A presentation at APIDays London in in London, UK by Lorna Jane Mitchell
API Governance without tears Lorna Mitchell, Redocly @redocly ~ @lornajane
API governance Good API governance is invisible Without it: •designing changes is more difficult •changes get rejected and need repeat work •APIs become inconsistent •more difficult to adopt an API @redocly ~ @lornajane
API lifecycle @redocly ~ @lornajane
Start with standards Written standards define your API identity. @redocly ~ @lornajane
Hypertext links HAL: Hypertext Application Language https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypertext_Application_Language { “_links”: { “self”: { “href”: “http://example.com/api/book/hal-cookbook” } }, “id”: “hal-cookbook”, “name”: “HAL Cookbook” } Common for pagination, and nested data resources @redocly ~ @lornajane
Problem details RFC9457 https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/rfc9457/ { “type”: “https://example.com/probs/out-of-credit”, “title”: “You do not have enough credit.”, “detail”: “Your current balance is 30, but that costs 50.”, “instance”: “/account/12345/msgs/abc”, “balance”: 30, “accounts”: [“/account/12345”, “/account/67890”] } Common body format with error responses @redocly ~ @lornajane
Authentication Adopt an existing standard •OAuth2 •JWT •access token / API key •basic authentication Use 401: Unauthorized @redocly ~ @lornajane and 403: Forbidden appropriately
OpenAPI Machine-readable API description https://openapis.org @redocly ~ @lornajane
OpenAPI structure @redocly ~ @lornajane
Design API governance Start with an existing ruleset @redocly ~ @lornajane
Designing rulesets •Level 0: Is the document valid? •Level 1: Does it meet basic (compliance) standards? •Level 2: Is it consistent with the rest of the API? •Level 3: Is it a joy to work with? @redocly ~ @lornajane
API change management It’s a practice, not a job title @redocly ~ @lornajane
Design-first APIs Change the OpenAPI files only, open a pull request From the pull request: •publish docs •spin up a mock server •lint / transform •get humans to review @redocly ~ @lornajane
API Council Bring key API contributors together for every review: •would you want to use this API? •is the naming sensible and intuitive? •is the change consistent with the existing API? @redocly ~ @lornajane
Tools for API Governance https://openapi.tools @redocly ~ @lornajane
API lifecycle tools •Linting, standard rulesets or make your own •Documentation, build a preview of proposed changes •Mock servers, try before you build •Extensions, improve an existing description •SDKs, improve developer onboarding @redocly ~ @lornajane
Improve API experience •Publish the OpenAPI •Add more examples to your API descriptions •Use writers to improve the words and descriptions •Add metadata to help code generators •Use a design-first, code-style workflow @redocly ~ @lornajane
Good API governance (without tears) @redocly ~ @lornajane
Resources •https://openapis.org •https://redocly.com •https://lornajane.net •https://openapi.tools •https://github.com/APIs-guru/openapi-directory •https://conference.asyncapi.com @redocly ~ @lornajane
