Agent Skills for Backend Developer APIs

Backend developer skills cover the server side of an application: APIs that other software calls, data storage and integrity, authentication and authorization, reliability under network or disk failure, performance in time and money per request, and operations such as shipping and monitoring a service in production. A skill in this topic is a SKILL.md package an AI agent loads to help with one of those areas, so the list is organized around the sub-topics above rather than around a single language or framework. Read the sub-topic headings first and pick the one closest to the work in front of you. Then compare the skills under it by what they actually cover, and choose the one whose scope matches your task instead of loading several overlapping packages.

8 to start with47 top options

Start with these.

Backend work is the server side: APIs, data, auth, reliability, and the infrastructure those sit on.

These are the closest matches for this work. Start with the first one and open it to install.

How other software talks to this service.What is stored, and how it stays true.Who is calling, and what they are allowed to do.Behavior when the network, disk, or a dependency misbehaves.Cost in time and money per request.Shipping and watching the service in production.

47 top options

  1. Rank 04
    Direct

    fastify-best-practices

    Guides Fastify Node.js backend servers and REST APIs, covering routes, plugins, JSON Schema validation, error handling, auth, databases, and performance.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Auth
    67,955 · popularity
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  2. Rank 05
    Direct

    nodejs-backend-patterns

    Builds production-ready Node.js backend services with Express/Fastify, covering middleware, error handling, authentication, database integration, and API design.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Auth
    47,197 · popularity
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  3. Rank 06
    Direct

    backend-patterns

    Covers backend architecture patterns, API design, database optimization, and server-side best practices for Node.js, Express, and Next.js API routes.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Auth
    14,214 · popularity
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  4. Rank 07
    Direct

    postgres-patterns

    Covers PostgreSQL patterns for query optimization, schema design, indexing, RLS, and connection pooling, with an index cheat sheet and anti-pattern detection.

    • Data
    • Auth
    • Reliability
    11,860 · popularity
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  5. Rank 08
    Direct

    aspnet-core

    Official

    Build, review, refactor, or architect ASP.NET Core web applications using current official guidance for .NET web development. Use when working on Blazor Web Apps, Razor Pages, MVC, Minimal APIs, controller-based Web APIs, SignalR, gRPC, middleware, dependency injection, configuration, authentication, authorization, testing, performance, deployment, or ASP.NET Core upgrades.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Auth
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Explore 39 more Agent Skills
  1. Rank 09
    Direct

    sql-optimization-patterns

    Covers SQL query optimization, indexing strategies, and EXPLAIN analysis to improve database performance and eliminate slow queries.

    • Data
    • Performance
    19,036 · popularity
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  2. Rank 10
    Direct

    openapi-spec-generation

    Covers creating, maintaining, and validating OpenAPI 3.1 specifications, including design-first and code-first approaches, templates, and best practices.

    15,771 · popularity
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  3. Rank 11
    Direct

    springboot-patterns

    Covers Spring Boot architecture patterns for REST APIs, layered services, Spring Data JPA, caching, async processing, validation, and exception handling.

    • APIs
    • Performance
    12,219 · popularity
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  4. Rank 12
    Direct

    django-patterns

    Covers production-grade Django architecture patterns including project structure, DRF API design, ORM best practices, caching, signals, and middleware.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Auth
    11,888 · popularity
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  5. Rank 13
    Direct

    dotnet-backend-patterns

    Covers C#/.NET backend patterns for building APIs and enterprise apps, including async/await, dependency injection, EF Core, Dapper, caching, and testing.

    • Data
    • Performance
    18,509 · popularity
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  6. Rank 14
    Direct

    api-security-best-practices

    Covers secure API design patterns including authentication, authorization, input validation, rate limiting, and protection against common API vulnerabilities.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Auth
    8,752 · popularity
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  7. Rank 15
    Direct

    laravel-specialist

    Builds Laravel 10+ applications covering Eloquent models and relationships, Sanctum authentication, Horizon queues, RESTful API resources, and Livewire interfaces.

