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Free course · 20 lessons · Advanced

API Platform & Lifecycle

Run APIs as products: contract-first OpenAPI 3.1 and AsyncAPI 3, mocks, Spectral governance, breaking-change CI, contract testing, docs and SDKs, onboarding, versioning, deprecation, gateways and monetization.

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1. Contract-First Design

Design APIs as specifications first, then generate mocks, code, tests and docs.

  1. The Contract-First Workflow — Why teams write the spec before the code, and what the workflow looks like.
  2. OpenAPI 3.1 Essentials — Paths, operations, schemas, security schemes, examples and webhooks.
  3. AsyncAPI for Event-Driven APIs — Describe channels, messages and bindings for Kafka, AMQP, MQTT and WebSockets.
  4. Reusable Schemas, Examples and Shared Components — Keep large specs consistent and maintainable.
  5. Mock Servers and Prototyping — Let consumers build against the contract before the backend exists.

2. Governance and Quality

Linting, breaking-change detection, contract tests, reviews and API inventory.

  1. Linting API Specs with Spectral — Turn the style guide into automated rules.
  2. Detecting Breaking Changes in CI — Compare specs automatically and stop accidental breaks.
  3. Contract Testing: Pact and Schema-Based Testing — Verify providers and consumers agree without full end-to-end environments.
  4. API Design Reviews — Lightweight reviews that catch the expensive mistakes early.
  5. API Inventory and Catalogs — Know every API you run: owners, specs, consumers and lifecycle status.

3. Developer Experience

Docs, SDKs, onboarding and change communication.

  1. Documentation That Developers Actually Use — Reference docs, guides, quickstarts and interactive consoles.
  2. SDK Generation — Typed client libraries from your spec: generators, customization and release process.
  3. Onboarding: Keys, Sandboxes and Test Data — Get developers from signup to working integration quickly and safely.
  4. Changelogs and Change Communication — Tell consumers what changed, what they must do, and when.

4. Lifecycle and Operations

Versioning, deprecation, gateways, analytics and monetization.

  1. Versioning Strategies — URL, header, media type and date-based versioning — and avoiding versions.
  2. Deprecation and Sunset — Retire endpoints and fields safely with headers, data and deadlines.
  3. API Gateways and API Management — What gateways do, deployment models and what not to put in them.
  4. Analytics, Metering and Monetization — Measure API usage per consumer and turn it into insights and revenue.

5. Capstone

Build an API program and manage a breaking change.

  1. Capstone: Launch an API Program — Set up the platform, governance and DX for an organization opening public APIs.
  2. Capstone: Ship a Necessary Breaking Change — Plan the migration of a widely used endpoint to a new model.