API Engineering Lab — Learning Roadmap

This roadmap presents a progressive journey through API fundamentals, professional development, testing, multiple frameworks, delivery practices and complete API projects.

Each lab builds a practical API for a different business scenario, introducing new concepts and technologies while reinforcing previously acquired skills.

Overall Progress

Completed: 1 / 18 Labs

Status Legend

⬜ Planned
🟨 In Progress
✅ Completed

Level Legend

🟢 Fundamentals
🟡 Intermediate
🟠 Testing
🔵 Multi-Framework
🔴 Delivery
🟣 Consolidated Project

🟢 Phase 1 — API Fundamentals

Build a solid foundation in HTTP, REST, JSON, resource modeling, validation and error handling.

Status	Lab	Level	API Project	Business Scenario	Main Concepts	Technologies	Skills Demonstrated
✅	01	🟢	Weather API	Public Weather Service	HTTP, REST, JSON, Routing, Query Parameters	Python, FastAPI	REST Design, Routing, Responses
⬜	02	🟢	Library Management API	University Library	CRUD, Resources, HTTP Methods, Status Codes	Python, FastAPI	Resource Modeling, CRUD Operations
⬜	03	🟢	Inventory API	Retail Inventory	Schemas, Validation, Error Handling	Python, FastAPI, Pydantic	Input Validation, Standardized Errors

Planned Content

Lab 01 — Weather API

An introductory API that initially does not rely on an external weather service. It will accept a city name and return simulated data in JSON format. The goal is to learn API structure, create routes, and work with parameters.

Possible endpoints:

GET /
GET /health
GET /weather
GET /weather/{city}

https://github.com/itamarsb/api-engineering-lab/blob/main/labs/01-weather-api/README.md

Lab 02 — Library Management API

First complete CRUD. It will allow for registering, querying, updating, and removing books.

Possible endpoints:

GET    /books
GET    /books/{book_id}
POST   /books
PUT    /books/{book_id}
PATCH  /books/{book_id}
DELETE /books/{book_id}

Lab 03 — Inventory API

API for product and inventory management. The focus will be on data validation, business rules, and consistent error responses.

Validation examples:

price greater than zero;
non-negative quantity;
mandatory and unique SKU;
non-existent product;
insufficient stock.

🟡 Phase 2 — Professional API Development

Develop APIs with authentication, persistence, relational data and advanced resource queries.

Status	Lab	Level	API Project	Business Scenario	Main Concepts	Technologies	Skills Demonstrated
⬜	04	🟡	Authentication API	SaaS Platform	Password Hashing, JWT, Protected Routes, Authorization	Python, FastAPI, JWT	Authentication, Route Protection
⬜	05	🟡	Blog Platform API	Content Publishing Platform	Persistence, ORM, Relationships, Data Modeling	FastAPI, SQLite, SQLAlchemy	Database Integration, Relational Modeling
⬜	06	🟡	E-commerce Catalog API	Online Store	Pagination, Filtering, Sorting, Search	FastAPI, SQLAlchemy	Query Design, Collection Endpoints

Planned content

Lab 04 — Authentication API

Will allow creating users, logging in, and accessing protected routes.

Possible endpoints:

POST /auth/register
POST /auth/login
GET  /auth/me
GET  /admin/users

Key concepts:

secure password storage;
password hashing;
JWT generation;
Bearer Token;
authenticated user;
basic role-based permissions.

Lab 05 — Blog Platform API

The first project featuring actual data persistence. We will use SQLite to keep the lab simple, portable, and easy to run.

Features:

/users
/posts
/comments
/categories

Possible relationships:

User 1 ─── N Posts
Post 1 ─── N Comments
Category N ─── N Posts

Lab 06 — E-commerce Catalog API

A catalog API with endpoints that handle larger datasets.

Examples:

GET /products?page=1&limit=10
GET /products?category=electronics
GET /products?min_price=100&max_price=1000
GET /products?sort=price&order=asc
GET /products?search=notebook

🟠 Phase 3 — API Testing with Postman

Create organized test collections, environments, assertions and automated API test executions.

Status	Lab	Level	API Project	Business Scenario	Main Concepts	Technologies	Skills Demonstrated
⬜	07	🟠	Movie Catalog API	Streaming Catalog	Requests, Collections, Environments, Variables	Postman, FastAPI	Manual API Testing, Test Organization
⬜	08	🟠	Task Management API	Team Productivity Platform	Assertions, Test Scripts, Dynamic Variables	Postman, JavaScript	Automated Functional Testing
⬜	09	🟠	Hotel Booking API	Hotel Reservation Platform	Authentication Flow, Collection Runner, Newman	Postman, Newman, JavaScript	End-to-End API Testing

Planned content

Lab 07 — Movie Catalog API

The focus will be on creating and organizing a Postman collection.

The collection may contain:

Health Check
Movies
Genres
Directors
Search

The following will be used:

environments;
base URL;
collection variables;
query parameters;
headers;
request body;
response examples;
collection documentation.

