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Postman named a Visionary in the 2022 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Full
Lifecycle API Management

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GUIDE TO API-FIRST

APIs, or application programming interfaces, have been around almost as long as
modern computing. They emerged decades ago as a means to let disparate software
applications communicate. And they still fulfill that role today, working
invisibly in the background as our computers, phones, and smart devices connect
to each other.

But APIs have evolved beyond the role of mere interface. In the past decade,
they have become the building blocks of modern software and business. Whether at
tech pioneers like Amazon.com and Netflix or century-old grocery chains and
federal agencies, organizations are using APIs to offer new services externally
and deliver efficiencies internally.

The growth of APIs reflects a new reality: Technology users demand experiences
that span multiple devices. They expect their data and services to be instantly
available and shareable across platforms. That means every business is
effectively a software business, whether it's serving external customers or
internal employees.

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> As the connective tissue linking ecosystems of technologies and organizations,
> APIs allow businesses to monetize data, forge profitable partnerships, and
> open new pathways for innovation and growth.
> 
> McKinsey Digital


WHAT IS API-FIRST?

API-first development is a development model in which applications are
conceptualized and built by composing internal or external services delivered
through APIs.

An API-first company is an organization that has adopted the API-first
development model.


HOW API-FIRST WORKS

For an organization to adopt an API-first development model, they need to
prioritize APIs, recognize the role of public, private, and partner APIs in
organizations, and understand the API lifecycle and the tooling needed to become
API-first.


THE API-FIRST APPROACH: PRIORITIZING APIS

The most farsighted companies take an API-first approach to their software
development. Before writing a single line of code, developers, in partnership
with the business, first design or build the API. This ensures the underlying
app can seamlessly connect with internal and external applications. Doing so
expands the app's capabilities and makes it accessible to partners and
end-users.

Being API-first means prioritizing the APIs that support your application and
focusing on the value they can deliver to your business, rather than just
scrambling to deliver a single application and creating an API as an
afterthought. This forward-thinking approach allows the application to be
adopted by different parts of the business for multiple uses, through the API.

APIs are not one-and-done projects. APIs are key building blocks that need to be
maintained and improved. Companies are recognizing this and building teams to
support it.


PRIVATE, PARTNER, AND PUBLIC APIS

When people think of APIs, the first ones that often come to mind are public
APIs from companies such eBay and Stripe. These APIs have helped millions of
small businesses grow and created powerful tech platforms worth hundreds of
billions of dollars.

But it is private, or internal APIs, where software developers devote most of
their efforts. In fact, 58 percent of the APIs that developers work with are for
internal use only, according to Postman's 2022 State of the API report, which
surveyed over 37,000 API professionals.

Private APIs allow different applications, many of them stored in the cloud, to
share data and services, and deliver actionable insights. Much of this can be
done automatically, providing visibility across the organization for employees
of every rank.

Once built, private APIs can be reused throughout the business, offering faster
delivery and saving valuable developer resources.

As the needs of the organization expand and require interacting with business
partners, partner APIs come into play. Partner APIs allow organizations to share
their APIs with just select users and customers, offering opportunities to
collaborate, create business partnerships, and gather targeted feedback. Partner
APIs constitute 27% of organizations' APIs, according to the State of the API
report.

Public APIs, APIs that are openly available on the web to all, account for about
15 percent of organizations’ APIs, according to the State of the API report.

Altogether, how much effort are organizations devoting to APIs? Some 51% of
developers say that more than half of their organizations' development effort is
spent on APIs.


THE API LIFECYCLE

A well-defined API lifecycle is essential for taking full advantage of operating
on an API platform and being able to effectively govern hundreds or even
thousands of APIs across different teams.

Having a shared understanding of what the API lifecycle is across your
organization, and possessing a common vocabulary for describing it, will help
your teams get on the same page when developing APIs with greater productivity,
quality, and governance needed to drive your enterprise.

We've broken up the API lifecycle into eight stages, based on the most common
steps we see across Postman's global users. Depending on the type of API, and
whether it is new or existing, your team may have different entry points in the
lifecycle.


API PLATFORMS

API platforms are software systems with integrated tools and processes that
allow producers and consumers to build, manage, publish, and consume APIs.
They're a key enabler of API-first, and they have four key components:



Tools for the API lifecycle, including an API client, API design and mocking
capabilities, API testing and automation, API documentation, and API monitoring

Collaboration capabilities for producers and consumers, including an API catalog
and API workspaces

Governance capabilities for operations, architecture, and security teams, such
as API security and observability

Integrations with the software development lifecycle, including source code
management, CI/CD, cloud/on-premises infrastructure and application performance
management



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


WHY API-FIRST?

Adopting an API-first development model affords significant benefits for both
developers and organizations.


THE VALUE OF API-FIRST FOR DEVELOPERS

An API-first approach not only produces more powerful, resilient software, it
does so in less time. It makes developers' jobs easier, allowing them to work in
parallel and spend fewer hours debugging others' code.

Developers can focus on innovation rather than recreating existing software. And
APIs allow them to choose the technologies, platforms, and programming languages
that they want to work with.

Ultimately, this means developers at API-first companies are more satisfied. In
our State of the API survey, at least 75% of respondents agreed that developers
at API-first companies are happier, launch new products faster, eliminate
security risks sooner, create better software, and are more productive.

