api-security-testinglisted
Install: claude install-skill aakash1552005/universal-agent-skills
# Security-test an API
APIs fail differently from web UIs: there is no rendered surface to crawl, the interesting bugs are authorization-shaped rather than injection-shaped, and the same endpoint behaves differently per token. This workflow targets those specifics with Strix's autonomous agents, using the current [OWASP API Security Top 10 (2023)](https://owasp.org/API-Security/editions/2023/en/0x11-t10/) as the coverage checklist. For the web-app equivalent, the current edition is the OWASP Top 10:2025 — see **owasp-top-10-testing**.
Install, LLM setup, full CLI flags, and the managed-cloud path are in the **penetration-testing-with-strix** skill. Read it if `strix --version` fails or the target is not an API.
## 1. Gather what the agents need
APIs are near-impossible to test blind, so collect first:
| Input | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| **Schema** — OpenAPI/Swagger file, Postman collection, GraphQL endpoint (introspection), or a gRPC `.proto` | Turns guesswork into full endpoint enumeration. Biggest single win in coverage. An OpenAPI/Swagger or Postman spec (`.json`/`.yaml`/`.yml`) is a target Strix takes directly; a `.proto` is not, so pass it with `--workspace-file`. |
| **Two sets of credentials/tokens**, ideally in different tenants | BOLA/IDOR — API1:2023, still the #1 API risk — can only be *proven* by accessing tenant A's objects with tenant B's token. |
| **A low-privilege and a high-privilege token** | Required to prove broken function-level authorization (AP