Todolist API

Welcome to the TodoList API project! In this challenge, you will design and implement a RESTful API for managing a simple to-do list application. This problem introduces fundamental concepts in backend development, including API design, CRUD operations, data persistence, and validation.

By completing this project, you will gain hands-on experience building a structured API with standardized request and response formats, as well as handling validation and edge cases.

Core Functionality

Your task is to implement a REST API that supports the following functionalities:

1. Creating Tasks: Add new tasks with a title and optional description.
2. Retrieving Tasks: Fetch tasks individually or as a list.
3. Updating Tasks: Modify task attributes, such as updating its title, description, or completion status.
4. Deleting Tasks: Remove tasks permanently from the system.

This problem will challenge you to design a well-structured API while ensuring reliability through validation and error handling.

API Specification

1. Add a Task

• Endpoint: POST /tasks
• Request Body:

{
  "title": "string",  // Required: The title of the task
  "description": "string" // Optional: A brief description of the task
}

• Response:

{
  "id": integer,  // Unique identifier for the task
  "title": "string",
  "description": "string",
  "completed": false
}

• Error Responses:

  • 400 Bad Request if the title is missing:

  {
    "error": "Title is required."
  }

2. Retrieve All Tasks

• Endpoint: GET /tasks
• Response:

{
  "tasks": [
    {
      "id": integer,
      "title": "string",
      "description": "string",
      "completed": boolean
    }
  ]
}

• Error Responses:
  • 500 Internal Server Error if there is a server-side failure.

3. Retrieve a Task by ID

• Endpoint: GET /tasks/{id}
• Response:

{
  "id": integer,
  "title": "string",
  "description": "string",
  "completed": boolean
}

• Error Responses:

  • 404 Not Found if the task ID does not exist:

  {
    "error": "Task not found."
  }

4. Update a Task

• Endpoint: PUT /tasks/{id}
• Request Body:

{
  "title": "string", // Optional
  "description": "string", // Optional
  "completed": boolean // Optional
}

• Response:

{
  "id": integer,
  "title": "string",
  "description": "string",
  "completed": boolean
}

• Error Responses:

  • 400 Bad Request if the request body is invalid:

  {
    "error": "Invalid request body."
  }

  • 404 Not Found if the task ID does not exist.

5. Delete a Task

• Endpoint: DELETE /tasks/{id}
• Response:

{
  "message": "Task deleted successfully."
}

• Error Responses:

  • 404 Not Found if the task does not exist:

  {
    "error": "Task not found."
  }

Constraints

• Title Length: Task titles cannot exceed 255 characters.
• Description Length: Task descriptions cannot exceed 1,000 characters.
• Task Count: The total number of tasks in the system will not exceed 10,000.
• ID Format: Each task is assigned a unique integer ID.

Objectives

• Develop a RESTful API that meets standardized CRUD requirements.
• Validate responses and error handling for each operation, ensuring reliability under standard and edge case scenarios.
• Implement structured testing for real-world scenarios, covering essential validation cases for robust API design.

Outcome

This project provides a foundational introduction to backend API development. By implementing a TodoList API, you will practice designing clean API endpoints, structuring responses, handling edge cases, and ensuring data validation.

Upon completing this challenge, you will have built a robust and efficient API that meets real-world requirements. Good luck!