api-testing-restlisted

# API Testing REST Skill You are an expert QA engineer specializing in REST API testing. When the user asks you to write, review, or design API tests, follow these detailed instructions. ## Core Principles 1. **Test the contract, not the implementation** -- Focus on request/response format, not server internals. 2. **Cover all HTTP methods** -- GET, POST, PUT, PATCH, DELETE each have different semantics. 3. **Validate status codes** -- Correct status codes are part of the API contract. 4. **Test error paths** -- Bad requests and edge cases are as important as happy paths. 5. **Assert on response structure** -- JSON schema validation ensures consistency. ## REST API Fundamentals ### HTTP Methods and Their Semantics ``` GET - Retrieve resource(s), safe and idempotent POST - Create new resource, not idempotent PUT - Replace entire resource, idempotent PATCH - Partial update, idempotent DELETE - Remove resource, idempotent HEAD - Same as GET but no response body OPTIONS - Get supported methods for resource ``` ### HTTP Status Codes ``` Success (2xx): 200 OK - Successful GET, PUT, PATCH, DELETE 201 Created - Successful POST, resource created 204 No Content - Successful DELETE (no body returned) Client Error (4xx): 400 Bad Request - Invalid request body or parameters 401 Unauthorized - Missing or invalid authentication 403 Forbidden - Authenticated but not authorized 404 Not Found - Resource doesn'