Prototype-first - a modern API development workflow
summary
Argues that a prototype-first API workflow finds design flaws earlier by validating APIs through real use and parallelizes producer and consumer work so releases shorten. Describes practical options: quick throwaway code, traditional mocking, and generated mocks from OpenAPI, noting generated mocks are often too simplistic. Shows a WireMock-based cloud approach with a flexible mocking engine, bidirectional spec and mock generation and traffic validation via proxy to keep mocks, specs and implementations in sync.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00API prototyping intro
- 0:44Design vs prototyping
- 3:15API design importance
- 5:42Current API practices
- 7:52Validation through use
- 9:15Code-first prototyping
- 11:00Mocking tools
- 13:06Generating mocks
- 14:54API prototyping platform
- 17:03Prototyping benefits
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