Stack Exchange API Rules

# authorship: generated by API Evangelist tooling. Stamped 2026-08-18
# on the file's own generator header (roadmap#64). An unmarked file is
# NOT assumed to be ours -- absence of evidence was never stamped.
x-method: generated
# stackexchange — Spectral ruleset (strengthened)
# Plain Spectral. Existing hand-authored rules preserved; measured rules added
# from this provider's own OpenAPI conventions by strengthen_ruleset.py,
# then self-validated against the spec.
#
# Provenance:
#   - servers-https-only: 100% of servers already https (error)
#   - servers-expected-domain: 1/1 servers on stackexchange.com
#   - path-params-casing: snake @ 92% (n=38)
#   - query-params-casing: snake @ 100% (n=328)
#   - operationid-casing: camel @ 100% (n=70)
#   - schema-names-casing: pascal @ 100% (n=43)
#   - schema-properties-casing: snake @ 100% (n=228)
#   - security: global (root) — NOT emitting operation-security-required
#   - pagination params observed: ['page']
#   - merge: kept 44 existing, added 4 measured, upgraded 0
#   - added: servers-expected-domain, query-params-casing, schema-names-casing, schema-properties-casing
extends:
  - spectral:oas
rules:
  info-title-stack-exchange:
    description: info.title must start with "Stack Exchange".
    message: 'info.title should start with ''Stack Exchange'' (was: {{value}}).'
    severity: error
    given: $.info.title
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^Stack Exchange
  info-description-required:
    description: info.description is required and must be at least 60 characters.
    message: info.description must be present and ≥ 60 characters.
    severity: error
    given: $.info
    then:
    - field: description
      function: truthy
    - field: description
      function: length
      functionOptions:
        min: 60
  info-version-required:
    description: info.version must follow Stack Exchange API versioning (2.x).
    message: 'info.version must be of the form ''2.x'' (was: {{value}}).'
    severity: error
    given: $.info.version
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^2\.[0-9]+$
  info-terms-of-service-required:
    description: Stack Exchange API specs must reference the API Terms of Use.
    severity: warn
    given: $.info
    then:
      field: termsOfService
      function: truthy
  info-contact-url-required:
    description: info.contact.url must point to api.stackexchange.com.
    severity: warn
    given: $.info.contact
    then:
      field: url
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: stackexchange\.com
  openapi-version-3:
    description: Only OpenAPI 3.0.x is supported for Stack Exchange specs.
    severity: error
    given: $.openapi
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^3\.0\.
  servers-defined:
    description: servers array must be present with at least one entry.
    severity: error
    given: $
    then:
      field: servers
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: array
          minItems: 1
  servers-must-be-stackexchange-https:
    description: Server URL must be https://api.stackexchange.com/{version}.
    severity: error
    given: $.servers[*].url
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^https://api\.stackexchange\.com/2\.[0-9]+$
  servers-have-descriptions:
    description: Each server entry should have a description.
    severity: warn
    given: $.servers[*]
    then:
      field: description
      function: truthy
  paths-lowercase-kebab:
    description: Path segments must be lowercase with kebab-case for multi-word resources.
    message: Path '{{path}}' contains uppercase or non-kebab-case segments.
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^/[a-z0-9{}/-]*$
      field: '@key'
  paths-no-trailing-slash:
    description: Paths must not end with a trailing slash.
    severity: error
    given: $.paths
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        notMatch: .+/$
      field: '@key'
  paths-no-query-strings:
    description: Paths must not contain query strings; use parameters instead.
    severity: error
    given: $.paths
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        notMatch: \?
      field: '@key'
  paths-camelcase-path-params:
    description: Path parameter placeholders should use camelCase (e.g. {ids}, {accessTokens}).
