HTTP API Development Tools
Introduction

This is a collection of useful resources for building RESTful HTTP+JSON APIs. There are a lot of good tools and entire ecosystems out there! It can be overwhelming not knowing what options are available, so you can use this as a reference starting point.

Contributions are most welcome. Categories are also open to suggestions!

Table of Contents

• API Specification Languages


• API Specification Tools


• API Specifications


• API Frameworks


• API Client Development Tools


• API Documentation


• API Clients


• API Debugging and Mocking


• API Design Guides


• API Publishing


• API Gateways


• API Security


• API Monitoring


• API Testing


• API Developer Portal


• JSON Format Standards


• Learning Resources


• Blogs


• References

API Specification Languages

• API Blueprint


• JSON Schema


• RAML


• OpenAPI (formerly known as Swagger)

API Specification Tools

• Swagger Inspector: Test and auto-generate OpenAPI documentation for any API.


• Swagger Editor: An editor for designing Swagger specifications.


• Swagger Tools and Integrations: A list of libraries and frameworks serving the Swagger ecosystem.


• OpenAPI extension for VS Code: Visual Studio Code (VS Code) extension that provides support for the OpenAPI Specification.


• OpenAPI plugin for JetBrains IDEs: Jetbrains plugin that provides support for the OpenAPI Specification.


• Dredd: Validate API documentation written in API Blueprint against its backend implementation.


• API Spec Converter: Convert between different API spec formats.


• Apimatic: Supports API description formats including Swagger, OAI format, RAML, API Blueprint, IO Docs, WADL, Postman Collections and HAR 1.4 and more


• Sandbox: Quick and easy mock RESTful API from API definitions


• Restunited: Generate SDK, Documentation with Testing and Debugging


• OpenAPI Definition Designer: Free visual OpenAPI3 definition creation and editing tool.


• Stoplight Studio: Create, prototype, and share OpenAPI descriptions and JSON Schemas using a visual editor.

API Specifications

• API Commons: A repository of language-agnostic API specifications / Data Models.


• APIS.guru: Directory of API specs in OpenAPI(aka Swagger) 2.0 format.


• AnyAPI: Documentation and Test Consoles for Public APIs.

API Frameworks
Ruby

• rails-api: Rails for API only applications.


• pliny: Opinionated template Sinatra app for writing APIs in Ruby.


• grape: An opinionated micro-framework for creating REST-like APIs in Ruby.


• ActiveModel::Serializer: Brings convention over configuration to your JSON generation.


• rabl: Generate JSON and XML from any ruby object.


• jbuilder: Create JSON structures via a Builder-style DSL.


• roar: Parse and render REST API documents using representers.

Python

• Django REST framework: Toolkit that makes it easy to build Web APIs.


• Tastypie: Webservice API framework for Django.


• restless: A lightweight REST miniframework for Python.


• flask-restful: Simple framework for creating REST APIs.


• Falcon: Falcon is a low-level, high-performance Python framework for building HTTP APIs, app backends, and higher-level frameworks.


• Connexion: Swagger/OpenAPI First framework for Python on top of Flask with automatic endpoint validation and OAuth2 support


• apistar: A smart Web API framework, designed for Python3.


• sanic: Sanic is a Flask-like Python 3.5+ web server that's written to go fast.


• hug: hug aims to make developing Python driven APIs as simple as possible, but no simpler.


• FastAPI: FastAPI is a modern, fast (high-performance), web framework for building APIs with Python 3.6+ based on standard Python type hints.

Javascript

• hapi.js: Web and services application framework for Node.js.


• Restify: Node.js REST framework specifically meant for web service APIs.


• Express: Fast, unopinionated, minimalist web framework for Node.js.


• sailsjs: Realtime MVC Framework for Node.js.


• Actionhero: Multi-transport Node.js API server with integrated cluster capabilities and delayed tasks.


• Baucis: To build


• Koa: Next generation web framework for Node.js


• Loopback: Node.js framework for creating APIs and easily connecting to backend data sources.


• Seneca: A microservices toolkit for Node.js.


• Feathers: Build RESTful and real-time APIs through Socket.io or Primus.


• Deployd: Deployd is the simplest way to build realtime APIs for web and mobile apps


• Nest: A modern node.js framework for efficient and scalable web applications built on top of TypeScript

Go

• Go-Json-Rest: Thin layer on top of net/http that helps building RESTful APIs easily


• gocrud: Go library to simplify creating, updating and deleting arbitrary depth structured data — to make building REST services fast and easy.


• sleepy: RESTful micro-framework written in Go.


• restit: Go micro framework to help writing RESTful API integration test.


• go-relax: Framework of pluggable components to build RESTful API's.


• go-rest: Small and evil REST framework for Go.


• go-restful: A declarative highly readable framework for building restful API's.


