What is API Governance?
APIs have become a critical part of any organization. Many organizations have adopted an API-First strategy, making APIs focal points for their product creation.
Why is it needed?
Many organizations use APIs as building blocks for their products. Moreover, with the rise of microservices and application interfaces, the number of APIs being used by an organization can grow exponentially. In many cases, organizations develop robust APIs that serve web applications, mobile applications, and developers in one way or the other. This implementation is often regarded as an API-First approach.
Governance is concerned with the management and creation of APIs within a landscape such as an organization, especially those who use an API-First approach.
API-First
Some companies use APIs to provide some underlying features to their software. However, in the API-First approach, APIs become the core or foundation. This approach ensures that all the functionality of an application is accessed through APIs. This means that APIs are built first, and then platforms are shaped according to the API design.
One of the main reasons for the growing popularity of this approach is the increasing ways of accessing an application like through mobile, web, connected devices, etc. Without re-creating the solution, companies can scale to different platforms because a single API handles all the functionality. All they need to do is integrate the API with their new platform.
Best Practices
API Governance allows organizations to carry out the API-First approach effectively. Here are some strategies and practices that can help:
Common API Specification
Using a standard API Specification that is common across the whole organization can help reduce complexities. For example, using a defined OpenAPI spec version lets developers, QA (quality assurance testing), and other engineers start work on the API before a single line of code is written.
Standardizing Metadata
Using standard metadata across all your APIs helps with logging (errors) and tracking analytics.
Access Controls
All members of an organization should be divided into separate groups according to their permissions to access specific APIs.
Common Schema
Another good practice is using a reasonably common schema across all your APIs. Doing so will make it convenient for developers to understand and manage API requests and responses.
Adopt a Versioning Scheme
Consistent versioning allows broad communication of features and compatibility. Lack of clear versioning can create a mess.
Avoid one-off integrations
One-off integrations and special cases create wasted time because people have to figure out the special use case every time a new change is made.
How RapidAPI can help?
RapidAPI provides two excellent platforms covering all the features required for governing APIs, such as access control, API testing, integration, analytics, and many more. These include Rapid API Teams for organizations and RapidAPI Enterprise Hub for enterprises.