The OpenAPI specification is the most important standard we have in the API space, because of what the specification describes, but more importantly it’s wide adoption and ability to get us API producers and consumers talking and potentially on the same page. OpenAPI is not the only API specification or necessarily the “best” API specification, but it is the one that has won out when it comes to defining our most valuable and ubiquitous enterprise assets—-HTTP APIs. API Evangelist like to take a moment and celebrate all of the people who have put work into the specifications over the years, including the sister specifications, and the one that has emerged to help us standardize and govern our OpenAPI specifications.
- Swagger - July 11, 2011
- OpenAPI - November 5, 2015
- Speccy - Oct 20, 2016
- Spectral - August 15, 2018
- OpenAPI Arazzo - Aug 25, 2021
- OpenAPI Overlays - October 22, 2024
There is a lot of technology, business, and politics baked into that timeline and these specifications. Like the OpenAPI specification, this timeline tells a story of the people, business, and politics occurring across every business sector. To understand the business of an API specification, think of all the companies that come to mind when you read down this list of specifications. To understand the politics of API specification, think of the specifications that aren’t listed here—-this omission is by design. OpenAPI is extremely important to making sense of the enterprise API sprawl and to all of us who are selling knowledge, services, and tools to the API space—-here is to the next 15 years of contribution.