    • Data
    • Auth
    • Reliability
    22,581 · popularity
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  8. Rank 16
    Direct

    laravel-patterns

    Covers production-grade Laravel architecture patterns including routing, controllers, Eloquent ORM, service layers, queues, events, caching, and API resources.

    • Data
    • Auth
    • Performance
    10,537 · popularity
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  9. Rank 17
    Direct

    nestjs-patterns

    Covers production-grade NestJS patterns for modules, controllers, providers, DTO validation, guards, interceptors, config, and testing.

    • Data
    • Auth
    8,737 · popularity
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  10. Rank 18
    Direct

    php-pro

    Builds PHP 8.3+ applications with Laravel or Symfony, covering strict typing, DTOs, dependency injection, REST/GraphQL APIs, and PHPStan/PHPUnit testing.

    • APIs
    • Auth
    • Operations
    14,840 · popularity
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  11. Rank 19
    Direct

    firebase-data-connect

    Builds and deploys Firebase SQL Connect backends with PostgreSQL, covering GraphQL schema design, authorized queries and mutations, and type-safe SDK generation.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Auth
    160,036 · popularity
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  12. Rank 20
    Direct

    convex

    Convex backend platform skill covering database, server functions, scheduling, file storage, auth, and realtime sync, routing to capability-specific sub-skills.

    • Data
    • Auth
    • Performance
    101,507 · popularity
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  13. Rank 21
    Direct

    elysiajs

    Guides building type-safe, high-performance backend servers with ElysiaJS, covering routing, validation, authentication, plugins, and deployment.

    • Data
    • Auth
    • Operations
    10,525 · popularity
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  14. Rank 22
    Direct

    sql-code-review

    Performs comprehensive SQL code review across major databases, focusing on injection prevention, access control, indexing, query structure, and schema design.

    • Data
    13,444 · popularity
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  15. Rank 23
    Direct

    architecture-designer

    Designs high-level system architecture, covering architecture patterns, ADRs, technology trade-offs, component interactions, and scalability planning.

    • Data
    • Reliability
    7,237 · popularity
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  16. Rank 24
    Possible

    codebase-design

    Provides shared vocabulary and principles for designing deep modules, covering interfaces, seams, adapters, depth, and testability of code boundaries.

    754,725 · popularity
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  17. Rank 25
    Possible

    clean-architecture

    Covers structuring software around the Dependency Rule with ports and adapters, component principles, boundaries, and SOLID for framework-independent business logic.

    • Data
    6,495 · popularity
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  18. Rank 26
    Possible

    upstash-ratelimit-js

    Adds rate limiting to serverless and edge apps with the Upstash Ratelimit SDK, covering algorithms, per-user/IP keys, 429 responses, and traffic protection.

    • APIs
    • Performance
    16,759 · popularity
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  19. Rank 27
    Possible

    golang-context

    Covers idiomatic Go context.Context usage including propagation, cancellation, timeouts, request-scoped values, and context.WithoutCancel for background work.

    • Auth
    • Reliability
    37,623 · popularity
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  20. Rank 28
    Possible

    golang-samber-hot

    Covers in-memory caching in Go with samber/hot, including eviction algorithms, TTL, loaders, sharding, stale-while-revalidate, and Prometheus metrics.

    • Performance
    35,221 · popularity
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  21. Rank 29
    Possible

    cloudbase

    Develops and deploys CloudBase projects covering databases, cloud functions, storage, auth, and AI, for Web and mini-program apps.

    • Data
    • Auth
    • Operations

    Needs (stated): Credentials

    12,130 · popularity
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  22. Rank 30
    Possible

    entra-app-registration

    Official

    description: "Guides Microsoft Entra ID app registration, OAuth 2.0 authentication, and MSAL integration. USE FOR: create app registration, register Azure AD app, configure OAuth, set up authentication, add API permissions, generate service principal, MSAL example, console app auth, Entra ID setup, Azure AD authentication. DO NOT USE FOR: Key Vault secrets (use azu

    • Auth
    515,258 · popularity
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  23. Rank 31
    Possible

    clerk-backend-api

    Explores and executes the Clerk Backend REST API for listing users, managing organizations, and calling authenticated endpoints with safety checks.

