REST principles first

When designing APIs with Express, prioritize proper REST principles and HTTP semantics over convenience. This ensures your API is predictable, standards-compliant, and maintainable:

1. Use appropriate HTTP verbs for different operations:
   • GET for retrieval
   • POST for creation
   • PUT for complete entity updates
   • PATCH for partial updates
   • DELETE for removal

// Implement both PUT and PATCH for different update scenarios
router.put('/:id', controller.replaceEntity.bind(controller));    // Full entity replacement
router.patch('/:id', controller.updateFields.bind(controller));   // Partial update

1. Handle HTTP headers correctly:
   • Respect existing Content-Type headers before applying defaults
   • Follow established patterns for setting headers (use res.type() where appropriate)
   • Handle Link headers according to RFC specifications
   • Process Accept headers intelligently, considering priorities
2. Follow consistent response patterns:
   • Use res.status() with appropriate status codes (200 OK, 201 Created, 204 No Content)
   • For error responses, use semantic status codes (400 Bad Request, 404 Not Found)
   • Use res.sendStatus() for simple status-only responses

Remember that proper HTTP semantics help clients understand your API intuitively without requiring extensive documentation for basic operations.