The Powerduck Blog

API engineering, from the spec out

Product updates, engineering notes, and guides for designing, debugging, testing, mocking, and serving MCP tools from one OpenAPI spec.

Browse the guides
mcp 3 min read

Keeping Cursor's Rules and the OpenAPI Contract in Sync

Quick answer: Cursor rules and an OpenAPI contract are two sources of truth that will drift the moment they are edited separately, and the agent ends up following whichever is

Read article
api 4 min read

HTTPie vs curl vs an OpenAPI Client for Quick Requests

Quick answer: curl, HTTPie, and an OpenAPI client are not interchangeable tools at different points of the same workflow. curl is the universal lowest common denominator for one-off and scripted

Read article
openapi 3 min read

Designing Cursor Pagination: Why Offset Hits a Wall

Quick answer: Offset pagination is simple and correct for static, small result sets, but it breaks down on live data: as rows are inserted or deleted between requests, pages skip

Read article
openapi 4 min read

Generated Enums Break When the API Adds a New Value

Quick answer: A generated enum is a closed set by default, so the moment the server adds a value the client did not know about, strict generated code can throw,

Read article