API Governance

As your organization grows, you might move from one API to dozens or hundreds. Without Governance, this leads to chaos: inconsistent naming, varying security standards, and fragmented documentation.

API Governance is the set of rules, policies, and processes that ensure your APIs are consistent, compliant, and high-quality.

Why Governance Matters?

Consistency: /users/{id} in one API shouldn't be get_user_by_id in another. Consistent APIs are easier to learn.

Compliance: Ensuring all APIs meet GDPR, HIPAA, or internal security standards.

Reusability: Preventing Team A from building a "Payment Service" when Team B already built one.

Implementing Governance with Apidog

Apidog helps automate governance through Linting and Shared Components.

1. Style Guides (Linting)

You can define a style guide for your OpenAPI specifications. Apidog checks your design against these rules automatically.

Naming Conventions: Enforce constraints like camelCase for fields and kebab-case for URLs.

Documentation: Require descriptions for every endpoint and parameter.

Security: Ensure every public endpoint has an authentication scheme defined.

2. Standardization Review

Before an API moves from "Design" to "Implementation," it should pass a Design Review.

Stakeholders: Architects and Product Managers review the OAS.

Checklist: verifying that the API solves the business problem and follows the style guide.

Key Takeaways

Chaos Prevention: Governance prevents "API Sprawl" and technical debt.

Automated Linting: Use tools to enforce style guides; don't rely solely on manual code reviews.

Balance: Good governance guides developers; bad governance slows them down. Aim for "enabling constraints."

Continue with → API Security Best Practices

Why Governance Matters?#

Implementing Governance with Apidog#

1. Style Guides (Linting)#

2. Standardization Review#

Key Takeaways#

Why Governance Matters?

Implementing Governance with Apidog

1. Style Guides (Linting)

2. Standardization Review

Key Takeaways