JSON Best Practices

Naming & Structure

  • Use lowerCamelCase for keys consistently
  • Prefer stable key names; avoid renaming in breaking ways
  • Keep payloads small; avoid deep nesting where possible

Nulls, Missing Fields, Defaults

  • Prefer omitting optional fields rather than sending nulls
  • Document defaults in your API or schema

Dates, Times, Numbers

  • Use ISO 8601 strings for datetimes in UTC (e.g. 2025-01-01T12:00:00Z)
  • Use strings for big integers to avoid precision loss

Versioning & Compatibility

  • Version APIs in URL or header; avoid breaking changes
  • Use additive changes (new fields) for forward compatibility

Validation

  • Validate with JSON Schema; enforce types and constraints
  • Reject unknown fields when needed for strictness