How to build an API your developers will love?

Michael Kuehne

Michael Kuehne Independent Software Engineer

API Specialist

Why should you build an API your

developers will love?

Your API is a Product

Create a Developer Experience

User Scenarios & User Stories

Personas

Don‘t forget these Guys

Create an overall Experience

with DX Core

UX UX Honeycomb

Simple Functions and Calls

Useful to me vs. Userful by Design

Create value for a business

Service, Data, Audience, ...

Long-Term Mindset

Consistency

RESTful

Naming

HAL for XML & JSON

V1 Versioning

Where   What   Who   Example  

Path  segment   Data   Twilio   /2015-­‐09-­‐01/...  

Path  segment   Number   TwiAer   /1/...  

Path  segment   ‘v‘  +  Number   LinkedIn   /v1/...  

Path  segment   ‘v‘  +  Number   Yelp   .../v1/...  

Query  string   Number   Google   ?v=2  

Custom  HTTP  Header   Number   Google   GData-­‐Version:  2  

HTTP  Accept  Header   Number   GitHub   ApplicaUon/vnd.github[.version]  

Path  segment   Number   Michael  Kuehne  

/v2-­‐3/...  

Versioning

Error Messages

Publish your Tests

Provide Stubs

SDKs

Dev Dashboard

Sandbox

Documentation

Communication

HATEOAS

Extend Responses

Reliable APIs

Legal Part

And what does Apple?

„An API is a Journey

Not a destination“

John Musser

Thank you and start creating API your Developers will love!

Michael Kuehne michael@mkuehne.com

@michikuehne

Credits •  Stormtropper with Heart https://flic.kr/p/7CMCXh •  Apple Stormtropper https://flic.kr/p/8pxp41 •  Logo Quad Racer https://flic.kr/p/dXan4x •  Business man https://flic.kr/p/9ahi5b •  See in the Mountains https://flic.kr/p/bDg5Ms •  Leathermen https://flic.kr/p/7BMTj9 •  Traffic Sign https://flic.kr/p/4uZDqS •  Hello my name is https://flic.kr/p/7NudQf •  LED https://flic.kr/p/eQy2Um •  Toolbox https://flic.kr/p/bkSP2c •  Chocolate https://flic.kr/p/eMKxsK •  Boy Scouts https://flic.kr/p/cdxFkW •  Wheel chair https://flic.kr/p/9g1LDE •  Church https://flic.kr/p/opTHCA •  Kayak https://flic.kr/p/bSaLKB