ancoleman/ai-design-components/designing-sdks

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Design production-ready SDKs with retry logic, error handling, pagination, and multi-language support. Use when building client libraries for APIs or creating developer-facing SDK interfaces.

Install

npx vskill@latest install ancoleman/ai-design-components/designing-sdks

SKILL.md

SDK Design

Design client libraries (SDKs) with excellent developer experience through intuitive APIs, robust error handling, automatic retries, and consistent patterns across programming languages.

When to Use This Skill

Use when building a client library for a REST API, creating internal service SDKs, implementing retry logic with exponential backoff, handling authentication patterns, creating typed error hierarchies, implementing pagination with async iterators, or designing streaming APIs for real-time data.

Core Architecture Patterns

Client → Resources → Methods

Organize SDK code hierarchically:

Client (config: API key, base URL, retries, timeout)
├─ Resources (users, payments, posts)
│ ├─ create(), retrieve(), update(), delete()
│ └─ list() (with pagination)
└─ Top-Level Methods (convenience)

Resource-Based (Stripe style):

typescript
const client = new APIClient({ apiKey: 'sk_test_...' })
const user = await client.users.create({ email: 'user@example.com' })

Use for APIs <100 methods. Prioritizes developer experience.

Command-Based (AWS SDK v3):

typescript
import { S3Client, PutObjectCommand } from '@aws-sdk/client-s3'
await client.send(new PutObjectCommand({ Bucket: '...' }))

Use for APIs >100 methods. Prioritizes bundle size and tree-shaking.

For detailed architectural guidance, see references/architecture-patterns.md.

Language-Specific Patterns

TypeScript: Async-Only
typescript
const user = await client.users.create({ email: 'user@example.com' })

All methods return Promises. Avoid callbacks.

Python: Dual Sync/Async
python
# Sync
client = APIClient(api_key='sk_test_...')
user = client.users.create(email='user@example.com')
# Async
async_client = AsyncAPIClient(api_key='sk_test_...')
user = await async_client.users.create(email='user@example.com')

Provide both clients. Users choose based on architecture.

Go: Sync with Context
go
client := apiclient.New("api_key")
user, err := client.Users().Create(ctx, req)

Use context.Context for timeout and cancellation.

Authentication

API Key (Most Common)
typescript
const client = new APIClient({ apiKey: process.env.API_KEY })

Store keys in environment variables, never hardcode.

OAuth Token Refresh
typescript
const client = new APIClient({
clientId: 'id',
clientSecret: 'secret',
refreshToken: 'token',
onTokenRefresh: (newToken) => saveToken(newToken)
})

SDK automatically refreshes tokens before expiry.

Bearer Token Per-Request
typescript
await client.users.list({
headers: { Authorization: `Bearer ${userToken}` }
})

Use for multi-tenant applications.

See references/authentication.md for OAuth flows, JWT handling, and credential providers.

Retry and Backoff

Exponential Backoff with Jitter
typescript
async function retryWithBackoff<T>(fn: () => Promise<T>, maxRetries: number): Promise<T> {
let attempt = 0
while (attempt <= maxRetries) {
try {
return await fn()
} catch (error) {
attempt++
if (attempt > maxRetries || !isRetryable(error)) throw error
const exponential = Math.min(1000 * Math.pow(2, attempt - 1), 10000)
const jitter = Math.random() * 500
await sleep(exponential + jitter)
}
}
}
function isRetryable(error: any): boolean {
return (
error.code === 'ECONNRESET' ||
error.code === 'ETIMEDOUT' ||
(error.status >= 500 && error.status < 600) ||
error.status === 429
)
}

Retry Decision Matrix:

Error TypeRetry?Rationale
5xx, 429, Network Timeout✅ YesTransient errors
4xx, 401, 403, 404❌ NoClient errors won't fix themselves
Rate Limit Handling
typescript
if (error.status === 429) {
const retryAfter = parseInt(error.headers['retry-after'] || '60')
await sleep(retryAfter * 1000)
}

Respect Retry-After header on 429 responses.

See references/retry-backoff.md for jitter strategies, circuit breakers, and idempotency keys.

Error Handling

Typed Error Hierarchy
typescript
class APIError extends Error {
constructor(
message: string,
public status: number,
public code: string,
public requestId: string
) {
super(message)
this.name = 'APIError'
}
}
class RateLimitError extends APIError {
constructor(message: string, requestId: string, public retryAfter: number) {
super(message, 429, 'rate_limit_error', requestId)
}
}
class AuthenticationError extends APIError {
constructor(message: string, requestId: string) {
super(message, 401, 'authentication_error', requestId)
}
}
Error Handling in Practice
typescript
try {
const user = await client.users.create({ email: 'invalid' })
} catch (error) {
if (error instanceof RateLimitError) {
await sleep(error.retryAfter * 1000)
} else if (error instanceof AuthenticationError) {
console.error('Invalid API key')
} else if (error instanceof APIError) {
console.error(`${error.message} (Request ID: ${error.requestId})`)
}
}

Include request ID in all errors for debugging.

See references/error-handling.md for user-friendly messages, validation errors, and debugging support.

Pagination

Async Iterators (Recommended)

TypeScript:

typescript
for await (const user of client.users.list({ limit: 100 })) {
console.log(user.id, user.email)
}

Python:

python
async for user in client.users.list(limit=100):
print(user.id, user.email)

SDK automatically fetches next page.

