Require that every API published for consumers carries a clear service level agreement stating its uptime target, expected performance, support commitments, and what happens when we fall short. I push for explicit SLAs because a promise you will not write down is a promise you do not really mean, and consumers cannot build a serious business on vague assurances. Publish the numbers in the portal, back them with real monitoring and a status page, and be honest when the tier is best-effort. A well-defined SLA is where an API stops being a hobby and becomes something people can depend on.
SLA (Experience)
Strategies
APIs Earn and Maintain Consumer Trust
All APIs must demonstrate trustworthiness through transparent service level commitments, consistent deprecation policies, reliable performance, proper security, and clear legal terms, building the ...
APIs Have Clear Service Level Commitments
All production APIs must have defined service level agreements (SLAs) that specify uptime, availability, latency, and throughput commitments for each plan tier, providing consumers with the confide...
Experiences
Reliability
If an API isn’t reliable, consumers will eventually look for alternatives. Reliability starts with the platform and infrastructure where the API is deployed, but it also depends heavily on the pace...
Trust
Establish trust with API consumers will evolve and build over time, and is something that can be lost in a very short period of time. Trust will depend on other experiences like quality and reliabi...
Business
Every aspect of API operations should ultimately be evaluated through the lens of cost and value—both the expenses incurred to develop and maintain APIs and the direct or indirect revenue generated...
Lifecycle
captive_portal Portal Beta
The portal is the front door to an API. It is where consumers discover, learn, authenticate, and get to their first successful call. I judge a portal by how fast a new developer can go from landing...
gavel Terms of Service Production
The terms of service are the legal contract sitting behind the technical one. Clear terms set the expectations between provider and consumer about acceptable use, liability, and change. I want the ...
