Understanding API Lifecycle Management and Its Importance in API Design
All good things have both a beginning and an ending—and that very same truth applies to application programming interfaces or APIs. No experienced API designer signs onto the project without an idea of how it will end and how a once-valuable API will eventually become obsolete. The process that sees an API product from its conception to its eventual deprecation is called the API lifecycle. What most outsiders to the industry don’t know is that a well-designed API is accounted for from its beginning to its ending. The task of overseeing these stages is called API lifecycle management, and the wisest API companies know to prioritize lifecycle management in their workflow.
What does API lifecycle management entail, what makes it so crucial to API design, and what practices make lifecycle management easier? Here’s what you should know about the stages in an API lifecycle, as well as the value of a design tool suite like Stoplight in lifecycle management.
What Are the Different Stages in an API’s Lifecycle?
There are roughly five stages to account for in the API’s lifecycle. They pertain to the product’s conceptualization, its maintenance, and its consumption by end users. The API lifecycle consists of the following:
The Planning Stage
This is the stage in which the API team plots out its intentions for the product. It’s also the stage in which the API’s endpoints are planned, and it’s also when developers begin to integrate relevant data for the project. Most developers consider it good practice to start their API documentation at around this point as well.
The Development Stage
The next stage is when the API team starts designing the product in earnest. It may do so along the “code-first” approach, in which coding commences immediately. Or, it could take the “design-first” approach that has risen in popularity, in which coding only starts after stakeholders have drawn up an API contract.
The Testing Stage
API testing can then start soon after the development stage, as some parts of the API can be tested in isolation. This is when developers create mocks or stubs to mimic the API’s behaviors and see what elements in the project they need to fine-tune. After purposeful testing of individual parts, the team then launches an API virtualization or a full virtual copy of the API.
The Deployment Stage
When everything about its design is in order, it will then be time to take the API to market. An API, however, is not the kind of product that is left completely alone after its purchase. In this stage of the API’s lifecycle, the team also devises updated versions of the API and performs maintenance according to their client’s needs.
The Retirement Stage
The final stage of the API’s lifecycle is its retirement or deprecation. It’s at this point that the API ceases to serve its purpose and must be upgraded to something better. This is a normal part of the lifecycle, however, as nothing—not even a digital product like an API—can work the same way forever.
It may be important to note that “waterfall development,” or development that happens in an exclusively linear manner, is a rarity for APIs nowadays. The API team will regularly revisit certain tasks in the different stages, for example API documentation, all throughout the product’s development. That’s part of what makes API design such a complex endeavor. It’s not simply a matter of moving onto the next stage, but paying attention to how a decision in one stage will affect the next.
Just How Important is Good API Lifecycle Management?
In summary, rigorous API lifecycle management matters a great deal. Today’s APIs are extremely sophisticated, and each stage of the product’s design requires utmost collaboration and flexibility from developers. Good API lifecycle management takes this into consideration and gets everyone ready to deploy responsive solutions all throughout the API’s development.
Near the end of an API’s run, lifecycle management is also important to end users. It will afford them transparency about the quality and relevance of the product they’re using. Users’ trust in the API’s developers will stay intact if the former know when the services need a facelift or must be completely retired.
If you have a role in your API’s lifecycle management, it will be extremely rewarding for you to invest in your API design toolset. The right infrastructure can keep your API design, testing, and virtualization organized and keep you on top of your goals per stage.
Remember that your potential to do right by your end users doesn’t end with the deprecation of your API. Once the first product has finished its run, you can assess the knowledge you’ve gathered and determine the business potential of your next API project.
Properly managing your API’s lifecycle will allow you to dream big, and dream purposefully, for your API. Here’s to its success during its deployment, and to your upcoming plans once the API’s lifecycle has come to completion.