Format-Agnostic APIs: JSON, YAML, CSV One Endpoint
Design APIs that serve JSON, YAML, or CSV based on Accept headers. Use content negotiation and a shared serialization layer for clean code.
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Tags: api, data-formats, architecture
Format-Agnostic APIs: Serve JSON, YAML, and CSV From a Single Endpoint Most APIs return JSON. That's the right default — JSON is universally supported, human-readable, and browser-native. But there are real use cases where serving multiple formats from the same endpoint creates genuine value: data download endpoints where users want CSV for Excel, developer tools where YAML is more readable, or internal services where clients prefer MessagePack for efficiency. This guide covers how to build format-agnostic APIs correctly: content negotiation via Accept headers, response serialization architecture, format detection fallbacks, and how versioning interacts with format negotiation. --- When Format-Agnostic APIs Are Worth the Complexity Before building this, make sure you actually need it. The…
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