• Goat: Minimalistic REST API server in Go.


• Resoursea: REST framework for quickly writing resource based services.


• Zerver: Zerver is a expressive, modular, feature completed RESTful framework.


• Fiber: :zap:Fiber is an Express inspired web framework written in Go with :coffee: .

Scala

• Colossus: I/O and microservice library for Scala.


• Finatra: Fast, testable, Scala HTTP services built on Twitter-Server and Finagle.


• Play: The high velocity web framework for Java and Scala.


• Scalatra: Simple, accessible and free web micro-framework.


• Skinny Micro: Micro-web framework to build servlet applications in Scala.


• Spray: Open-source toolkit for building REST/HTTP-based integration layers on top of Scala and Akka.


• Akka HTTP: The Akka HTTP modules implement a full server- and client-side HTTP stack on top of akka-actor and akka-stream.


• Swagger Akka HTTP: Swagger-Akka-Http brings Swagger support for Akka-Http Apis.

Java

• Rest.li: REST framework using type-safe bindings and asynchronous, non-blocking IO.


• Dropwizard: Framework for developing ops-friendly, high-performance, RESTful web services.


• Jersey: RESTful web services in Java.


• Spring Boot: RESTful Web Service using Spring, high-performance and little configuration needed.


• Metamug Mason: Create REST APIs with JSP tags and SQL. Edit and hot deploy REST resources on the server.

Haskell

• Scotty: Micro web framework inspired by Ruby's Sinatra, using WAI and Warp.


• Spock: Another Haskell web framework for rapid development.


• Servant: A Type-Level Web DSL.


• Yesod: The Haskell RESTful web framework.

Elixir

• Phoenix: Framework for building HTML5 apps, API backends and distributed systems.


• Plug: A specification and conveniences for composable modules between web applications.

Erlang

• Cowboy: Small, fast, modular HTTP server written in Erlang.


• Gen Microservice: This library solves the problem of implementing microservices with Erlang.


• Mochiweb: Erlang library for building lightweight HTTP servers.

Postgres

• PostgREST: Serve a RESTful API from any existing PostgreSQL database.


• pREST: pREST is a way to serve a RESTful API from any databases written in Go.

MySQL

• xmysql: Generate REST APIs for any MySQL Database.

PHP

• API Platform: API framework on top of Symfony with JSON-LD, Schema.org and Hydra support


• Dingo API: A RESTful API package for the Laravel and Lumen frameworks


• Fractal: Fractal provides a presentation and transformation layer for complex data output, the like found in RESTful APIs, and works really well with JSON


• Yii2 Framework: Provides a whole set of tools to simplify the task of implementing RESTful Web Service APIs

Miscellaneous

• Dream Factory: Turn any database into an API platform.

API Client Development Tools
General

• Swagger CodeGen: Generate client libraries automatically from a Swagger-compliant server.


• AutoRest: Generate client libraries for RESTful web services


• OpenAPI Generator: A community fork of Swagger Codegen to automatically generate API clients, server stubs and documentation for REST APIs given an OpenAPI/Swagger spec.

Ruby

• Net::HTTP: An HTTP client API for Ruby.


• faraday: Simple, but flexible HTTP client library, with support for multiple backends.


• rest-client: Simple HTTP and REST client for Ruby


• heroics: Ruby HTTP client for APIs represented with JSON schema.


• blanket: A Ruby API wrapper.


• nestful: Ruby HTTP/REST client.

Java

• Retrofit: A type-safe HTTP client for Android and Java.

Javascript

• Restangular: Restangular is an AngularJS service that simplifies common GET, POST, DELETE, and UPDATE requests with a minimum of client code

.NET

• Refit: The automatic type-safe REST library for .NET Core, Xamarin and .NET


• WebAnchor: Web Anchor provides type-safe, testable and flexible access to web resources.

API Documentation

• ReDoc: OpenAPI/Swagger-generated API Reference Documentation.


• Swagger UI: Dynamically generate documentation from a Swagger-compliant API.


• Slate: Static site generated documentation for your API.


• prmd: JSON Schema tooling: scaffold, verify, and generate documentation from JSON Schema documents.


• Aglio: An API Blueprint renderer with theme support that outputs static HTML.


• Apiary: Collaborative design, instant API mock, generated documentation, integrated code samples, debugging and automated testing.


• Readme: API Documentation Hosting.


• API Docs: Hosted public API documentation for OAS (Swagger) and RAML specs.


• Docbox: REST API documentation generator, using Markdown.


• widdershins: REST API documentation generator from OpenAPI 3.0 / Swagger 2.0 / AsyncAPI 1.x / Semoasa 0.1.0 definition

API Clients
Hosted

• JSON Generator: Generate and host mock JSON data.

Desktop

• Postman: Desktop API testing tool.


