All APIs must have human-readable documentation that defines the technical surface area of each API being made available to API consumers, providing a simple, intuitive, and ideally interactive HTML representation of APIs, methods, operations, requests, responses, errors, and other elements.
APIs Are Always Well Documented
Policies
Documentation
The human-readable HTML, Markdown, or PDF representation of the technical surface area of each API, providing path, methods, summaries, description, examples, and the other resources consumers will...
Experiences
Alignment
Achieving alignment between teams producing APIs and their consumers is a persistent challenge in API operations. Effective collaboration between business and technical stakeholders requires ongoin...
Communication
Consistent communication about the production and consumption of APIs is critical for effective enterprise governance. APIs are inherently difficult to visualize, making it essential to invest in m...
Onboarding
Transitioning from API discovery to integration as a consumer requires a well-defined and streamlined API onboarding process. Onboarding begins with discovery and relies heavily on clear documentat...
Discovery
The average enterprise maintains approximately 0.5 APIs per employee, making it a constant challenge to track the growing inventory of HTTP APIs being produced and consumed. Enterprises often addre...
Simplicity
Simplicity is a hallmark of well-designed HTTP APIs, but achieving simplicity requires effort. The likelihood that a partner or third-party developer will abandon an API increases as cognitive load...
Consistency
Achieving consistency in the design, delivery, and maintenance of HTTP APIs across an enterprise is a significant challenge—one that often complicates API operations. Small differences, such as var...
