Table of Contents
Quick Answer
Write an OpenAPI 3.1 spec, feed it to AI, and generate the scaffolding, handlers, validation, and tests in under an hour. Deploy to Coolify or Fly.io the same day.
- Spec-first reduces rework dramatically
- AI excels at boilerplate: routes, validators, serializers
- Always write auth and business rules yourself with AI review
What You'll Need
- Target framework: Express, Fastify, Hono, NestJS, FastAPI, or Go Fiber
- OpenAPI 3.1 spec (AI can draft this too)
- A database and ORM
- AI IDE and deployment target
Steps
- Draft the OpenAPI spec. Prompt: Write an OpenAPI 3.1 spec for a URL shortener: POST /shorten, GET /:code, GET /:code/stats.
- Scaffold the project. Ask: Generate a Hono project with Zod validation matching this spec.
- Add ORM models. For Drizzle: Create Drizzle models matching these resources.
- Implement handlers. Go route by route. Prompt: Implement POST /shorten with 409 on duplicate.
- Add auth. Never let AI design auth from scratch — use Clerk, Auth.js, or Supabase Auth.
- Generate tests. Write Vitest tests for every endpoint, including validation failures.
- Rate limiting and CORS. Add middleware explicitly — don't trust AI defaults.
- Deploy. git push to Forgejo triggers Coolify redeploy via webhook.
Common Mistakes
- No validation layer. Zod/Valibot schemas should match OpenAPI exactly.
- Leaking stack traces. In production, return generic errors.
- Skipping pagination. AI defaults to unbounded lists. Always add limit + cursor.
- No idempotency. POST endpoints need idempotency keys for retries.
Top Tools
Tool
Purpose
Cursor
Full-project scaffolding
GitHub Copilot
Inline handler writing
Hono
Lightweight web framework
Zod
Runtime schema validation
Scalar
API docs from OpenAPI
FAQs
Should I use REST or GraphQL? REST for simple CRUD, GraphQL for complex relational reads. AI handles both.
Can AI write GraphQL resolvers? Yes — provide the SDL and it writes typed resolvers.
Does AI add API versioning? Only if you ask. Prefix routes with /v1/.
What about webhooks? AI writes sender and receiver patterns with HMAC signatures.
How do I secure API keys? Use a KMS; never hardcode. AI will suggest .env patterns.
Will tests cover auth? Ask explicitly: Test 401 on missing token and 403 on insufficient scope.
Conclusion
Spec-first + AI scaffolding = REST APIs in hours not weeks. Pair with Coolify and Forgejo CI to ship automatically. Misar Dev↗ can generate the whole thing from a one-paragraph description.