Unless your API is a public feed of read-only data, you likely need authentication. There are many options you could choose, which may vary depending on your use case. However, it’s unlikely you’ll need to go out and create your own authentication method. Whenever possible, use a standard that is widely implemented. Otherwise, developers will…
Category: All API & Microservices Content
API Metrics with a Time Series Database
This blog examines the different ways to collect metrics on your APIs, and shows the value of Apache Druid as a time series database option.
API Authentication Best Practices
In this post, we’ll explore authentication methods, how to keep tokens safe, and what comes next.
API Certification News
Our third API Academy course: API Product Manager is out now! Learn how to make your APIs as easy as possible to consume by your core audience – the developers who will build on top of them. Get certified
What Are the Different Types of APIs?
In this article, we’ll provide an overview of the API types within these two distinctions, as well as a couple of things someone might mean when they say “API.” APIs are integral to all software projects, yet the acronym doesn’t have a singular meaning. Yes, it stands for “Application Programming Interface,” but people use that…
API Metrics: How to Measure Your Impact
Along with the business strategy comes the measurements you’ll use to determine success. In this post, we’ll consider three common categories of API metrics: Raw API Usage: Data on calls and users Business Value: An API’s value to your bottom line Innovation and Partnership: Value to longer term business goals Ideally these three areas of…
Three API Governance Patterns and How to Choose One
Most organizations maintain dozens or even hundreds of APIs. Maintaining consistency and avoiding redundancy quickly becomes a major issue. API governance helps organizations declare and adhere to guidelines for new and existing APIs. There are different approaches to encourage conformity in API design, including governance review and automated restrictions. In this post, we’ll explore both…
Developers Aren’t the Users of Your API
Hang around the API community long enough and you’ll hear about design, developer experience, and ways to appeal to someone integrating with your programming interface. That may lead you to think of developers as the users of your API. While an important audience, developers are a conduit for the actual end users of the software…
NA API Academy Virtual Workshop 2020 Replay
Here’s the replay of the North America API Academy Virtual Workshop from July 15, 2020. The agenda was the keynote on API strategy with John Cocke of HCL, followed by a discussion on API design with Academy members Jaime Ryan and Aran White. Jay Thorne of the Academy then discussed microservices and service mesh, and…
The Longest Stage of the API Lifecycle
Right now someone is powering up an original iPhone. On their home screen, they’re tapping the icon for a 10 year old app. As it loads, it calls an endpoint that a development team would rather not maintain. For many APIs, a life of suspended animation is a big part of their story. In API…