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^(/[a-z0-9-]+(/\{[a-z][a-zA-Z0-9]*\})?)*$
      field: '@key'
  paths-known-collections-plural:
    description: Stack Exchange root collections (questions, answers, comments, users, tags, badges, sites,
      posts, revisions, suggested-edits, events, filters, notifications) are plural nouns.
    severity: info
    given: $.paths
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^/(questions|answers|comments|users|tags|badges|sites|posts|revisions|suggested-edits|events|filters|notifications|inbox|search|search/(advanced|excerpts)|similar|info|me|me/.*|access-tokens/.*|apps/.*|/.*)
      field: '@key'
  operation-summary-required:
    description: Every operation must have a summary.
    severity: error
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete]
    then:
      field: summary
      function: truthy
  operation-summary-stack-exchange-prefix:
    description: Operation summaries must begin with the company name "Stack Exchange".
    message: 'Operation summary should begin with ''Stack Exchange'' (was: {{value}}).'
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].summary
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: '^Stack Exchange '
  operation-description-required:
    description: Every operation must have a description.
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete]
    then:
      field: description
      function: truthy
  operation-id-required:
    description: Every operation must have an operationId.
    severity: error
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete]
    then:
      field: operationId
      function: truthy
  operation-id-camelcase:
    description: operationId must be camelCase.
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].operationId
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^[a-z][a-zA-Z0-9]*$
  operation-id-verb-prefix:
    description: operationId should start with a known REST verb (list, get, search, find, create, update,
      delete, invalidate, read, deauthenticate).
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].operationId
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^(list|get|search|find|create|update|delete|invalidate|read|deauthenticate)[A-Z]
  operation-tags-required:
    description: Every operation must be tagged with at least one tag.
    severity: error
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete]
    then:
      field: tags
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: array
          minItems: 1
  operation-microcks-extension:
    description: Each operation should declare an x-microcks-operation block.
    severity: info
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete]
    then:
      field: x-microcks-operation
      function: truthy
  tags-global-defined:
    description: Global tags array must be present with entries.
    severity: warn
    given: $
    then:
      field: tags
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: array
          minItems: 1
  tag-name-title-case:
    description: Tag names use Title Case (e.g. "Suggested Edits", "Access Tokens").
    severity: warn
    given: $.tags[*].name
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^[A-Z][A-Za-z0-9]*( [A-Z][A-Za-z0-9]*)*$
  tag-description-required:
    description: Each tag should have a description.
    severity: info
    given: $.tags[*]
    then:
      field: description
      function: truthy
  parameter-description-required:
    description: Every reusable parameter must have a description.
    severity: warn
    given: $.components.parameters[*]
    then:
      field: description
      function: truthy
  parameter-snake-case-names:
    description: Query parameter names use snake_case (or single lowercase word).
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].parameters[?(@.in=='query')].name
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$
  parameter-pagination-canonical:
    description: Pagination uses `page` (1-indexed) and `pagesize` (max 100).
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].parameters[?(@.name=='page' || @.name=='pagesize')]
    then:
      field: in
      function: enumeration
      functionOptions:
        values:
        - query
  parameter-site-required-on-per-site-methods:
    description: Per-site methods must declare the `site` query parameter as required.
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get].parameters[?(@.name=='site' || @.$ref=='#/components/parameters/Site')]
    then:
      function: truthy
  parameter-api-key-in-query:
    description: API key is exchanged via the `key` query parameter (per Stack Exchange convention).
    severity: info
    given: $.components.securitySchemes.apiKey
    then:
    - field: in
      function: enumeration
      functionOptions:
        values:
        - query
    - field: name
      function: enumeration
      functionOptions:
        values:
        - key
  response-success-required:
    description: Every operation must declare a 2xx response.
    severity: error
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].responses
    then:
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: object
          patternProperties:
            ^2[0-9]{2}$: {}
          minProperties: 1
  response-json-content:
    description: Success responses must include application/json content.
