Beginner to Guru
Why Use OpenAPI?
OpenAPI
• OpenAPI - short for OpenAPI Specification
• Often abbreviated as OA3 - for OpenAPI 3.x
• OpenAPI is a widely adopted standard for describing APIs
• Strong Industry Support for OpenAPI
• Backers include - Microsoft, Google, and IBM
• OpenAPI is considered technology agnostic
• Thus, developers using Java, .NET, PHP, Ruby, etc - can all benefit from OpenAPI
OpenAPI
• OpenAPI Specifications are defined in YAML or JSON
• The OpenAPI Specification is backed by a formal schema
• This defines the document’s properties and data types
• Because the OpenAPI is a structured document it can be read programmatically
• OpenAPI Tools - Converters, Validators, GUI Editors, Mock Services, SDK Generators,
Documentation
• OpenAPI CodeGen - Generate Server code for 20+ different languages; Client code for 40+
languages
Single Source of Truth
• The OpenAPI Specification becomes the single source of truth for what the API is supposed to do.
• Without OpenAPI - what defines the API?
• Source code?
• Design documentation on wiki?
• Unit tests?
• Email messages between developers?
OpenAPI at Velo Payments
• Microservices define API via OpenAPI Specification
• Unit Tests use OpenAPI to validate all requests and responses
• Test are run locally and during CI/CD
• Consumer Driven Contracts defined in OpenAPI extensions
• Client Side SDKs published in ~8 languages using OpenAPI generated code
• Public documentation generated from OpenAPI specification
