title: REST wrapping a single resource in a collection
body: <p>I have a small dilemma. </p>
  
  <p>If you have the following URI endpoints:</p>
  
  <pre><code>/item
  /item/{id}
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>If I make a GET request to <code>/item</code> I expect something like this:</p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;Items&gt;
     &lt;Item&gt;...&lt;/Item&gt;
     &lt;Item&gt;...&lt;/Item&gt;
     ...
  &lt;/Items&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>If I make a GET request to /item/{id} I expect something like this: </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;Item&gt;
     ...
  &lt;/Item&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>Some of my fellow team members argue we should design the API so when someone does a GET for /item/{id} it should be returned as a collection of a single element. Like this: </p>
  
  <pre><code>&lt;Items&gt;
     &lt;Item&gt;...&lt;/Item&gt;
  &lt;/Items&gt;
  </code></pre>
  
  <p>This seems wrong to me. Does it seem wrong to you too? Please explain why, so I might convince either myself to go with the always wrapped version of the resource or my fellow devs to go with the non-wrapped single resource. </p>