Building Developer-Centric APIs in a Multi-Product SaaS Org
summary
Freshworks creates a cross‑functional API engineering team (10–15 engineers) that enforces OpenAPI 2.0 specs, runs automated spec linting and CI checks that implementation matches contract, and publishes a central portal (developers.freshworks.com). Tooling generates mock servers, NodeJS SDKs on npm, and client scaffolds so front end, backend and QA work in parallel. Results include consistent reusable models, a five‑level maturity path for teams, and real usage — 22 million API requests on Freshdesk — showing the approach scales.
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chapters (8)
- 0:00APIs in modern SaaS
- 1:08Problem statement and goals
- 7:35API governance and upskilling
- 14:13Strategy and standards
- 18:03Tactics and maturity models
- 21:18Key wins and tooling
- 24:10API-first development benefits
- 25:57Q&A session
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