Lab 08 — Task Management API

This lab introduces automated tests written in JavaScript within Postman.

Examples:

pm.test("Status code is 200", function () {
    pm.response.to.have.status(200);
});

pm.test("Response contains task ID", function () {
    const response = pm.response.json();
    pm.expect(response).to.have.property("id");
});

We will also have:

dynamic ID capture;
request chaining;
creation and removal of test data;
header validation;
type validation;
positive and negative tests.

Lab 09 — Hotel Booking API

It will represent a complete business flow:

Register User
      ↓
Login
      ↓
Search Rooms
      ↓
Create Booking
      ↓
Get Booking
      ↓
Cancel Booking

The collection will be executed by the Postman Collection Runner and by Newman in the terminal.

🔵 Phase 4 — Multi-Framework API Development

Apply the same API engineering principles using different languages, frameworks and architectural styles.

Status	Lab	Level	API Project	Business Scenario	Main Concepts	Technologies	Skills Demonstrated
⬜	10	🔵	Currency Exchange API	Financial Utility Service	External APIs, Async Requests, Error Mapping	Python, FastAPI, HTTPX	External API Integration
⬜	11	🔵	Flight Search API	Airline Search Platform	Flask Routing, Blueprints, Serialization	Python, Flask	Flask API Development
⬜	12	🔵	Student Management API	Education Platform	Express Routing, Middleware, Controllers	JavaScript, Node.js, Express	JavaScript API Development
⬜	13	🔵	Healthcare Appointment API	Appointment Scheduling Platform	TypeScript, Modules, Services, DTOs	TypeScript, NestJS	Structured Backend Development

Planned content

Lab 10 — Currency Exchange API

You will consume a public currency exchange API and provide a custom interface for conversions.

Possible endpoints:

GET /currencies
GET /rates/{base_currency}
GET /convert?from=USD&to=BRL&amount=100

Concepts:

external API consumption;
asynchronous HTTP client;
timeouts;
handling unavailability;
mapping external errors;
currency and value validation.

Lab 11 — Flight Search API

First API with Flask.

Possible features:

/airports
/flights
/routes
/search

The lab will cover:

application factory;
blueprints;
configuration;
serialization;
error handling;
differences between Flask and FastAPI.

Lab 12 — Student Management API

First API using JavaScript and Node.js.

Suggested structure:

src/
├── controllers/
├── routes/
├── services/
├── middlewares/
├── models/
└── app.js

Concepts:

routes;
controllers;
middleware;
validation;
centralized error handling;
asynchronous programming.

Lab 13 — Healthcare Appointment API

First API using TypeScript and NestJS.

Features:

/patients
/doctors
/specialties
/appointments

The lab will demonstrate:

modules;
controllers;
providers;
services;
DTOs;
decorators;
dependency injection;
validation with TypeScript.

The project is educational and will not handle real medical data.

🔴 Phase 5 — API Delivery Basics

Package APIs into containers and automate their basic quality and testing workflows.

Status	Lab	Level	API Project	Business Scenario	Main Concepts	Technologies	Skills Demonstrated
⬜	14	🔴	File Storage API	Document Management Service	File Upload, Validation, Download, Metadata	Python, FastAPI	File Handling, Content Validation
⬜	15	🔴	Notification API	Notification Service	Environment Variables, Dockerfile, Containers	JavaScript, Express, Docker	API Containerization
⬜	16	🔴	Payment Simulation API	Payment Sandbox	Automated Tests, Linting, CI Workflow	GitHub Actions, Postman, Newman	Continuous Integration

Planned content

Lab 14 — File Storage API

It will allow uploading, querying, and downloading files.

Possible endpoints:

POST   /files
GET    /files
GET    /files/{file_id}
GET    /files/{file_id}/download
DELETE /files/{file_id}

Validations:

allowed extension;
MIME type;
maximum size;
safe name;
non-existent file;
metadata.

Lab 15 — Notification API

Express API to simulate sending notifications.

Possible types:

email
sms
push

There will be no need to use paid providers. Sending can be simulated and logged locally.

The objectives are:

configuration via environment variables;
creation of a Dockerfile;
image creation;
container execution;
port exposure;
optional log persistence.

Lab 16 — Payment Simulation API

An educational sandbox for simulating payment operations without processing real money.

Supported operations:

POST /payments
GET  /payments/{payment_id}
POST /payments/{payment_id}/confirm
POST /payments/{payment_id}/cancel
POST /payments/{payment_id}/refund

The pipeline will be able to execute:

Install Dependencies
        ↓
Lint
        ↓
Start API
        ↓
Run Newman Tests
        ↓
Publish Test Result

🟣 Phase 6 — Consolidated API Projects

Consolidate API design, development, persistence, authentication and testing in complete portfolio projects.