    • APIs
    • Auth
    49,680 · popularity
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  24. Rank 32
    Possible

    google-cloud-recipe-auth

    Official

    Provides expert guidance on authenticating and authorizing to Google Cloud services and APIs, covering human users, service identities, Application Default Credentials (ADC), and best practices for secure access.

    • Auth
    View Agent Skill
  25. Rank 33
    Possible

    azure-mgmt-apimanagement-dotnet

    Official

    | Azure Resource Manager SDK for API Management in .NET. Use for MANAGEMENT PLANE operations: creating/managing APIM services, APIs, products, subscriptions, policies, users, groups, gateways, and backends via Azure Resource Manager. Triggers: "API Management", "APIM service", "create APIM", "manage APIs", "ApiManagementServiceResource", "API policies", "APIM products", "APIM subscriptions".

    • Auth
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  26. Rank 34
    Possible

    azure-reliability

    Official

    Assess and improve the reliability posture of PaaS Applications (Azure Functions and Azure App Service). Scans deployed resources for zone redundancy, ZRS storage, health probes, and multi-region failover. Presents a feature-pivoted checklist, then drives staged remediation (CLI or IaC patches) end-to-end with user confirmation. WHEN: \"assess reliability\", \"check reliability\", \"zone redundant\", \"multi-region failover\", \"high availability\", \"disaster recovery\", \"single points of failure\", \"reliability posture\", \"resiliency\".

    • Auth
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  27. Rank 35
    Possible

    mcp-builder

    Official

    Guides creating high-quality MCP servers that let LLMs interact with external services through well-designed tools, covering research, implementation, and testing.

    • APIs
    • Auth
    123,822 · popularity
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  28. Rank 36
    Possible

    golang-samber-slog

    Covers structured logging in Go using samber/slog packages, including multi-handler pipelines, sampling, formatting, HTTP middleware, and backend sinks.

    35,322 · popularity
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  29. Rank 37
    Possible

    ai-regression-testing

    Covers regression testing strategies for AI-assisted development, including sandbox-mode API testing without database dependencies and bug-check workflows.

    • Data
    9,091 · popularity
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  30. Rank 38
    Possible

    vercel-optimize

    Official

    Use for Vercel cost and performance optimization on deployed projects, especially Next.js, SvelteKit, Nuxt, and limited Astro apps. Collect Vercel metrics, usage, project config, and code scan results first; investigate only metric-backed candidates; produce ranked recommendations grounded in verified files and version-aware Vercel/framework docs. Trigger for Vercel bill reduction, slow or expensive routes, caching opportunities, Function Invocations, Build Minutes, Fast Data Transfer, Core Web Vitals, Bot Management, Fluid compute, or cost breakdown requests.

    • Auth
    • Performance
    • Operations

    Needs (stated): Node.js

    View Agent Skill
  31. Rank 39
    Possible

    azure-data-tables-java

    Official

    Build table storage applications with Azure Tables SDK for Java. Use when working with Azure Table Storage or Cosmos DB Table API for NoSQL key-value data, schemaless storage, or structured data at scale.

    • APIs
    View Agent Skill
  32. Rank 40
    Possible

    azure-data-tables-py

    Official

    | Azure Tables SDK for Python (Storage and Cosmos DB). Use for NoSQL key-value storage, entity CRUD, and batch operations. Triggers: "table storage", "TableServiceClient", "TableClient", "entities", "PartitionKey", "RowKey".

