public-graphql-api-design Skill (samber): Public GraphQL API Design

Makes Claude design a public GraphQL API for outside developers, and first asks whether it should be GraphQL at all.

Installs: 9.4K; on skills.sh
Stars: 9; on GitHub
Files: 5; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Nov 2026; last repo commit

public-graphql-api-design makes Claude design a public GraphQL API for third-party developers. It runs a GraphQL-or-not gate first, then schema conventions, pagination, the error surface, depth and complexity limits, the federation trust boundary and persisted-query policy.

It starts when you mention GraphQL, a public schema, Relay connections, query depth limits, persisted queries, federation, or GraphQL vs REST. Claude asks 6 opening questions, then works through 8 steps and returns a design decision record with one section per step. Reviewing an existing schema gives the same sections as findings. SKILL.md says the default for a public API is REST, not GraphQL. The skill bundles no scripts.

Good for

Teams opening a GraphQL API to partner developers
Teams with an internal federated graph deciding what to expose
Reviewers checking a schema before it ships

Install public-graphql-api-design

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the public-graphql-api-design skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

/plugin marketplace add samber/developer-platform-skills
/plugin install developer-platform-skills@developer-platform-skills

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Pick one route, not both, or you get every skill twice. The README asks you to install the whole set, not just public-graphql-api-design, because the skills reference each other and a lone skill leaves those hand-offs with nowhere to go. The plugin adds all 61 skills in the repo (counted from the repo tree). Its manifests list no hooks, agents or MCP servers.

From the project README. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

Design a public GraphQL API for third-party developers - the GraphQL-or-not gate, schema conventions (naming, nullability, Node interface, input/payload types), Relay cursor-connection pagination, union/interface error result types, depth and complexity ceilings as design decisions, the federation trust boundary (only the router is ever public), and a persisted-query policy that allowlists first-party traffic only. Use whenever the user mentions GraphQL, a public schema, Relay connections, query depth limits, persisted queries, federation, or GraphQL vs REST - even if they never say "GraphQL API design". Design layer only. Do NOT use for a REST surface review - use samber/developer-platform-skills@public-api-design-review instead.

Sections in SKILL.md

Clarifying questions
Audience split: first-party vs third-party
Workflow
1. The GraphQL-or-not gate
2. Schema conventions
3. Pagination
4. The error surface
5. The guardrails
6. The federation trust boundary
7. The persisted-query policy
8. Hand off evolution
Failure modes
Measurement
Invocation examples
References

Key facts

Author: Samuel Berthe
License: MIT
Version: 1.0.2
Installs on skills.sh: 9,371 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars: 9 (Nov 2, 2026)
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass; Socket pass; Snyk pass (Nov 2, 2026)
Last repo commit: Nov 1, 2026
What installs: 6 files including SKILL.md: evals/evals.json and 4 reference files. It bundles no scripts.
Needs: The other skills in the repo; the README says to install the whole set
Works in: Claude Code, Claude.ai, Codex, Cursor, Gemini CLI, and other agents through the skills CLI

What it includes

Asks 6 questions in one batch before designing anything.
Try: “We're opening our GraphQL API to partner developers next quarter - review the schema before it ships.”
Opening questions
Starts from REST as the public default and asks whether GraphQL is justified.
The GraphQL-or-not gate
Fixes naming, nullability and ID rules once, then lints against them.
Schema conventions
Ranks Relay cursor connections first, then plain cursor lists, then offsets.
Pagination
Splits errors between built-in GraphQL errors and result types.
The error surface
Sets depth and complexity ceilings and the error shown when a query exceeds them.
The guardrails
Keeps subgraphs unreachable and exposes only the router.
The federation trust boundary
Sets who gets persisted queries, split by traffic class.
The persisted-query policy
Leaves a schema that can evolve and hands deprecation policy to the versioning skill.
Hand off evolution
Advises saving decisions to developer-platform-context.md when memory is a file.
Write · Remember decisions (optional)

From the official docs

Permissions

Low risk

This skill is written advice that bundles no scripts. The one thing it may write is a decisions file, so check what Claude saves.

What it can do

Read your data
Create and change things
Delete things
Read-only mode

Watch out for

It may save decisions to a file
SKILL.md advises using developer-platform-context.md when memory lives in a file, and calls it an advisory reference. Check or delete that file if you do not want decisions kept. github.com
The plugin route adds all 61 skills
The README asks you to install every skill in the repo, and the repo has 61. The plugin manifests list no hooks, agents or MCP servers, and the repo tree holds none. github.com
Folder holds Markdown and one JSON file
This skill's folder has 6 files: SKILL.md, evals/evals.json and 4 reference files. It has no .py, .sh or .js file. github.com

Security advisories

No published security advisories as of Nov 2, 2026.

Technical details

Turning on read-only	No read-only setting is documented. Decline the memory-file suggestion if you want no files written.
Scopes	Asks you opening questions and works from your answers and anything you share, such as specs or docs May save settled decisions to a file named developer-platform-context.md if your memory lives in a file

Questions

How do I install public-graphql-api-design?

Use the install box above. The README asks you to install all 61 skills in the repo, not just this one, because the skills point to each other. In Claude Code that is the plugin route, and elsewhere the skills CLI or the client's own route installs the set.

Does public-graphql-api-design work in Claude.ai, Codex or Cursor?

The README documents installs for Claude.ai, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor and Gemini CLI. It also lists the skills CLI, which it calls universal for Agent Skills-compatible tools. The Claude.ai route adds the whole repo as a plugin marketplace.

Does it need an API key or any setup?

SKILL.md sets no environment variable and the folder bundles no scripts. It does ask for details of your own API or product in its opening questions.

Is public-graphql-api-design safe to use?

The folder holds Markdown and one JSON file, and no scripts. SKILL.md does suggest saving settled decisions to developer-platform-context.md when your memory lives in a file, so check what Claude writes. Our advice: treat the design it produces as a draft for your team to review before you publish it.

public-graphql-api-design vs public-api-design-review?

This skill is for GraphQL schemas. SKILL.md sends a REST surface review to public-api-design-review. Partners extending your graph with their own fields or subgraphs is a different design, covered by graphql-federation-offering.

Should my public API be GraphQL or REST?

SKILL.md says the default for a public API is REST, the opposite of the internal-API instinct, and the gate asks you to justify GraphQL. Its examples cover web, mobile and partner clients on the same data.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: samber/developer-platform-skills
Folder: skills/public-graphql-api-design

samber/developer-platform-skills skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 6

README · github.com
public-graphql-api-design SKILL.md · github.com
public-graphql-api-design folder · github.com
public-api-design-review SKILL.md · github.com
marketplace.json · github.com
plugin.json · github.com