API Integration Patterns

What it does

API Integration Patterns provides robust, security-minded patterns for integrating external APIs and CLI tools into agent workflows. It covers subprocess execution safety, GitHub CLI usage, retry/backoff strategies, authentication best practices, and simple rate-limiting helpers. The content is aimed at library authors and agent integrators to reduce common errors and security risks.

When to use it

• When implementing external API calls or running CLI tools from an agent
• When you need secure subprocess execution (prevent command injection)
• When adding retry and backoff for transient failures
• When handling credentials and tokens safely
• When managing rate limits to avoid quota exhaustion

What's included

• Scripts: none in the skill dir, but the repo contains templates and examples (templates/, examples/)
• References: documentation-style patterns and example code snippets embedded in the skill body
• Instructions: concrete code patterns for safe subprocess calls, gh CLI wrappers, retry_with_backoff helper, get_github_token pattern, and a simple RateLimiter class.

Compatible agents

• Best for agents that execute external commands or interact with cloud APIs (Claude Code, Copilot/Codex-style assistants, any agent with subprocess/gh CLI access). The patterns are language-agnostic but illustrated in Python and shell for immediate use.