API-first also allows non-developers to build apps. About half of the people
working with APIs come from roles such as business analyst, product manager, and
CEO, according to the State of the API report. This trend is vastly expanding
the world of available services and software.

As API platforms evolve, people with no prior knowledge of code will
increasingly be able to build common apps, run tests and integrations, and
transfer data.




THE VALUE OF API-FIRST FOR BUSINESSES

With APIs becoming the building blocks of modern software, the benefits of
adopting an API-first approach are many. This is especially true for large
enterprises. Here are just a few of the advantages that API-first confers:


INCREASING DEVELOPER PRODUCTIVITY

When organizations adopt an API-first development model, developers and product
teams see an increase in productivity through faster collaboration across the
entire API lifecycle. In this approach, developers establish well-known
workspaces where API work is centralized, ensuring they possess artifacts,
documentation, mock servers, environments, tests, monitors, history, and
everything else team members need. Repeatable processes are established that
optimize the design, development, deployment, and operation of APIs and
microservices.


IMPROVING SOFTWARE QUALITY

The value of API-first for developers—enabling developers to produce more
powerful, resilient software in less time—translates directly to improved
quality. With an API-first approach, operations, quality, and security
engineering teams all see an improvement in quality because bugs don't reach
production, quality engineers find issues faster, and security engineers
collaborate for airtight security earlier. And, with API-first approach, these
foundational teams are able to collaborate directly and effectively with
development teams.


SIMPLIFYING COMPLIANCE AND GOVERNANCE

Architects are able to organize and manage the entire API landscape in a
consistent way through the Private API Network and they are able to inject
design and governance rules in the design and development stage.

In an API-first approach, you have the discoverability and observability present
as a default part of your operations, reducing the friction associated with
responding to regulatory requirements and inquiries.

API-first also provides visibility across your operations, helping you
understand where consistency exists or doesn't exist in the design of an API.
API governance is about being able to understand the state of your complex
enterprise system and having the control and influence to make updates, guide,
and realize the change you need to move in the right direction.


PROVIDING A SOLID API SECURITY PERIMETER

An API-first security perimeter is much more effective than firewalls and
existing application security practices alone. Every API and microservice has a
security collection that is centrally defined by security experts, but then also
applied as part of the regular API development lifecycle by developers.

Even the simplest of APIs are forced through the minimum security scanning and
evaluation as it is being deployed or changed with each version. Security is
consistently applied across all APIs used by teams, no matter what the
application is or how long the API will be used by consumers.


API-FIRST AS A COMPETITIVE ADVANTAGE

Enterprise organizations across every business sector are waking up to the
importance of APIs. However, it is the ones who have embraced API-first that are
leading and shaping business around the globe today.

When an API-first approach is adopted in concert with an API platform, the
advantages multiply. At this point, it isn't whether you want to do APIs, it
comes down to whether you are API-first.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


ARE YOU AN API-FIRST COMPANY?

API-first companies answer yes to all the following questions:

 * Do you have APIs to operate most of your data?
 * Do you make APIs available to your customers and partners?
 * Do you know how to organize and discover your APIs?
 * Do you have standardized processes to build APIs?
 * Do your APIs meet regulatory requirements?
 * Do you know the security risk to your API perimeter?

If you didn't answer yes to all of these questions, read on to learn how to
become API-first.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


5 STEPS TO BECOME API-FIRST

Here are the initial steps to becoming an API-first company:

 1. Inventory your databases, applications, and services—understand exactly how
    many APIs you have, and where you lack APIs
 2. Understand your organization's approach to producing APIs—identify where
    standard processes exist, and where they don't
 3. Define your business domain boundaries and map your organizational structure
    to those boundaries
 4. Adopt an API platform, and standardize on it
 5. Train your engineering, DevOps, and product management teams on API-first



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


NAVIGATING THE PATHS TO API-FIRST

API-first will save your developer team pain and suffering, and save your
organization time and money. But there are several valid routes to API-first.
Which is the right one? Some of the most notable are:




DESIGN-LED

For many, this is the North Star for many teams that embark on an API-first
journey. API design-first is about designing APIs in a collaborative way before
you write code or release anything into production.


CODE-LED

You prioritize coding the API before you code the applications that use it.


PROTOTYPE-LED

You develop, mock, and document your API using a collection before generating an
OpenAPI definition. It is also common to use a proxy or Postman Interceptor to
reverse engineer APIs, generating a collection, and then ultimately an OpenAPI
from the collection.


PROXY-LED

You run your existing API through a proxy or Postman Interceptor, and generate a
collection based upon existing traffic.


COLLECTION-LED

This involves good old-fashioned handcrafting of a Postman Collection for an
existing API and then generating an OpenAPI from that collection.



--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


API-FIRST ON THE POSTMAN BLOG

THE 2022 API PLATFORM LANDSCAPE: TRENDS AND CHALLENGES

The API platform landscape continues to evolve rapidly. Learn what today's
companies are facing and what the landscape looks like in 2022.

Read blog →

THERE ARE MANY PATHS TO API-FIRST—CHOOSE YOUR OWN ADVENTURE

Learn about five different approaches to becoming API-first, then pick your
favorite to remain competitive in today’s digital landscape.

Read blog →

5 WAYS AN API PLATFORM BOOSTS PRODUCTIVITY AND EFFICIENCY ACROSS YOUR ORG

Learn five ways an effective API platform equips teams to deliver what consumers
need—with greater quality and speed.

Read blog →

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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© 2022 Postman, Inc.


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