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API Development

APIs that partners and internal tools can trust — versioned, documented, and honest about errors.

Often a few weeks for a first useful surface when the domain is already clear.

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API contracts and connected product systems

Problem

Undocumented APIs become tribal knowledge.

Without contracts and versioning, every consumer is one breaking change away from an incident. “Just look at the code” is not a partner strategy.

Inconsistent error shapes and ad-hoc auth turn integrations into folklore. The next team rebuilds the same client against a moving target.

Solution

Treat the API as a product surface.

Clear resources, auth, pagination, error shapes, and a version story your consumers can plan around. REST or GraphQL is a choice for the consumer — not a fashion argument.

Documentation and examples ship with the surface. SDKs follow when consumers actually need them — not as a vanity artifact.

Who this is for

A fit when the problem looks like this.

  • Products exposing a partner or public API that currently lives in someone’s head
  • Internal platforms where multiple clients (web, mobile, jobs) need one contract
  • Teams who have already broken consumers once and do not want to do it again
  • Founders who need a first useful API surface when the domain is already clear

Capabilities

What we deliver in this practice.

  • API design and resource modeling
  • Auth and rate-limit baselines as scoped
  • Versioning and deprecation strategy
  • Documentation consumers can use
  • Partner and internal tool integrations
  • Pagination, filtering, and honest error shapes
  • Example requests — SDKs when scoped

Process

How this service actually runs.

  1. 01

    Name the consumers

    Who calls this, from where, and what happens when we change a field. That drives REST vs GraphQL and the version story.

  2. 02

    Model the resources

    Clear nouns, auth, pagination, and errors. Ambiguous resources become incidents later.

  3. 03

    Build the surface

    Production API with the contracts we wrote — not an undocumented controller dump.

  4. 04

    Document and example

    A consumer should succeed without a Slack thread. SDKs only when they earn the maintenance.

  5. 05

    Plan change

    Version and deprecation guidance so the next breaking change is deliberate.

Every serious build still follows the studio path — Discover through Improve. See the full studio process.

Technology

Stack we typically reach for here.

  • Node.js
  • NestJS
  • Go
  • PostgreSQL
  • Redis

Deliverables

What you leave with.

  • Production API for the agreed consumers
  • Documentation and example requests
  • Version and change guidance
  • Auth and rate-limit baseline as scoped
  • Error shape and pagination that consumers can code against

Outcomes

What this is meant to change.

  • Consumers who can integrate without tribal knowledge
  • A version story you can defend when something must change
  • Fewer incident-driven “quick” breaking changes

Selected work

Product work from this practice.

Related services

Practices that often sit beside this one.

Timeline

How long this usually takes.

Often a few weeks for a first useful surface when the domain is already clear.

Starting price

Honest commercial footing.

Quote after a written brief

Scope drives the number. You get a written proposal before build starts — not a surprise invoice after.

This practice typically sits in our Products pricing lane — still a scoped proposal, not a menu quote.

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FAQ

Common questions for this service.

Ready to talk through this service?

Start a project conversation — or email us with the problem you are trying to solve.

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