Unlock the Power of APIs

When done well, API governance can improve developer’s experience by making it easier to build products and workflows with existing APIs, and speed up development when creating new APIs. But when done poorly, API governance creates bottlenecks and added bureaucracy that takes developers out of their flow. As organization’s move towards platform engineering approaches that incorporate team reorientation, internal developer portals, paved roads/golden paths approaches and style guides and templates. By getting API governance right, organizations can more easily adopt a full suite of platform engineering approaches that create an enjoyable, flow-focused developer approach to creating and consuming APIs. This presentation focuses on sharing learnings from introducing lightweight API governance processes with businesses and an international multilateral organisation.

ChatGPT has inspired the world’s imagination – attracting 100 million users in 2 months, which makes it the fastest-growing technology ever. Everyday we hear of new AI-based applications, and maybe your manager has approached you to „add the AI thing“ into your digital products, applications, and API portfolios. So, what does the AI trend mean for us API practitioners?
 In this talk, we study the relationship between AI and APIs, such as the use of AI as an API-based component in applications, the creation of more powerful AI services with the help of API-based data, and the impact of AI on the process of designing and developing APIs. As it becomes clear that AI and APIs are complementary technologies, and better if used together in the right way, we develop a framework of architectural patterns for API-based, AI-powered applications. While potential implications of bringing these two technologies together look promising and allow to more dynamic distributed systems, concerns for safety and security need to be taken serious. To mitigate these risks, proper AI & API governance become more important than ever.

API management has been around for quite a while, with APIs as we know them today appearing 25 years ago. It’s enlightening to look at the history of API management. That helps to understand how some of its developments were a logical evolution to adapt to more widespread API adoption within organizations. However, we are also seeing now that some of these assumptions are being challenged, meaning that the goals and practices of API management are changing. We’ll look at this evolution of API management, where it’s headed in the future, and what that means in terms of trends and technologies.

In an era defined by rapid technological advancement, the integration of AI into API management represents a significant paradigm shift. This keynote explores the convergence of AI technology, particularly Large Language Models (LLMs) and Generative Pre-trained transformers (GPT models), with API governance, efficiency, and scalability. We delve into the fundamental concepts of AI and its application within the context of API management, highlighting practical use cases and transformative capabilities. From automating API documentation generation to enabling self-governing APIs capable of dynamic policy enforcement and configuration adaptation, AI-driven solutions promise to revolutionize the way organizations manage their digital ecosystems. Through insightful case studies and real-world examples, we illustrate the tangible benefits of AI-powered self-governing APIs in improving efficiency, reducing risk, and enhancing scalability. However, we also address the challenges and limitations associated with their implementation, emphasizing the ongoing role of human intervention in policy design, issue resolution, and innovation. By embracing AI-powered self-governing APIs, organizations can gain a competitive edge, driving innovation, streamlining operations, and delivering exceptional customer experiences in an increasingly interconnected world. Join us as we navigate the frontier of API management, where AI meets digital transformation, and discover the key strategies for success in this evolving landscape.

Synopsis: Automating API product delivery is about automating workflows to improve the quality and delivery speed for API design and delivery by applying APIOps principles. In this talk, I discuss patterns for

• API consistency checks: Enforcing API design standards with linting tools like Spectral, Redocly and Vacuum.
• API breaking change checks: Automating breaking-change checks with OpenAPI diff tools like Oasdiff
• API conformance checks: Ensuring accuracy of your API reference documents using API conformance tools like Schemathesis, Portman and Prism
• API code generation: Generate server and client code using SDK generators like OpenAPI Generator
• Automating API configuration deployment using your CI/CD pipeline like GitHub Actions
• Continuous API measurement: Gathering API metrics using tools like Moesif.

Maintaining API quality and consistency over time can be challenging. New APIs are developed, and existing ones are constantly modified. DevOps practices can be applied throughout the entire API lifecycle to maintain quality and security. This session presents an alternative to Full API Lifecycle Management products using a DevOps perspective with available tools like git and CI/CD pipelines. Participants will learn how to use pipelines to automate the API lifecycle, organize APIs and artifacts, and use tools to validate APIs for quality, backward compatibility and guidelines, and how to enforce security policies in design and production. Join the session and learn how to apply DevOps principles to APIs.

Science teaches us that you can’t improve what you can’t measure. Yet, many API programs are so scattered that organizations don’t even know who is using what and who is exposing what. To add to this, you often don’t know how or even if APIs are increasing the productivity of your developers and improving the developer experience.The rise of platform engineering and internal developer portals gives us a fresh perspective for our API programs and especially on measuring their success. Bonus, these trends enable you to be more secure, compliant, and strategic about your API program.But are these promises a reality? We’ll delve into the reality of the API space with this talented panel. We’ll cut through the hype surrounding these trends to determine if they’re just passing fads or if they can really help drive API programs in the 20s. And, if their value is confirmed, how can we persuade businesses to invest?