API development: The complete guide to development best practices

Cross-functional teams regularly work on multiple projects with tons of data. And the larger your workforce gets, the likelier you’ll experience disparate systems and data silos — especially if you have to collaborate with external parties (like third-party vendors and freelancers).

With so many moving parts, it’s essential to use application programming interfaces (APIs) to synchronize workflows. Bridge data and team efforts through API development to maximize resources and encourage alignment.

What’s an API?

APIs are sets of rules, protocols, and tools that enable different software applications to communicate and interact with each other. They’re intermediaries that let you access specific features or data sets from one application while working within another.

Think of APIs as interpreters. They translate requests from one system into a language that another system understands, allowing the two systems to collaborate seamlessly.

Say a weather forecasting company wants to display real-time weather updates from a reputable meteorological service — like the National Weather Service (NWS) — on their website and mobile application. Instead of investing time and resources into building their own weather prediction system, the company can use the NWS’s free web API.

Users who visit the weather app will see up-to-date weather data based on location. The NWS’s API design allows the company’s app to display accurate weather forecasts, current conditions, and severe weather alerts without maintaining their own database or predicting weather patterns independently. By leveraging the NWS’s web API, the weather forecasting company provides valuable information to their users while establishing their brand as a trusted source for weather updates.

What are the different types of APIs?

Each API type has unique benefits and use cases. Here are the four APIs to consider based on your team’s workflow:

1. Private APIs are designed for in-house use and aren’t available to people outside the organization. They enable communication and integration between different systems within the company’s infrastructure, which supports efficient data exchange and interoperability.
2. Public APIs are available to external developers and third parties and let them access specific data provided by the source company. You’ll typically find public APIs through developer portals, which help with building applications, services, and integrations compatible with other systems.
3. Partner APIs facilitate collaboration between a company and its trusted partners or affiliates. These APIs are part of preexisting partnerships or agreements for controlled access to specific data, which parties typically use for joint ventures or complementary services.
4. Composite APIs, or aggregation APIs, combine multiple APIs into a single interface. To simplify development, these hide the underlying complexities of different APIs and give developers access to a wealth of features from several sources. Composites are useful for building applications that require data aggregation across various systems because they improve consistency and scalability.

A recap of essential API development terminologies

Before understanding whether your business needs an API and the best practices to build one, here’s a list of API-related terms worth knowing:

• API key: A unique identifier the API provider gives developers that allows them authorized access to an API
• JSON: A lightweight data-interchange format for transmitting data between servers and web applications (short for JavaScript Object Notation)
• Endpoint: A unique URL representing a specific resource or functionality that lets you access and interact with an API design
• Webhooks: User-defined endpoints that allow applications to receive real-time notifications from other systems or services
• Latency: The delay between sending and receiving a response (request/response time), influenced by factors like server processing and network speeds
• API throttling: The process of limiting the number of requests or transactions a user makes to an API within a specified time frame to prevent overloading the API’s server
• POST: An HTTP method in API requests that involves submitting data for the server to process, typically for creating and updating resources
• OAuth: An open standard for authorization that lets you grant third-party applications limited access to their resources without sharing their credentials
• GET: Like POST, a similar HTTP used in web API requests to retrieve server data for reading resources
• SDK: Short for software development kit, SDK is a set of tools, libraries, and documentation that enables developers to build applications for specific APIs using prebuilt components and sources
• Pagination: Dividing large APIs into smaller, more manageable pages to improve performance and reduce resource consumption
• Versioning: The process of managing different versions of an API to ensure backward compatibility (the ability for a system to work with previous versions) and allow incremental updates without breaking existing integrations

Does my organization need an API?

To decide whether your company needs an API, consider the following factors and API examples.

You need an API if:

You want to integrate existing enterprise applications with third-party services for seamless data exchange and interoperability.

Suppose you have a cloud-based project management tool that you want to connect to a secure messaging application. Building an API allows both systems to communicate and share data seamlessly.

You want to expand your company’s reach by letting external developers build applications that leverage your platform’s functionalities.

