The "API First" Illusion: Why Your "Simple" Endpoints Turn Into Technical Debt (And How to Fix It)

This story was originally published on HackerNoon at: https://hackernoon.com/the-api-first-illusion-why-your-simple-endpoints-turn-into-technical-debt-and-how-to-fix-it.
Stop treating API design like a plumbing task. Use this system prompt to enforce Richardson Maturity Model Level 3 and build endpoints that actually scale.
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In a microservices world, your API *is* the product. Bad API design isn't just ugly code; it's architectural entropy. The "Contract-First" Enforcer forces Large Language Models to stop being "code generators" and start being "specification designers"