• Firecamp: API Studio for WebSocket, Rest API and GraphQL.


• HTTPie: Command line HTTP client.


• Paw: REST client for Mac.


• Insomnia: REST API client for Mac, Windows, and Linux.

API Debugging and Mocking
Hosted

• Beeceptor: An HTTP-proxy for rest APIs - inspect and build mock APIs.


• MockBin: Generate mock HTTP endpoints.


• httpbin: Templated responses for testing various scenarios for HTTP requests.

Desktop

• Postman: Desktop API client and mocking tool.


• Json-Server Full fake REST API with zero coding.


• Mockoon: Desktop API mocking tool.

API Design Guides

• Google API Design Guide


• PayPal API Style Guide


• Heroku Platform HTTP API Design Guide


• Haufe API Style Guide


• Microsoft REST API Guidelines


• 18F API Standards


• The RESTed NARWHL


• White House Web API Standards


• Zalando REST API Guidelines


• API Stylebook Design Guidelines


• API Stylebook Design Topics


• Adidas-group API Design Guide


• Azure API Design

API Publishing

• Mashape: API Marketplace.

API Gateways

• Ambassador API Gateway: Ambassador is a specialized control plane that translates Kubernetes annotations to Envoy configuration. All traffic is directly handled by the high-performance Envoy Proxy.


• AWS API Gateway: Traffic management, authorization and access control, monitoring, and API version management.


• APIAxle: Proxy that sits in front of your APIs.


• APIGrove: API manager built in Java on top of Fuse ESB.


• Apigee127: nodejs based API Gateway


• Pushpin: Proxy for both request/response or streaming (long poll) of responses


• Strongloop: nodejs based API Gateway


• Fusio: PHP based open source API management platform


• Camel: Empowers you to define routing and mediation rules in a variety of domain-specific languages, including a Java-based fluent API, Spring or Blueprint XML configuration files, and a Scala DSL.


• HAProxy: Reliable, high Performance TCP/HTTP load balancer.


• OpenResty: Fast web application server built on top of Nginx.


• Tengine: A distribution of Nginx with some advanced features.


• Tyk: Open-source, fast and scalable API gateway, portal and API management platform.


• Vulcand: Programmatic load balancer backed by Etcd.


• Zuul: An edge service that provides dynamic routing, monitoring, resiliency, security, and more.


• Kong: An open-source management layer for APIs, delivering high performance and reliability.


• Janus: A lightweight API Gateway written in Go by Hello Fresh.


• fabio: A fast, modern, zero-conf load balancing HTTP(S) router for deploying microservices managed by consul by eBay.


• Traefik: Træfik (pronounced like traffic) is a modern HTTP reverse proxy and load balancer written in Go.


• Oathkeeper: OIdentity & Access Proxy (IAP) that authorizes HTTP requests based on sets of rules. Integrates with ORY Hydra.

API Security

• Online OpenAPI/Swagger File Security Audit: Free online static analysis of API contract files. Upload the file and get the report.


• API Security checklist: Checklist of the most important security countermeasures when designing, testing, and releasing your API.


• Ory Hydra: OAuth2 server with OpenID Connect written in Go.


• Approov: Mobile App Attestation to ban API abuse by verifying the software that is accessing your API. User authentication is not enough!

API Monitoring

• Runscope: API Performance Monitoring.


• Ping-API: Automated API Testing.

API Testing

• Assertible: Continuously test and monitor your APIs after deployments and across environments.


• Pyresttest: YAML based REST testing and API microbenchmarking tool


• OWASP Zaproxy: A tool to test your API for known security vulnerabilities, with a great CI integration.

API Developer Portal

• Tyk: API Developer Portal on top of API gateway, make your API gateway easier to be used by developers.


• APIMATIC: Instantly build an API Portal with SDKs, Live Code Samples, Test Cases, API Transformation and language specific Docs & Reference - tailored for your API.

JSON Format Standards

• HAL


• JSONAPI


• JSON Schema


• Hydra


• Ion


• JSON-LD

Learning Resources

• REST in Practice


• Roy Fielding's dissertation on REST


• Best Practices for Designing a Pragmatic RESTful API


• How to Design a REST API


• Automated API Development


• Nordic APIs


• Undisturbed REST


• Build APIs You Won't Hate


• Irresistible APIs


• How to build an API


• API University


• RESTful Web Services


• RESTful Web APIs


• The Ten Essentials for Good API Documentation


• APIsecurity.io weekly newsletter

Blogs

• API Evangelist

References

• HTTP Status Codes Reference

Contributing

Pull Requests are most welcome!

Please write a brief one-sentence summary when adding a new resource.

Thanks

api-development-tools © 2016+, Yos Riady. Released under the MIT License.
Authored and maintained by Yos Riady with help from contributors (list).

yos.io  · 
GitHub @yosriady