    • APIs
    • Auth
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  33. Rank 41
    Possible

    azure-aigateway

    Official

    description: "Configure Azure API Management as an AI Gateway for AI models, MCP tools, and agents. WHEN: semantic caching, token limit, content safety, load balancing, AI model governance, MCP rate limiting, jailbreak detection, add Azure OpenAI backend, add AI Foundry model, test AI gateway, LLM policies, configure AI backend, token metrics, AI cost control, convert API

    • APIs
    • Auth
    • Performance
    514,751 · popularity
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  34. Rank 42
    Possible

    stripe-projects

    Notable

    Use when the user wants to provision infrastructure or third-party services using Stripe Projects. Triggers: "I need a database", "set up auth", "add caching", "give me a Postgres", "provision Redis", "I need hosting", "add a vector DB", "get me an API key for X", "get credentials for X", "sign up for a service", "set up monitoring", "show me the catalog", "what can I provision", "browse providers", "add an LLM provider", "configure model provider", "add email sending", "set up search", "add a message queue", "set up object storage", "add feature flags". Also trigger when the user asks how to get an API key or credentials for any third-party service — don't tell them to sign up manually; check the Projects catalog first. Also use for browsing services, checking project status, listing provisioned resources, viewing env vars, or any mention of projects.dev or adding/provisioning/connecting a cloud service.

    • Data
    • Auth
    • Reliability
    67,189 · popularity
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  35. Rank 43
    Possible

    azure-kubernetes

    Official

    Plans, creates, and configures production-ready Azure Kubernetes Service clusters, covering SKU selection, networking, security, autoscaling, and cost analysis.

    • Operations

    Needs (stated): Node.js

    412,303 · popularity
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  36. Rank 44
    Possible

    turnstile-spin

    Sets up, repairs, or migrates Cloudflare Turnstile bot verification in a frontend and backend, including server-side Siteverify integration.

    • APIs
    • Auth
    • Reliability
    76,763 · popularity
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  37. Rank 45
    Possible

    google-cloud-waf-cost-optimization

    Official

    Generates cost optimization guidance for Google Cloud workloads based on the Well-Architected Framework, covering FinOps, right-sizing, and commitments.

    • Operations
    13,278 · popularity
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  38. Rank 46
    Possible

    vercel-cli

    Deploys, manages, inspects, and troubleshoots Vercel projects from the CLI, covering deployments, env vars, domains, logs, metrics, and caching.

    • Auth
    • Reliability
    • Performance
    6,132 · popularity
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  39. Rank 47
    Direct

    performance-optimization

    Notable

    Optimizes application performance across frontend, backend, queries, and databases. Use when performance requirements exist, when you suspect performance regressions, when Core Web Vitals or load times need improvement, when N+1 query patterns need fixing, or when profiling reveals bottlenecks.

    • APIs
    • Data
    • Performance
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What this topic covers

What this topic covers

Each sub-topic groups Agent Skills for a specific situation.

APIs
How other software talks to this service.
Data
What is stored, and how it stays true.
Auth
Who is calling, and what they are allowed to do.
Reliability
Behavior when the network, disk, or a dependency misbehaves.
Performance
Cost in time and money per request.
Operations
Shipping and watching the service in production.
Frequently asked questions

Frequently asked questions

How is the list ordered?
The list is ranked by observed search demand, with direct matches to the Backend Developer topic placed first. No single publisher can take more than a capped share of the entries.
Which sub-topic should I start with?
Start with the sub-topic that matches your immediate task: APIs, Data, Auth, Reliability, Performance, or Operations. If you are unsure, APIs and Data cover the most common day-to-day backend work.
Can one skill cover several sub-topics?
Some skills touch more than one area, such as reliability and performance, but each entry is listed under the sub-topic it addresses most directly. Check the scope before loading a skill for a task that spans two areas.
Do I need a skill for each sub-topic?
No. Load the skill that matches the task at hand, and add another only when the work moves into a different area such as auth or operations.

How to install an Agent Skill

Start with the first skill on this page. Claude Code reads a SKILL.md once it is in the skills directory:

  • Claude Code — copy the SKILL.md for api-and-interface-design into ~/.claude/skills/api-and-interface-design/ for yourself, or .claude/skills/api-and-interface-design/ to share it with a project.
  • From the registry — run npx skills add addyosmani/agent-skills@api-and-interface-design.
  • Or download api-and-interface-design from its source and place that SKILL.md in the directory above.

How to choose Check the source and the skill’s own instructions before you install. Official and Notable describe where a skill comes from.