Managing your API contracts as first-class products unlocks the full potential of your interfaces without having to bond them to the implementation details

After some years working around enterprise software and focusing on APIs and event-driven architecture, I have found that there are still common misconceptions around Application Programming Interfaces or APIs. They come in different flavors and versions and go from very simple misunderstandings to soon-to-be disasters. One of the most important ones I come across frequently, is the neglect of managing API contracts as first class products.

For a long time, I have heard customers and developers talking about applications and services as “APIs”. Hence, forgetting that the “I” in APIs stand for “Interface” and not for “Implementation” binding together the underlying implementation with the contract used to abstract such implementations. Making this kind of bonding between the contract and the implementation details limit the benefits of having an API and the supported tools and practices to manage its lifecycle. This kind of rationale is common when the “code-first” approach is the only one used to build services and applications.

#api #api management #api as a product