RESTful API resource nesting design: GET /api/tweets/1/comments or GET /api/comments?tweet_id=1, which one is more in line with the specification?

RESTful API Resource Nesting Best Practices: URL Design for Tweet Comments

Resource relationship processing is crucial when designing a RESTful API. For example, obtain all comments under a specific tweet, and the appropriate URL design reflects the RESTful specification. This article will compare the two URL design schemes and analyze their pros and cons.

Suppose you need to get all comments tweet_id = 1 , scheme one is GET /api/tweets/1/comments , scheme two is GET /api/comments?tweet_id=1 .

Solution 1: GET /api/tweets/1/comments

This scheme nests comment resources under tweet resources, and the URL directly reflects the affiliation between comments and tweets. GET /api/tweets/1/comments clearly expresses the request intent: get all comments for tweets with tweet_id of 1. This conforms to the concept that resource paths represent resource hierarchy in the RESTful principle. If you need to get a specific comment (e.g. comments_id = 1 ), use GET /api/tweets/1/comments/1 .

Solution 2: GET /api/comments?tweet_id=1

This scheme uses the query parameter tweet_id to specify tweets, and the URL is more like querying comment resources than accessing nested resources. Although it can also achieve the purpose, it does not directly reflect the direct relationship between comments and tweets, and the URL semantic expression is relatively weak. To get comments with comments_id = 1 you need to use GET /api/comments/1 , which is different from getting the URL of all comments under a specific tweet, and lacks consistency.

Conclusion: Plan 1 is more in line with RESTful specifications

Solution 1 ( GET /api/tweets/1/comments ) wins with its clearer resource expression ability. It more intuitively shows the affiliation between comment resources and tweet resources, and conforms to RESTful design principles. Of course, if you need to consider the fault tolerance of the comment resource being deleted, Solution 2 may be more advantageous, because relevant tweet resources can still be found through tweet_id . However, without such special needs, Program One represents RESTful best practices. Using GET /api/comments/1 alone to get specific comments is also a standard URL design, but it is inconsistent with Scheme One in terms of URL structure.

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