Best rest API practice: Whether to include a status or not

Question

for instance let me say I have an API that returns several object in an array that have stati... Just like

[{status:good},...,{status:good}]

The application logic says, this array is 'good' iff each objact in it has the status 'good'. Of course.

So, now I return that array through my API JSON encoded. Should I insert the status directly into the API output, like so

{status:good, array:[{status:good},...,{status:good}]}

or should I do it on the client side.

How to decide such cases while API design? Is there something like a guideline? I mean the first approach is more intuitive, while the second is less expensive.

Answer 1

The most important question is what is your API being used for? By adding an extra "summary" status you are de-normalising the data, which is a huge topic in itself.

If it would help users and a priority is to make your API quick & easy to use then include it, make the API easy-to-use, especially if it can reduce the need for repeat calls.

If a priority is data integrity and heavy data usage over ease-of-use, then don't include a summary.