What is an API Catalog?
You are likely already familiar with a variety of different catalogs. For example, many stores release product catalogs that list the products they sell. The listings in a product catalog have information including a short description, pictures, and price.
Much like a product catalog, an API catalog is a collection of various listings. Companies or teams use API catalogs to organize private internal APIs.
A catalog allows developers to discover and use internal APIs, rather than having to search many places or contact multiple people to find APIs. In a large company, developers might not even know what internal APIs already exist, but an API catalog can help solve this problem.
There are also API catalogs for publicly available APIs that anyone can access.
Characteristics of an API Catalog
Though API catalogs can take different forms, there are several characteristics that should be in every API catalog, including:
1: Documentation
A catalog can help create documentation that is clear and consistently formatted. This makes it much easier for developers to know where to find documentation and what to expect. An effective API catalog makes it easy to format and maintain documentation.
2: Search Functionality
Robust search functionality is another main characteristic of an API catalog. Since the main purpose of the catalog is to allow developers to find APIs, the ability to search and sort through various API listings is important.
3: Accessibility
Creating an API catalog that is easily accessible is another key consideration. This makes it possible for developers to access the catalog and understand the listings.
API Catalog Implementation
API catalog implementations take different forms. It is even possible to have multiple different internal API catalogs for different categories or teams. For example, a company might have 3 different internal API catalogs — one for front end developers, one for back end developers, and one that all developers in the company can access.
API Catalog Example
RapidAPI for Teams or a RapidAPI Enterprise Deployment allows you to create your own internal API catalog.
