Application programming interfaces (APIs) are a type of software that enables two or more different software systems or applications to communicate with each other. They have become a crucial tool for modern businesses to improve profitability by reducing costs and improving customer satisfaction. Moreover, according to a report by MarketsandMarkets, the global API management economy is expected to rise by 13.7 Billion USD by 2025 at a CAGR of 25.1%, showing optimism in business revenue and long-term growth for the businesses through API adoption. However, businesses need to leverage this oppo ..read more

It’s easy to forget that using APIs depends so heavily on discovery. The average API use case is obfuscated and happens invisibly behind the scenes, so it’s easy to imagine that this process just happens magically. The reality is that discovery is a huge part of this process. For APIs to function smoothly, they must be discoverable and understandable. A big part of this is ensuring standards for documenting where the most important elements of an API live and how they can be utilized within a broader system. Below, we’ll examine a tool called APIs.json that enables this functionality. We’ll al ..read more

As companies seek a competitive edge, they’ll increasingly build internal and customer-facing integrations. Or, they’ll construct integrations between a company’s product and their clients’ applications, typically through APIs. However, organizations won’t simply just build more integrations. They’ll build them with the latest advancements in AI, use new types of integration solutions to meet their aggressive integration goals, and use the data provided by customer-facing integrations to power their AI features and products. Let’s dive deeper into each of these integration trends and break dow ..read more

Most industries are discovering the transformative effect of generative AI, and the API space is no exception. Granted, we are still in the early days of the AI revolution, but API management is already shifting in its wake. Accelerated by the recent advances in large language models (LLMs), how we design, document, test, and secure APIs is destined to change. As is the way developers integrate with APIs, through AI assistants and advanced auto-complete functionality. Experts agree that generative AI will evolve how we manage APIs. “GenAI copilots and assistants are elevating the human experie ..read more

There’s no doubt that API monetization is a hot topic right now, and much of the conversation boils down to two big questions. First, if your API is already up and running, how can you tactfully start charging people to use it? Second, if you haven’t yet launched your API, how do you figure out what to charge? Doing so successfully is as tricky as pricing any other product. Postman’s 2023 State of the API Report found that 47% of respondents said price is a consideration in their adoption of an API, up from 41% in the previous two years. That number jumps to a huge 60% when surveying those in ..read more

SOAP is good for getting clean, but it’s also a powerful protocol for standardized messaging and web communications! So, what is this technology, and how does it work? Below, we’ll dive into this topic and give you some actionable insight into how API developers use SOAP in practice. What is SOAP? In the early days of web communications, a lot that we take for granted today was still being worked out. In this relative technological wild west, substantial growth forced developers to begin looking at the long-term viability of the structure underlying the languages and frameworks commonly used ..read more

Making a hit API is a lot like making a hit music album. You have to find a niche, you need good naming, and you need quality content. Also, on the production side, design, style, experience, and collaboration matter greatly. At the end of the day, both are products requiring the right management tools, marketing know-how, and infrastructure to scale. In my SXSW-inspired opening keynote at the Austin API Summit 2024, I looked into the parallels between the two endeavors, considering some specific tips API providers should consider along the road toward becoming API platform rockstars. Below, I ..read more

Versioning is a fact of life. For most APIs, there’s no avoiding it. But API versioning doesn’t have to mean broken clients. Thankfully, with proper planning and forethought, software providers can make the developer experience around versioning quite positive. While there is no silver bullet to creating a great developer experience, some general proven strategies can help improve the API versioning process. Below, we’ll look at some techniques you can deploy to improve this experience. Adopt Clear Communication Versioning is, at its most basic, an avenue of communication between the developer ..read more

On my desk, I have a copy of the O’Reilly RESTful Web Services book by Leonard Richardson and Sam Ruby. Published in December 2007, it’s astonishing how much of the book is still best practice. However, sixteen years is a long time in technology, and we’re asking more and more of our APIs. Amid recent trends like asynchronous events, streaming data, client-side cryptography, and native language clients, REST is starting to show its weaknesses. Do we need to throw REST out and start again, or have we been missing something that can make our APIs more powerful? I believe the answer is “code on d ..read more

Observability refers to the ability to understand and infer a system’s internal state and behavior based on its externally visible outputs, often in real time. In simpler terms, observability is about gaining insights into what is happening within a system by examining its observable characteristics. Observability is essential for complex and distributed systems, such as modern software architectures like microservices or cloud-based applications. It enables developers and operators to diagnose problems, optimize performance, and ensure the reliability and stability of the system. The goal is ..read more