Design Trade-offs in REST API Data Transfer Object Architecture: Centralized vs. Independent DTO Patterns in Enterprise Software Development

2025 · doi:10.22541/au.175693403.35876810/v1
preprint OA: closed
📄 Open PDF Full text JSON View at publisher
⚙ AI-generated summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-16 ⓘ

This paper analyzes centralized versus independent Data Transfer Object (DTO) patterns in REST APIs, finding that while centralized DTOs boost code reuse, independent DTOs offer greater adaptability for evolving enterprise software systems.

One-sentence paraphrase of the abstract; not a substitute for reading it. No clinical advice. How this works

⚙ AI-generated deep summary by claude@2026-07, 2026-07-16 · read from full text ⓘ

This preprint examines a software architecture trade-off in REST API development: using centralized shared Data Transfer Objects (DTOs) versus independent API-specific DTOs, with attention to effects on maintainability, flexibility, and long-term evolution under modern software quality metrics and static analysis tools such as SonarQube. The authors analyze both approaches using examples and real-world scenarios, reporting that centralized DTOs can reduce duplication and improve reuse, while independent DTOs better accommodate changing business requirements. The main caveat explicitly stated is that the work is a preprint and has not been peer reviewed and that the data may be preliminary. The paper does not explicitly discuss endometriosis or adenomyosis; it was included in the corpus via a keyword match in the upstream search index.

Read from the paper's body, not the abstract. Not a substitute for reading the paper. No clinical advice. How this works

Abstract

Data Transfer Objects (DTOs) serve as a fundamental architectural pattern in REST API development, facilitating data exchange between client and server while maintaining separation of concerns. This paper examines the critical design decision between implementing centralized shared DTOs versus independent API-specific DTOs in enterprise software systems. Through comprehensive analysis of both approaches, we evaluate the implications for code maintainability, system flexibility, and long-term evolution in the context of modern software quality metrics, particularly those enforced by static analysis tools like SonarQube. Our investigation reveals that while centralized DTOs offer immediate benefits in code reuse and reduced duplication, independent DTOs provide superior adaptability for evolving business requirements. We present detailed examples, analyze real-world scenarios, and provide guidelines for architects and developers making these crucial design decisions. The findings suggest that the optimal choice depends heavily on project maturity, expected evolution patterns, and organizational priorities regarding maintainability versus flexibility.
Full text 2,341 characters · extracted from oa-doi-fallback · 2 sections · click to expand

Abstract

Data Transfer Objects (DTOs) serve as a fundamental architectural pattern in REST API development, facilitating data exchange between client and server while maintaining separation of concerns. This paper examines the critical design decision between implementing centralized shared DTOs versus independent API-specific DTOs in enterprise software systems. Through comprehensive analysis of both approaches, we evaluate the implications for code maintainability, system flexibility, and long-term evolution in the context of modern software quality metrics, particularly those enforced by static analysis tools like SonarQube. Our investigation reveals that while centralized DTOs offer immediate benefits in code reuse and reduced duplication, independent DTOs provide superior adaptability for evolving business requirements. We present detailed examples, analyze real-world scenarios, and provide guidelines for architects and developers making these crucial design decisions. The findings suggest that the optimal choice depends heavily on project maturity, expected evolution patterns, and organizational priorities regarding maintainability versus flexibility. Supplementary Material File (centralized-vs-independent-dto-architecture-2025.pdf) - Download - 113.10 KB Information & Authors Information Version history Copyright This work is licensed under a Non Exclusive No Reuse License.

Keywords

Authors Metrics & Citations Metrics Article Usage 270views 118downloads Citations Download citation Surya Rao Rayarao, Naga Donikena. Design Trade-offs in REST API Data Transfer Object Architecture: Centralized vs. Independent DTO Patterns in Enterprise Software Development. Authorea. 03 September 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175693403.35876810/v1 DOI: https://doi.org/10.22541/au.175693403.35876810/v1 If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download. For more information or tips please see 'Downloading to a citation manager' in the Help menu.

Text is read by the "Ask this paper" AI Q&A widget below. Extraction quality varies by source — PMC NXML preserves structure cleanly, OA-HTML may include some navigation residue, and OA-PDF can have broken hyphenation. The publisher copy (via DOI) is the canonical version.

My notes (saved in your browser only)

⚙ Ask this paper AI returns verbatim quotes from the full text · source: oa-doi-fallback ⓘ

Answers must be backed by verbatim quotes from this paper's full text. Hallucinated quotes are dropped automatically; if no verbatim passage answers the question, we say so. How this works

Citation neighborhood (no data yet)

We don't have any in-corpus citations linked to this paper yet. This is a recent paper (2025) — citers typically take a year or two to land, and the OpenAlex reference graph may still be filling in.

Source provenance

europepmc
last seen: 2026-05-20T01:45:00.602351+00:00
unpaywall
last seen: 2026-06-13T06:42:57.164913+00:00