In my world, OpenAPI is always a primary actor, and the tooling and services that put it to work are always secondary. However, I’d say that 80% of the people I talk with are the opposite, putting OpenAPI tooling in a primary role, and the OpenAPI specification in a secondary role. This is the primary reason that many still see Swagger tooling as the value, and haven’t made the switch to the concept of OpenAPI, or understand the separation between the specification and the tooling.
Another way in which you can see the importance of OpenAPI tooling is the slow migration of OpenAPI 2.0 to 3.0 users. Many folks I’ve talked to about OpenAPI 3.0 tell me that they haven’t made the jump because of the lack of tooling available for the specification. This isn’t always about the external services and tooling that supports OpenAPI 3.0, it is also about the internal tooling that supports it. It demonstrates the importance of tooling when it comes to the evolution, and adoption of OpenAPI. It demonstrates the need for the OAI community to keep investing in the development and evangelism of tooling for the latest version.
I am going to work to invest more time into rounding up OpenAPI tooling, and getting to know the developers behind them, as I prepare APIStrat in Nashville, TN. I’m also going to invest in my own migration to OpenAPI 3.0. The reason I haven’t evolved isn’t because of lack tooling, it is because of a lack of time, and the cognitive load involved with thinking new ways. I fully grasp the differences between 2.0 and 3.0, but I just don’t have intuitive knowledge of 3.0 in the way I do for 2.0. I’ve spent hundreds of hours developing around 2.0, and I just don’t have the time in my schedule to make similar investment in 3.0–soon!
If you need to get up to speed on the latest when it comes to OpenAPI 3.0 tooling I recommend checking out OpenAPI.Tools from Matt Trask (@matthewtrask) and Crashy McCiderface (aka Phil Sturgeon) (@philsturgeon). It is the best source of OpenAPI tooling out there right now. If you are still struggling with the migration from 2.0 to 3.0, or would like to see a specific solution developed on top of OpenAPI 3.0, I’d love to hear from you. I’m working to help shape the evolution of the OpenAPI tooling conversation, as well as tell stories about what tools are available, or should be available, and how they are can be put to work on the ground at companies, organizations, institutions, and government agencies.
