Leverage Advanced API Designs in Your Workflow
Here at Stoplight, we are dedicated to helping you design the best APIs that fit your business and architectural needs. Modern REST API programs can be complex, with specifications constantly evolving, leveraging reusable components and shared models, separating internal and external representations, and a host of downstream tools to support.
With (drumroll, please) Stoplight’s new Catalog API, we now provide a fast and reliable way to export fully-functional “bundled” OpenAPI documents and JSON Schema definitions. (Yeah, yeah, it’s about time. We know.) Our Catalog API opens up a world of opportunities for integrations between your Stoplight Workspace and the rest of your API workflow.
Here’s a sneak peek of what the Catalog API request in our try-it mode looks like:
What’s a Bundle, You Ask?
Stoplight exports bundled references to give you a file with no external dependencies or repeated artifacts. In addition, bundled references take advantage of helpful Stoplight features like masking, component libraries, and x-internal tags that differentiate internal and external endpoints and operations. What’s left is a well-governed, thoughtfully-designed standalone document that’s ready to integrate into your workflow or pipeline.
Specifications and Beyond…What to do, What to do?
Programmatically exporting your latest OpenAPI assets – identified by either version, branch, or commit hash – unlocks numerous opportunities to optimize your workflow.
Consider:
- Creating interactive mocks with Prism
- Running custom linting rules with Spectral
- Auto-generating tests, server or client code, and documentation
- Identifying security gaps
- Provisioning an API Gateway
An API Designed by API Designers
It may be a surprise, but this is Stoplight’s first official public API as an industry-leading API design company. As such, we really wanted to build the right foundation.
We set out with the goal to make Stoplight APIs that would be easy to launch and easy for customers to consume. This meant incorporating robust token management systems and intelligent monitoring while also using tried-and-true patterns for rate limiting, security, versioning, and error messaging. How, you might ask?
Well, we did, in fact, use our own product to build our APIs…and we learned a lot! In a later post, I’ll also talk about how we used the Stoplight Platform to design our API and highlight how our own workflow improved in the process.
Drinking our own champagne was a fantastic way to empathize with customers and highlight areas where Stoplight has room for improvement. We’re looking forward to sharing those improvements with you soon too!
Stoplight’s Catalog API is available today to all Professional and Enterprise plans. Log in to your Workspace to try it now or view the docs.
For more API Catalog resources, check out our other blogs and resources:
