api-organization
Explains the standardized API organization pattern for this codebase. Use when creating new API endpoints, API clients, or modifying existing API structure. Covers the 5-file system (endpoint-types, endpoints, api-client, admin-api-client, protected-endpoints), role-based access patterns (admin vs regular users), and TypeScript type safety across the API layer. All API code lives in src/lib/api/ following this exact pattern.
Installation
Claude Code / Cursor / Codex
Manual Installation
- Download SKILL.md from GitHub
- Place it in
.claude/skills/api-organization/SKILL.mdinside your project - Restart your AI agent — it will auto-discover the skill
How api-organization Compares
| Feature / Agent | api-organization | Standard Approach |
|---|---|---|
| Platform Support | multi | Limited / Varies |
| Context Awareness | High | Baseline |
| Installation Complexity | Unknown | N/A |
Frequently Asked Questions
What does this skill do?
Explains the standardized API organization pattern for this codebase. Use when creating new API endpoints, API clients, or modifying existing API structure. Covers the 5-file system (endpoint-types, endpoints, api-client, admin-api-client, protected-endpoints), role-based access patterns (admin vs regular users), and TypeScript type safety across the API layer. All API code lives in src/lib/api/ following this exact pattern.
Which AI agents support this skill?
This skill is compatible with multi.
Where can I find the source code?
You can find the source code on GitHub using the link provided at the top of the page.
SKILL.md Source
# API Organization Pattern
This skill defines the standardized API organization pattern used throughout this codebase. All external API integrations follow the same 5-file structure for consistency, type safety, and maintainability.
## When to Use This Skill
Use this skill when:
- Creating new API endpoints or integrations
- Adding new API categories or domains
- Implementing role-based API access (admin vs regular users)
- Modifying existing API structure
- Setting up authentication for API calls
- Creating type-safe API wrappers
## Core Principles
1. **Single Source of Truth** - All API URLs defined once in `endpoints.ts`
2. **Type Safety** - Full TypeScript coverage from params to responses
3. **Role-Based Access** - Separate clients for regular vs admin endpoints
4. **Centralized Auth** - Authentication handled automatically by clients
5. **DRY Code** - Reusable client functions, no duplicate endpoint definitions
## The 5-File System
All API code lives in `src/lib/api/` with exactly these files:
```
src/lib/api/
├── endpoint-types.ts # TypeScript types for all endpoints
├── endpoints.ts # URL definitions organized by domain
├── api-client.ts # Generic authenticated API client
├── admin-api-client.ts # Admin-only API client with role checks
└── protected-endpoints.ts # Type-safe wrapper functions
```
### File Purposes
**1. endpoint-types.ts**
- Define all TypeScript interfaces for API data
- Organize types by domain (e.g., audiences, instances, membership)
- Include param types, response types, and request body DTOs
- Provide utility types for extracting types
See `references/endpoint-types-pattern.md` for detailed structure.
**2. endpoints.ts**
- Define all API endpoint URLs in one place
- Organize by feature/domain matching types
- Use functions that accept parameters and return URLs
- Support environment variable base URLs
See `references/endpoints-pattern.md` for detailed structure.
**3. api-client.ts**
- Generic API client with automatic authentication
- Error parsing and handling
- Support for GET, POST, PUT, DELETE methods
- Server-side only ('use server')
See `references/api-client-pattern.md` for implementation.
**4. admin-api-client.ts**
- Admin-specific API client
- Role validation (Admin/SuperAdmin groups)
- Permission checking functions
- Throws AdminAuthError if unauthorized
See `references/admin-api-client-pattern.md` for implementation.
**5. protected-endpoints.ts**
- Type-safe wrapper functions combining URLs + types + clients
- Organized to match endpoint-types structure
- Provides clean import: `import { api } from '@/lib/api/protected-endpoints'`
- No 'use server' directive (exports objects)
See `references/protected-endpoints-pattern.md` for detailed structure.
## Authentication System
This application uses **Supabase Auth** for authentication. All API requests require authentication via Supabase access tokens.
