Every proprietary shortcut an API takes becomes a tax paid by everyone downstream. I want API operations to prefer open standards like OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, and JSON Schema, and to lean on open source tooling wherever they can. Open specifications and permissive licensing lower the cost of adoption and raise the ceiling on what an entire ecosystem can build together. I have argued for openness my entire career because it is what keeps the API economy from collapsing into a handful of closed platforms. Choosing open over proprietary is a technical decision and a political one, and its value compounds across a whole community. The most durable operations treat openness as a principle rather than a marketing checkbox.
APIs Prefer Open Standards and Open Source
Policies
Open Standards Adopted
Require that APIs are defined and delivered using open standards such as OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, and JSON Schema rather than proprietary formats. Open specifications lower the cost of adoption, enable i...
Open Source Tooling Preferred
Require that an API operation prefers open source tooling and applies open licensing to its definitions, SDKs, and supporting tools wherever practical. Open source lets consumers understand, extend...
Experiences
Openness
Openness is the experience of an API built on open standards, open source, and transparent practices rather than proprietary walls. Open specifications, permissive licensing, and public tooling let...
Interoperability
Interoperability is the experience of APIs, systems, and data working together without heroic effort. It is built on shared standards, common schema, and predictable contracts that let one system t...
Standardization
The standardization of APIs will shape the overall experience producing and consuming APIs. The number of and types of standardizations will shape the design of the API itself, as well as the onboa...