Implementation
typescript
class UsersResource {
async *list(options?: { limit?: number }): AsyncGenerator<User> {
let cursor: string | undefined = undefined
while (true) {
const response = await this.client.request('GET', '/users', {
query: { limit: String(options?.limit || 100), ...(cursor ? { cursor } : {}) }
})
for (const user of response.data) yield user
if (!response.has_more) break
cursor = response.next_cursor
}
}
}
Manual Pagination
typescript
let cursor: string | undefined = undefined
while (true) {
const response = await client.users.list({ limit: 100, cursor })
for (const user of response.data) console.log(user.id)
if (!response.has_more) break
cursor = response.next_cursor
}

Provide both automatic and manual options.

See references/pagination.md for cursor vs. offset pagination and Go channel patterns.

Streaming

Server-Sent Events
typescript
async *stream(path: string, body?: any): AsyncGenerator<any> {
const response = await fetch(url, {
headers: { 'Accept': 'text/event-stream' },
body: JSON.stringify(body)
})
const reader = response.body!.getReader()
const decoder = new TextDecoder()
while (true) {
const { done, value } = await reader.read()
if (done) break
const chunk = decoder.decode(value)
for (const line of chunk.split('\n')) {
if (line.startsWith('data: ')) {
const data = line.slice(6)
if (data === '[DONE]') return
yield JSON.parse(data)
}
}
}
}
// Usage
for await (const chunk of client.posts.stream({ prompt: 'Write a story' })) {
process.stdout.write(chunk.content)
}

Idempotency Keys

Prevent duplicate operations during retries:

typescript
import { randomUUID } from 'crypto'
if (['POST', 'PATCH', 'PUT'].includes(method)) {
headers['Idempotency-Key'] = options?.idempotencyKey || randomUUID()
}
// Usage
await client.charges.create(
{ amount: 1000 },
{ idempotencyKey: 'charge_unique_123' }
)

Server deduplicates requests by key.

Versioning

Semantic Versioning
  • 1.0.0 → 1.1.0: New features (safe)
  • 1.1.0 → 2.0.0: Breaking changes (review)
  • 1.0.0 → 1.0.1: Bug fixes (safe)
Deprecation Warnings
typescript
function deprecated(message: string, since: string) {
return function (target: any, propertyKey: string, descriptor: PropertyDescriptor) {
const originalMethod = descriptor.value
descriptor.value = function (...args: any[]) {
console.warn(`[DEPRECATED] ${propertyKey} since ${since}. ${message}`)
return originalMethod.apply(this, args)
}
return descriptor
}
}
@deprecated('Use users.list() instead', 'v2.0.0')
async getAll() { return this.list() }
API Version Pinning
typescript
const client = new APIClient({
apiKey: 'sk_test_...',
apiVersion: '2025-01-01'
})

See references/versioning.md for migration strategies.

Configuration Best Practices

typescript
interface ClientConfig {
apiKey: string
baseURL?: string
maxRetries?: number
timeout?: number
apiVersion?: string
onTokenRefresh?: (token: string) => void
}
class APIClient {
constructor(config: ClientConfig) {
this.apiKey = config.apiKey
this.baseURL = config.baseURL || 'https://api.example.com'
this.maxRetries = config.maxRetries ?? 3
this.timeout = config.timeout ?? 30000
}
}

Provide sensible defaults, require only apiKey.

Quick Reference Tables

Authentication Patterns
PatternUse Case
API KeyService-to-service
OAuth RefreshUser-based auth
Bearer Per-RequestMulti-tenant
Retry Strategies
StrategyUse Case
Exponential BackoffDefault retry
Rate Limit429 responses
Max RetriesAvoid infinite loops (3-5)
Pagination Options
PatternLanguageUse Case
Async IteratorTypeScript, PythonAutomatic pagination
GeneratorPythonSync pagination
ChannelsGoConcurrent iteration
ManualAllExplicit control

Reference Documentation

Architecture:

  • references/architecture-patterns.md - Resource vs. command organization

Core Patterns:

  • references/authentication.md - OAuth, token refresh, credential providers
  • references/retry-backoff.md - Exponential backoff, jitter, circuit breakers
  • references/error-handling.md - Error hierarchies, debugging support
  • references/pagination.md - Cursor vs. offset, async iterators
  • references/versioning.md - SemVer, deprecation strategies
  • references/testing-sdks.md - Unit testing, mocking, integration tests

Code Examples

TypeScript:

  • examples/typescript/basic-client.ts - Simple async SDK
  • examples/typescript/advanced-client.ts - Retry, errors, streaming
  • examples/typescript/resource-based.ts - Stripe-style organization

Python:

  • examples/python/sync-client.py - Synchronous client
  • examples/python/async-client.py - Async client with asyncio
  • examples/python/dual-client.py - Both sync and async

Go:

  • examples/go/basic-client.go - Simple Go client
  • examples/go/context-client.go - Context patterns
  • examples/go/channel-pagination.go - Channel-based pagination

Best-in-Class SDK Examples

Study these production SDKs:

TypeScript/JavaScript:

  • AWS SDK v3 (@aws-sdk/client-*): Modular, tree-shakeable, middleware
  • Stripe Node (stripe): Resource-based, typed errors, excellent DX
  • OpenAI Node (openai): Streaming, async iterators, modern TypeScript

Python:

  • Boto3 (boto3): Resource vs. client patterns, paginators
  • Stripe Python (stripe): Dual sync/async, context managers

Go:

  • AWS SDK Go v2 (github.com/aws/aws-sdk-go-v2): Context, middleware

Common Pitfalls

Avoid these mistakes:

This is the start of the file. Read the full SKILL.md on GitHub.

Security

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Source

Popularity

Repository stars
326
Repository forks
51
7-day trend score
29

Stars and forks are for the whole GitHub repository, not this skill alone. Refreshed 5 Apr 2026, 6 months ago.

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