goes. No prep needed beyond having your spec ready.
Either way, you'll need the same information:
- Your OpenAPI/Swagger spec — JSON or YAML, v2.0 or 3.x
- Rate limit details — Per-minute limits, burst limits, rate limit headers, Retry-After behavior
- Error format — Your error response structure and which status codes are retryable vs permanent
- Idempotency rules — Which endpoints need idempotency keys, header name, window duration
- Context-dependent requirements — Fields required for specific regions, segments, or use cases
- Retry strategy — Backoff approach, initial delay, max retries
- Timeout recommendations — Per endpoint or operation type
- Webhook details (if applicable) — Signature format, verification, delivery guarantees
- Provide your OpenAPI/Swagger spec and either a filled-out intake template or just the spec alone
- Answer questions (if not using the template) about which aspects vary per endpoint vs. are global
- Provide API-specific details (rate limits, retry strategies, context-dependent fields, etc.)
- Receive complete skill files ready to use
- Point to the existing skill and describe what needs changing
- The skill reads the current structure and makes consistent updates across all affected files
- All modified files are presented with a summary of changes
Supports common update scenarios: deprecated fields, new required fields, new best practices, and new endpoints.
"Here's my OpenAPI spec: https://api.example.com/openapi.json — generate an intake template for my API."
"Parse this spec and create a customized intake template so I know exactly what to fill in."
"Here's my completed intake template and OpenAPI spec — generate the best practice skill." (paste filled-out template below)
"Create a best practice skill for our Payments API. Here's the OpenAPI spec: https://api.example.com/openapi.json"
"I have a REST API for order management. Here's the Swagger spec. Build me a best practice skill that covers authentication, error handling, and idempotency."
"Generate an API best practice skill from this OpenAPI 3.0 spec. Our API has different rate limits per endpoint and requires GDPR consent fields for European customers."
"Create a best practice skill for our webhook-heavy API. We need signature verification guidance and retry handling for each endpoint."
"Update the payments skill to add deprecation warnings for the
legacy_configfield across all endpoints."
"Add a new POST /v2/refunds endpoint to my existing payments best practice skill."
"Our rate limits changed from 100/min to 250/min. Update the skill to reflect the new limits across all endpoint files."
"Add a new required field
shipping_addressto the create order endpoint. It's required for all physical goods orders."
"Here's my curl command for creating a payment. Check it against best practices."
"Review this Python integration code against the best practices skill. [paste code]"
"I'm getting 429 errors. What does the best practice skill say about rate limiting for this endpoint?"
your-api-best-practices/
SKILL.md # Main orchestrator
endpoints/
POST-v1-payment-intents.md # Per-endpoint best practices
POST-v1-customers.md
GET-v1-customers-{id}.md
...
- Authoritative — Uses only information you provide; no web searches or assumptions
- Deterministic — Same input always produces the same validation results
- Advisory — Recommendations, not blockers; users can acknowledge and proceed
- Endpoint-first — Each endpoint has its own file for easy maintenance and scalability
Rahul Dighe
- Email: rsdighe@hotmail.com
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/rahuldighe