### Supabase Client Structure
```
src/lib/supabase/
├── client.ts # Browser-side Supabase client
├── server.ts # Server-side Supabase client (RSC, Server Actions)
└── middleware.ts # Middleware helper for auth cookie refresh
```
### Auth Flow
1. User authenticates via Supabase (email/password, OAuth, etc.)
2. Supabase stores session in httpOnly cookies
3. Middleware refreshes session on every request
4. Server components/actions use `createClient()` from `server.ts`
5. API client extracts access token from session automatically
See `references/supabase-auth-integration.md` for detailed implementation.
## Role-Based Access Pattern
### Regular User Endpoints
Use `api-client.ts` functions with automatic Supabase auth:
```typescript
import { apiGet, apiPost } from '@/lib/api/api-client';
// Access token extracted from Supabase session automatically
const data = await apiGet<ResponseType>(url);
```
### Admin-Only Endpoints
Use `admin-api-client.ts` functions with role validation:
```typescript
import { adminApiRequest, checkAdminPermission } from '@/lib/api/admin-api-client';
// Validate admin access first (checks user role from database)
await checkAdminPermission(); // Throws if not admin
// Make admin API request
const data = await adminApiRequest<ResponseType>(url, options);
```
### Admin Roles
Admin roles are stored in the `users` table:
- `users.role` = `'admin'` - Standard admin access
- `users.role` = `'member'` - Regular user access
First user in a family is automatically assigned admin role.
## Adding New API Endpoints
Follow this exact order when integrating a new API into the application:
### Step 1: Define Types in endpoint-types.ts
```typescript
// 1. Define response type(s)
export interface ResourceItem {
id: string;
name: string;
// ... other fields from your API response
}
// 2. Define request DTO(s) for mutations
export interface CreateResourceDto {
name: string;
// ... fields required to create
}
// 3. Add parameter types to EndpointParams interface
export interface EndpointParams {
// ... existing domains
resources: {
list: void; // No params needed
get: { id: string }; // Requires ID
create: void; // Body in request, not params
update: { id: string };
delete: { id: string };
};
}
// 4. Add response types to EndpointResponses interface
export interface EndpointResponses {
// ... existing domains
resources: {
list: ResourceItem[];
get: ResourceItem;
create: ResourceItem;
update: ResourceItem;
delete: void;
};
}
// 5. Add request body types to EndpointBodies interface (if needed)
export interface EndpointBodies {
// ... existing domains
resources: {
create: CreateResourceDto;
update: CreateResourceDto;
};
}
```
### Step 2: Define URLs in endpoints.ts
```typescript
export const API_ENDPOINTS = {
// ... existing categories
resources: {
list: () => `${API_BASE}/api/resources`,
get: (id: string) => `${API_BASE}/api/resources/${id}`,
create: () => `${API_BASE}/api/resources`,
update: (id: string) => `${API_BASE}/api/resources/${id}`,
delete: (id: string) => `${API_BASE}/api/resources/${id}`,
},
};
```
### Step 3: Add Wrapper in protected-endpoints.ts
```typescript
export const api = {
// ... existing domains
resources: {
async list(): Promise<ResourceItem[]> {
return apiGet<ResourceItem[]>(
API_ENDPOINTS.resources.list()
);
},
async get(id: string): Promise<ResourceItem> {
return apiGet<ResourceItem>(
API_ENDPOINTS.resources.get(id)
);
},
async create(data: CreateResourceDto): Promise<ResourceItem> {
return apiPost<ResourceItem, CreateResourceDto>(
API_ENDPOINTS.resources.create(),
data
);
},
async update(id: string, data: CreateResourceDto): Promise<ResourceItem> {
return apiPut<ResourceItem, CreateResourceDto>(
API_ENDPOINTS.resources.update(id),
data
);
},
async delete(id: string): Promise<void> {
return apiDelete<void>(
API_ENDPOINTS.resources.delete(id)
);
},
},
};
```
### Step 4: Use in Application Code
```typescript
'use server';
import { api } from '@/lib/api/protected-endpoints';
// In a server component or server action
const resources = await api.resources.list();
const resource = await api.resources.get(id);
