Start by clarifying requirements: what does 'searching within a folder' mean? Is it recursive? What file types? What scale? Then propose a clean RESTful API design with endpoints, parameters, and response schemas. Discuss trade-offs like synchronous vs asynchronous, pagination, and indexing for performance.
Pro tip: Show maturity by discussing how to handle large folders and performance: mention that a naive recursive search can be slow, so consider indexing or background jobs. Also, think about security: ensure the API respects permissions and doesn't expose sensitive files.
Ask questions to understand the scope: Is the search recursive? What file types? What's the expected scale (number of files, depth)? What search features (filename, content, metadata)? Who are the users and what are their permissions?
Design the endpoint(s), HTTP methods, request parameters (e.g., query, path, recursive, fileType, page, pageSize), and response format (e.g., list of file paths with metadata). Consider using GET /folders/{folderId}/search?q=... or POST for complex queries.
Discuss how to handle large folders: use indexing (e.g., inverted index), caching, asynchronous search with job IDs, or streaming results. Mention pagination and rate limiting to prevent abuse.
Cover error handling (e.g., folder not found, permission denied), security (authentication, authorization, path traversal prevention), and consistency (e.g., eventual consistency with indexing).
Compare synchronous vs asynchronous search, REST vs GraphQL, and simple vs advanced search features. Explain your choices based on the clarified requirements.
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