Postman is launching one of the largest public API directories today. The Postman API Network is designed to provide API publishers a place where they can publish their APIs, and developers a place where they can get everything they need to work with those APIs.
According to Abhinav Asthana, CEO & co-founder of Postman, one of the biggest challenges API publishers face is getting developers to work with their APIs while developers face challenges determining whether an API will authenticate or not. Past API directories are put together by third parties and collected from different sources, so it can be difficult to tell if developers are working with the most up-to-date API definitions, he explained.
“Postman APIs Network brings publishers on a unified platform and gives them direct access to developers,” said Asthana.
Asthana explained this solution was necessary because APIs are the building blocks of modern software today. Developers can’t get around building a web, mobile, IoT or AI solution without being aware of APIs and working with them.
“This is a big step for the API landscape because one of the things APIs have been dealing with is massive fragmentation across different tools and services,” said Asthana. “We are hoping this helps make the API ecosystem and experience much more streamlined.”
APIs published to the network will be published as Postman collections. Postman collections will include detailed, executable descriptions of the API as well as necessary requests, documentation, mocks and tests that work with the APIs.
Developers can access APIs directly through the API Network or the Postman website and app.
“We are thrilled to launch the API Network for our community,” said Asthana. “Every listing is functional, executable code that helps developers to not only find an API, but start working with it immediately. The network provides everything a developer would need to know about the APIs they want to work with.”
