Looking at the full API Product Lifecycle, from defining an API and implementing the API, to launching with a solid developer site and experience, let’s see the newest tools - and potentially upcoming opportunities - to automate the creation of a solid developer experience. Creating a successful API requires a proper process from concept and design, through development, and into ongoing maintenance and responsive developer support. As developer expectations for better-quality APIs increase, tools have made it easier to implement this well. Thanks to standards like OpenAPIs, it’s easier to create a quality API, developer site, and overall experience. Many of us create API documentation or code libraries automatically from an OpenAPI spec, but there’s a lot more coming along to make our lives easier, and to make our APIs look better. In reviewing the full API Product Lifecycle to design an API people will use, let’s see the newest tools - and potentially upcoming opportunities - to better automate the creation of a compelling developer program.

1. Automating the
API Product
Lifecycle
Jeremy Glassenberg

2. About Me
Founder of the Box developer platform
Early writer for ProgrammableWeb
Managed these platforms
Mentor, advisor, consultant for other developer platforms & accelerators

3. Life before Swagger/OpenAPI

4. Life before Swagger/OpenAPI
Actually, it looked
more like this
<sample>
<id>238901423424</id>
<value>15</value>
<license>IH8XML</license>
</sample>
WADL

5. And then came JSON… and Swagger
And REST became easy And documentation became easy

6. But what was the value?
More Automation Tools Came Along
Generate Swagger from Comments Generate Swagger and APIs from database schemas
https://github.com/swaggo/swag https://github.com/dbohdan/automatic-api

7. If You Build It, They Will Come…?
It doesn’t work in Product, and won’t work for APIs

8. API Product LifeCycle
Manage the
Developer
Community
- Developer Relationship
Management
- API Monitoring
Maintain & Iterate
Launch the API,
Developer
Experience
- Documentation
(Redoc, SwaggerHub)
- SDKs (SwaggerHub,
APImatic)
- Dev Portal (Kong, AWS
Dev Portal)
Launch
Build the API
- AWS API Gateway,
Kong, Apigee
Implement
Create Schema
Definition for
the API
- IDEs (Postman,
Insomnia)
- OpenAPI Schema
Design
Establish High
Level
Architecture
- Schema.org
- GraphQL Vs REST
Research
Determine Value
Points and Use
Cases
- Value Proposition
Canvas
- Business Model
Canvas
Identify

9. Tools for the Lifecycle
Design
DocumentationDeveloper Portal/App MarketplaceBuild
Monitor

10. Designing the API
IDEs SwaggerHub, Stoplight, Insomnia

11. Building the API
Code Creation, Code Minimization
API Gateway Server Code Stubs

12. Developer Experience
Docs, Portals, Oh My!
API Docs Kong Portal

13. Developer Experience
Library Generators Mock Servers (Prism)
https://github.com/OpenAPITools/openapi-generator https://stoplight.io/open-source/prism/
And SDKs! And Mock Servers

14. Sample Product Stack
1
API Designs
Tools: SwaggerHub, Stoplight,
Postman
Input: User Stories
Output: OpenAPI
3
Developer
Portal/Marketplace
Tools: Kong Dev Portal,
OpenChannel.io
Input: OpenAPI
Output: Developer Management site,
Sandbox
5
API Code
Tools: Kong, AWS Gateway,
WSO2
Input: OpenAPI
Output: Reverse Proxy and actual APIs
API Documentation
Tools: Redoc, Prism, APIMatic
Input: OpenAPI
Output: HTML docs, SDKs, Mock
Server
4
Monitoring
Tools: Moesif,
Kong Vitals
Input: OpenAPI
Output: HTML docs
2

15. Thinking outside the Box: Future
opportunities
https://jglassenberg.github.io/REST-API-Endpoint-Generator/demo
POST
GET GET {id}
PUT PATCH
DELETE

16. Visually planning OpenAPI

17. App Marketplace Frameworks

18. Future Opportunities
Full Server-Stubs

19. More Monitoring Use Cases
API information to
Sales and Customer
Support?

20. Developer Relationship Management (DRM)
as a business
https://redmonk.com/jgovernor/2017/07/03/de
veloper-relationship-management-as-a-thing/
https://www.moesif.com/solutions/developer-rel
ations

21. To a Better Future!
Plugins