backend-core

This skill provides a standardized repository of language-agnostic backend engineering patterns designed to assist developers and AI agents in building robust, scalable server-side systems. It focuses on critical architectural decisions, security best practices, and efficient data modeling, serving as a comprehensive reference manual for high-quality backend development. Whether you are scaffolding a new microservice or refactoring legacy endpoints, this skill guides you through industry-standard methodologies to reduce technical debt and ensure consistent code quality across projects.

• API Design Excellence: Implements decision trees for selecting optimal communication protocols including REST, GraphQL, gRPC, WebSockets, and Server-Sent Events (SSE).

• Robust Authentication Flows: Provides architectural guidance for JWT management, OAuth 2.0/OIDC integration, session-based cookie handling, and modern passwordless strategies like WebAuthn.

• Security-First Implementation: Enforces OWASP standards, input validation, rate limiting, and secure storage patterns while strictly prohibiting insecure practices like plaintext secret storage or weak hashing algorithms.

• Database Schema Patterns: Advocates for normalized data models (3NF), effective indexing strategies, soft deletes, and standardized audit timestamps (created_at/updated_at).

• Anti-pattern Mitigation: Offers actionable advice for avoiding common performance pitfalls such as N+1 query problems, inefficient data fetching, and God objects.

• Use this skill when initiating new API design phases to align with RESTful or GraphQL best practices.

• Utilize the security decision checklists to audit existing endpoints for input validation gaps and authentication weaknesses.

• Follow the database modeling guidelines to ensure performant schema design from the outset, focusing on UUID usage and intelligent denormalization.

• Refer to the anti-pattern tables regularly during code reviews to optimize database queries and prevent common architectural failures.

• The skill assumes developers have basic knowledge of SQL and HTTP; it acts as a technical navigator rather than a language-specific syntax guide.