const newResource = await api.resources.create({
name: 'New Resource'
});
```
## Naming Conventions
### Endpoint Operations
- `list` / `listAll` - GET multiple items
- `get` - GET single item
- `create` - POST new item
- `update` - PUT/PATCH existing item
- `delete` - DELETE item
### Type Naming
- Response types: PascalCase describing entity (e.g., `AudienceListItem`)
- DTOs: PascalCase with suffix (e.g., `CreateUserDto`, `UpdateSettingsDto`)
- Interfaces match plural for collections, singular for items
## Error Handling
All API clients handle errors automatically:
```typescript
try {
const data = await api.myFeature.get(id);
} catch (error) {
// Error already parsed and formatted
console.error('API error:', error.message);
}
```
Common error types:
- `AdminAuthError` - Admin permission denied
- `AdminApiError` - Admin API request failed
- Generic errors from `api-client` with parsed messages
## Authentication Flow
### Regular Endpoints
1. Client calls protected endpoint wrapper (e.g., `api.resources.list()`)
2. Wrapper calls apiGet/apiPost/etc from api-client
3. api-client calls `getAuthHeaders()`
4. getAuthHeaders uses Supabase server client to get session:
```typescript
const supabase = await createClient();
const { data: { session } } = await supabase.auth.getSession();
const accessToken = session?.access_token;
```
5. Access token added to Authorization header
6. Request sent with automatic authentication
### Admin Endpoints
Same flow as above, but with additional role check:
1. Call `checkAdminPermission()` first
2. checkAdminPermission queries `users` table for current user's role
3. Throws `AdminAuthError` if role is not 'admin'
4. Then proceeds with normal authentication flow
## Best Practices
1. **Never hardcode URLs** - Always use `API_ENDPOINTS`
2. **Always define types first** - Types drive implementation
3. **One wrapper per endpoint** - Keep protected-endpoints clean
4. **Group by domain** - Match structure across all 5 files
5. **Use helper functions** - `apiGet`, `apiPost`, etc. handle auth
6. **Validate admin access early** - Call `checkAdminPermission()` first
7. **Document complex endpoints** - Add JSDoc comments
8. **Handle errors gracefully** - API clients provide good error messages
## Environment Variables
### Required for Supabase Auth
- `NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_URL` - Supabase project URL
- `NEXT_PUBLIC_SUPABASE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY` - Supabase anonymous public key
### Required for API Clients
- `INSTANCE_API_URL` or `API_URL` - Base URL for external API endpoints
- `NEXT_PUBLIC_SITE_URL` - Site URL for redirects (optional, defaults to localhost:3000)
### Database
- Supabase connection is handled automatically via the Supabase client
- No manual connection strings needed
## Migration from Other Patterns
If migrating existing API code to this pattern:
1. Extract all endpoint URLs to `endpoints.ts`
2. Create types in `endpoint-types.ts` for params/responses
3. Replace direct fetch calls with `apiGet`/`apiPost`/etc
4. Add wrappers to `protected-endpoints.ts`
5. Update imports to use `api` object
Example migration:
```typescript
// Before (scattered fetch calls)
const response = await fetch(`${API_BASE}/api/resources/${id}`, {
headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${token}` }
});
const resource = await response.json();
// After (centralized pattern)
import { api } from '@/lib/api/protected-endpoints';
const resource = await api.resources.get(id); // Auth automatic, types included
```
## References
See reference files for detailed implementation patterns:
- `references/supabase-auth-integration.md` - Supabase auth setup and integration
- `references/endpoint-types-pattern.md` - Type definition structure
- `references/endpoints-pattern.md` - URL organization pattern
- `references/api-client-pattern.md` - Generic client implementation with Supabase
- `references/admin-api-client-pattern.md` - Admin client with role-based access
- `references/protected-endpoints-pattern.md` - Wrapper function patterns