Describing API Workflows: Introducing the Arazzo Specification
If there's one thing that you don't need to explain to anybody in the API space it's that very rarely, one API call will solve a business problem. In most cases you'll have workflows either within one API or across APIs. So far so good, but how do you describe those workflows? Enter #Arazzo!
At @apidays Helsinki, Frank Kilcommins of SmartBear formally announced the new OpenAPI Initiative (OAI) specification #Arazzo. In a Nutshell, Arazzo supports the description of workflows that span more than just one interaction with an API. What are typical scenarios?
• #Documentation is one useful aspect and in the video you'll find a demo how to generate an Azarro description and some documentation artefacts that can be directly used in an API portal.
• #Testing is another interesting area where a workflow description can help to test whether a certain assertion about how to combine APIs still holds. For example, after making some changes to some of the APIs you can test in an automated way whether workflows still work as intended.
• #AI and #GenAI are really promising areas where Arazzo allows a more formal and machine-readable way how to describe workflows so that code generation or other tools can start deriving new workflows from the existing ones.
There is no shortage of other ideas and we already had very promising and wide-ranging discussions right after the presentation. If you want to follow the progress and see what's going on, here are a few useful links to find more information and engage with the community:
👉 The Arazzo Specification: A Tapestry for API Workflows (Full presentation from API Days Helsinki) - • Apidays Helsinki & North 2024 - The Arazzo...
👉 Slideset for API Days Helsinki presentation - https://noti.st/frankkilcommins/2Sgric
👉 Join the slack workspace - https://communityinviter.com/apps/ope...
👉 Star the repo - https://github.com/OAI/Arazzo-Specifi...
👉 Arazzo Specification - https://github.com/OAI/Arazzo-Specifi...
👉 Examples (OAuth, FAPI-PAR, LoginAndRetrievePets, & more) - https://github.com/OAI/Arazzo-Specifi...
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#api #apimanagement #workflows #apiworkflows #orchestration #apiplatform #apidocumentation #apitesting #gettingapistowork #digitaltransformation