Engineering
API
Also called
- Application programming interface
- Integration
An API is a promise about shape: send this, receive that. Its value comes from the promise being stable, because everything built against it depends on that stability.
Most integration projects fail on the parts nobody scopes: what happens when the other system is down, what happens when it returns something the documentation did not mention, what happens when the same event arrives twice. Retries, idempotency and reconciliation are the work; the happy path is an afternoon.
Rate limits, authentication model and data freshness are the three things worth confirming before a schedule is committed to. Each has ended a project that assumed otherwise.
Integration count is usually the single largest driver of cost and risk in a custom software estimate.
Commonly misunderstood
What people get wrong
The claim
“They have an API, so the integration is straightforward.”
What is actually true
An API existing says nothing about whether it exposes the data you need, at the freshness you need, at a rate you can afford. Those are three separate questions, and vendors answer the first one in their marketing.
Where this comes up
Services where it matters
Related terms
Next step
Working through a api decision?
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