Consider a social media platform like Instagram, which offers an API to create applications compatible with their app. When Instagram made this API publicly accessible, external developers created third-party apps like Hootsuite and Buffer for social media management, which expanded Instagram’s reach and improved the user experience.

You want to improve productivity and efficiency by automating repetitive tasks.

A retail company with an online store can build a web API to automate inventory management. When stock quantities change, the API automatically updates product availability, saving time and reducing human error through manual entry.

You want to create an application or a data-heavy website that loads elements quickly without a full page refresh.

Say you run a subscription-based fitness platform and plan to develop a mobile app for on-the-go workout tracking. Building an API ensures seamless integration between the back-end database and app so users can access their workout data anytime. Similarly, your content-heavy website counterpart constantly adds new information, like feature updates and news. The API will dynamically load content without requiring a page refresh, creating a smooth and responsive experience for users.

You don’t need an API if:

Your company operates in a closed ecosystem with little need for external collaboration.

A small organization with internal project management systems or proprietary tools may not require an API if they don’t interact with third-party vendors or integrate external software.

You want a landing page or blog for your website.

Suppose you plan to maintain a website with a landing page or blog. You may need the page to display only a basic company overview, with contact details, an about us page, and products and services. Given the lack of dynamic data exchange, you don’t need an API in this scenario.

You have a temporary application that’s unlikely to grow or change.

For example, you may design a dedicated campaign website for a short-term promotional event. Creating an API may not be worth the time and resources because the website won’t require ongoing updates or scaling beyond the campaign’s duration.

You don’t plan on branching out to other platforms.

Consider a software company that specializes in developing project management applications. If it focuses solely on desktop programs, with no plans of expanding to mobile or web platforms, it may not prioritize building an API for its desktop app. If the company’s target audience is predominantly desktop users, the resources needed and the complexity of managing an API might outweigh the benefits.

4 best practices for building an effective API

If you decide to proceed with API development, here are four best practices to consider when building an effective interface for your organization.

1. Prioritize security

Security is paramount — especially for enterprises that handle sensitive data, like health-related or financial information. Neglecting security measures can expose your company to data breaches and compliance violations.

Consider enforcing sign-in measures like two-factor authentication (2FA) and multifactor authentication (MFA) to ensure only authorized developers use your API. You can also use industry-standard security protocols like OAuth for verification and limited authorization.

2. Document the development process

Your API needs clear and up-to-date documentation, including endpoint descriptions, error handling, troubleshooting instructions, pagination, and versioning. Clear documentation reduces the learning curve for in-house teams, and it helps external developers integrate their services with your API.

Without proper documentation, team members and developers may struggle to understand the API’s full capabilities, leading to inefficiencies and integration challenges.

You can also build logging and visual data analytics software into your API’s infrastructure to collect data like request/response times, error occurrences, and usage patterns. A data-driven approach helps quantify metrics, which allows you to make informed decisions with less margin for error.

3. Build a speedy, scalable API

Scalable APIs can accommodate increasing demands, handle concurrent requests, and maintain consistent performance under varying workloads. This ensures a smooth and enjoyable user experience during high traffic and rapid growth periods.

You can also enhance performance by increasing the API’s speed. Reduced latency and faster request/response rates improve usability. This lets in-house team members and external parties complete more tasks without crashes or long load times.

4. Understand your resource limitations

Set resource limits based on what your infrastructure can handle. This means understanding how many resources your current hardware and software can support without problems. Monitor how hardware and software are used on a regular basis — this will help you identify which parts use the most resources so you can manage them more effectively.

For example, if loading content is an issue, you can implement content delivery networks (CDNs) to split data-heavy pages into smaller chunks for faster transmission. By proactively managing resources, you guarantee smooth performance to users, even during unexpected traffic spikes and periods of high demand.

Start streamlining your web development process

Developing APIs can help you create seamless integrations and enhance your web applications’ functionality. By adhering to the best practices in this article, you can ensure your APIs are secure, scalable, and efficient, ultimately improving your overall web development process.

For more resources on APIs, check out how our Engineering teams built the Data API and Designer APIs at Webflow.