Status	Lab	Level	API Project	Business Scenario	Main Concepts	Technologies	Skills Demonstrated
⬜	17	🟣	IoT Telemetry API	Sensor Data Collection	Data Ingestion, Timestamps, Filtering, Aggregation	Python, FastAPI, SQLite	Telemetry API Design
⬜	18	🟣	Service Desk API	IT Support Management	Authentication, CRUD, Roles, Persistence, Testing	FastAPI or NestJS, Database, Postman	Complete API Lifecycle

Planned content

Lab 17 — IoT Telemetry API

You will receive simulated sensor data.

Payload example:

{
  "device_id": "sensor-001",
  "temperature": 24.7,
  "humidity": 71.2,
  "timestamp": "2026-07-23T18:30:00Z"
}

Possible endpoints:

POST /telemetry
GET  /telemetry
GET  /telemetry/{device_id}
GET  /telemetry/{device_id}/latest
GET  /telemetry/{device_id}/summary

Concepts:

timestamps;
data ingestion;
time-range filters;
grouping;
calculation of minimum, maximum, and average;
device validation;
contract documentation.

Lab 18 — Service Desk API

This will be the final and most comprehensive project in the repository.

Features:

/users
/auth
/tickets
/categories
/priorities
/statuses
/comments

Possible profiles:

Requester
Technician
Administrator

Features:

user creation;
login;
ticket creation;
technician assignment;
priority modification;
status updates;
comments;
basic history;
filters;
pagination;
role-based authorization;
OpenAPI documentation;
Postman collection;
tests with Newman;
well-documented local execution.

Learning Journey

API Fundamentals
        │
        ▼
Professional API Development
        │
        ▼
API Testing with Postman
        │
        ▼
Multi-Framework Development
        │
        ▼
API Delivery Basics
        │
        ▼
Consolidated API Projects

Core Principles

Every lab follows these principles:

Practical and business-oriented API development;
Clear REST and HTTP semantics;
Consistent request and response contracts;
Input validation and standardized error handling;
OpenAPI documentation;
Postman-based API testing;
Progressive use of Python, JavaScript and TypeScript;
Simple and reproducible local execution;
Clear technical documentation;
Portfolio-oriented delivery.

Main Technologies

Languages

Python
JavaScript
TypeScript

Frameworks

FastAPI
Flask
Express
NestJS

API Design and Documentation

HTTP
REST
JSON
OpenAPI
Swagger UI

Testing

Postman
Newman
JavaScript Test Scripts

Data and Persistence

SQLite
PostgreSQL
SQLAlchemy

Delivery

Docker
GitHub Actions

Initial directory structure

This structure should evolve as the labs and tutorials are developed.

api-engineering-lab/
│
├── README.md
├── LICENSE
│
├── labs/
│   ├── 01-weather-api/
│   ├── 02-library-management-api/
│   ├── 03-inventory-api/
│   ├── 04-authentication-api/
│   ├── 05-blog-platform-api/
│   ├── 06-ecommerce-catalog-api/
│   ├── 07-movie-catalog-api/
│   ├── 08-task-management-api/
│   ├── 09-hotel-booking-api/
│   ├── 10-currency-exchange-api/
│   ├── 11-flight-search-api/
│   ├── 12-student-management-api/
│   ├── 13-healthcare-appointment-api/
│   ├── 14-file-storage-api/
│   ├── 15-notification-api/
│   ├── 16-payment-simulation-api/
│   ├── 17-iot-telemetry-api/
│   └── 18-service-desk-api/
|   └── script/
│
├── postman/
│   ├── collections/
│   └── environments/
│
├── docs/
│   ├── api-fundamentals/
│   └── images/
│
└── .github/
    └── workflows/

Name		Name	Last commit message	Last commit date
Latest commit History 221 Commits
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labs		labs
README.md		README.md

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API Engineering Lab — Learning Roadmap

Overall Progress

Status Legend

Level Legend

🟢 Phase 1 — API Fundamentals

Planned Content

Lab 01 — Weather API

Lab 02 — Library Management API

Lab 03 — Inventory API

🟡 Phase 2 — Professional API Development

Planned content

Lab 04 — Authentication API

Lab 05 — Blog Platform API

Lab 06 — E-commerce Catalog API

🟠 Phase 3 — API Testing with Postman

Planned content

Lab 07 — Movie Catalog API

Lab 08 — Task Management API

Lab 09 — Hotel Booking API

🔵 Phase 4 — Multi-Framework API Development

Planned content

Lab 10 — Currency Exchange API

Lab 11 — Flight Search API

Lab 12 — Student Management API

Lab 13 — Healthcare Appointment API

🔴 Phase 5 — API Delivery Basics

Planned content

Lab 14 — File Storage API

Lab 15 — Notification API

Lab 16 — Payment Simulation API

🟣 Phase 6 — Consolidated API Projects

Planned content

Lab 17 — IoT Telemetry API

Lab 18 — Service Desk API

Learning Journey

Core Principles

Main Technologies

Languages

Frameworks

API Design and Documentation

Testing

Data and Persistence

Delivery

Initial directory structure

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