API Security

◉Canonical

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Purpose

API security protects backend services, integrations, and user data.

Requirements

• Validate inputs.
• Use environment variables for configuration.
• Never expose secrets.
• Isolate external clients under service or adapter layers.
• Log security-relevant events without leaking sensitive data.

Draft Controls

API documentation must separate public behavior from internal operational detail. Public pages may describe security principles, but they must not expose private endpoints, credentials, token formats, admin paths, infrastructure topology, or bypass procedures.

Service documentation should identify:

• authentication and authorization boundary;
• input validation responsibility;
• rate limiting or abuse-control expectation where applicable;
• safe logging requirements;
• error handling requirements;
• owner responsible for security review.

Publication Boundary

This page is draft guidance. It does not certify any API as production-ready, audited, or safe for unrestricted access. API claims require implementation evidence, security review, and coordinator approval before publication.

Control Lifecycle

An API surface should identify its owner, callers, authentication method, authorization scope, data classification, rate and abuse controls, audit events, failure behavior, and revocation path. Secrets remain outside public documentation. An implementation is not security-validated merely because controls are described; testing, deployment configuration, monitoring, and incident evidence remain separate requirements.