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].responses['200','201','202','204']
    then:
      field: content.application/json
      function: truthy
  response-schema-references-wrapper:
    description: Every success response schema should be (or extend) the Wrapper envelope.
    severity: info
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].responses['200'].content.application/json.schema.$ref
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: '#/components/schemas/[A-Z][A-Za-z]+Response$'
  response-description-required:
    description: Every response must have a description.
    severity: error
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].responses[*]
    then:
      field: description
      function: truthy
  schema-property-snake-case:
    description: Schema properties use snake_case (Stack Exchange wire convention).
    severity: warn
    given: $.components.schemas[*].properties.*~
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^[a-z][a-z0-9_]*$
  schema-wrapper-fields-present:
    description: The Wrapper schema must define has_more, quota_max, and quota_remaining.
    severity: error
    given: $.components.schemas.Wrapper.properties
    then:
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: object
          required:
          - has_more
          - quota_max
          - quota_remaining
  schema-timestamps-int64:
    description: Stack Exchange timestamps are Unix epoch seconds stored as int64.
    severity: info
    given: $.components.schemas[*].properties[creation_date,last_activity_date,last_modified_date,last_access_date,last_edit_date,closed_date,protected_date,locked_date,community_owned_date,launch_date,expires_on_date,on_date]
    then:
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: object
          properties:
            type:
              const: integer
  schema-types-defined:
    description: Every component schema must declare a type (object/array/string/...).
    severity: warn
    given: $.components.schemas[*]
    then:
      field: type
      function: truthy
  security-schemes-defined:
    description: securitySchemes must declare oauth2 (write/private) and apiKey (quota).
    severity: error
    given: $.components.securitySchemes
    then:
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: object
          required:
          - oauth2
          - apiKey
  security-oauth2-stackexchange-endpoints:
    description: OAuth2 endpoints must point to stackoverflow.com.
    severity: error
    given: $.components.securitySchemes.oauth2.flows.authorizationCode
    then:
    - field: authorizationUrl
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^https://stackoverflow\.com/oauth$
    - field: tokenUrl
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: ^https://stackoverflow\.com/oauth/access_token$
  security-oauth2-known-scopes:
    description: Only Stack Exchange OAuth scopes are allowed (read_inbox, no_expiry, write_access, private_info).
    severity: warn
    given: $.components.securitySchemes.oauth2.flows.authorizationCode.scopes
    then:
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: object
          additionalProperties: false
          properties:
            read_inbox:
              type: string
            no_expiry:
              type: string
            write_access:
              type: string
            private_info:
              type: string
  http-methods-read-mostly:
    description: Stack Exchange v2.3 is read-mostly — GET is the dominant verb.
    severity: info
    given: $.paths[*]
    then:
      function: schema
      functionOptions:
        schema:
          type: object
          properties:
            get: {}
          minProperties: 1
  no-empty-descriptions:
    description: Descriptions must not be empty strings.
    severity: warn
    given: $..description
    then:
      function: truthy
  examples-encouraged:
    description: Schema properties should have example values for documentation and mocking.
    severity: info
    given: $.components.schemas[*].properties[?(@.type=='string' || @.type=='integer' || @.type=='boolean')]
    then:
      field: example
      function: truthy
  servers-expected-domain:
    description: Server URLs should be on the stackexchange.com domain.
    severity: warn
    given: $.servers[*].url
    then:
      function: pattern
      functionOptions:
        match: stackexchange\.com
  query-params-casing:
    description: Query parameters should be snake_case (the dominant convention in this API).
    severity: warn
    given: $.paths[*][get,post,put,patch,delete].parameters[?(@.in=='query')]
    then:
      field: name
      function: casing
      functionOptions:
        type: snake
  schema-names-casing:
    description: Component schema names should be PascalCase (the dominant convention in this API).
    severity: warn
    given: $.components.schemas
    then:
      field: '@key'
      function: casing
      functionOptions:
        type: pascal
  schema-properties-casing:
    description: Schema properties should be snake_case (the dominant convention in this API).
    severity: warn
    given: $.components.schemas[*].properties
    then:
      field: '@key'
      function: casing
      functionOptions:
        type: snake