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OpenAPI Initiative

Feb 23
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OAI Update – new members, OpenAPI Spec 3.0 progress, and more!

By Blog

Here comes a quick update on the ongoings within the OAI:

New Members

There is an ongoing interest in joining the OAI and we are thrilled to welcome two new members to the group:

  • Apiary: creators of API design and collaboration tools that recently announced support for Swagger / OpenAPI Spec.
  • Atlassian: the people behind JIRA, Confluence, HipChat, Bamboo, etc.

If your organisation is interested in joining the OAI to support the evolution and proliferation of the OpenAPI Specification then please have a look at https://openapis.org/join for details on how to do so.

Initial TDC Memberships and process finalized

The initial members of the Technical Developer Community driving the OpenAPI Specification have been decided on;

This list of contributors is maintained at on GitHub in line with the OAI charter.

The process for the evolution of the specification has been published by the TDC at https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification/blob/OpenAPI.next/DEVELOPMENT.md

OpenAPI Spec 3.0 work progresses

Work on the next major iteration of the specification has started, and discussions on various features/improvements are in progress on corresponding issues at GitHub. If you’re interested in getting informed or involved here are a couple of links to point you in the right direction:

OAI represented at events

The OAI will be represented by our members at two upcoming OW2 events in Europe:

The OAI is currently evaluating it’s possibilities to participate in upcoming API-related events around the globe; if you’re organising an event where you would like the OAI to be represented or if you’re interested in organising a local OAI/OpenAPISpec meetup that the OAI can sponsor – please don’t hesitate to get in touch.

Other ongoing activities

  • We have assigned an internal workgroup to provide guidelines on usage of the OAI logo and mark – these will be published on our website.
  • The OpenAPI Specification now has a twitter account at https://twitter.com/openapispec – follow it to get notified of both OAI and OpenAPI-Spec related news.

That’s it for now – please don’t hestitate to get in touch with the TDC on GitHub if you’re interested in participating in the technical discussions around the OpenAPI Specification – or with the OAI members via our contact form if you have general inquiries – we look forward to hearing from you.

/Ole Lensmar
@olensmar

Feb 18
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Developer.aero adopts new Open API Definition Format via 3Scale Platform

By News

We are delighted to be associated with the latest global API standards initiative which is being driven by a new organization, the OAI (Open API Initiative). This non profit organisation is aiming to create a new, more formal description format for Web APIs, provisionally called OADF (Open API Description Format).

The Initiative is hoping to create an open technical community within which members can easily contribute to building a vendor neutral, portable and open specification, which will extend the existing Swagger specification, for providing metadata for RESTful APIs.

The Developer.aero platform, which currently uses the Swagger specification, will adopt the new OADF specification going forward, and will automatically keep up to date with the new versions.

[Read the full article on developer.aero]
Jan 09
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Next steps for the OAI – an exciting 2016 looms ahead!

By Blog

Amidst the general ongoing end-of-year activities, the OAI has been busy getting all the initial pieces into place for 2016. The meetings we’ve had within the group during last December have resulted in the following:

1. OADF renamed to “OpenAPI Specification”

The initially suggested name for the harbored specification was OADF (“Open API Definition Format”) – a name that seemingly begged to be replaced by something catchier; the members of the OAI have decided on “OpenAPI Specification” (abbreviated to “OAS”) to be the new name going forward.

2. Swagger Specification repository moved to the OAI on GitHub

The Swagger 2.0 specification repository has consequently been moved from its original location under the swagger-api organization on GitHub to the new OAI organization with the name “OpenAPI Specification” – https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification.

The specification itself has not been changed at this point to not break any existing tooling that works with Swagger 2.0 definitions. The next release of the OAS will deprecate any usage of the term “swagger” in the specification in favor of an OAS-specific term; the TDC will be responsible for the implementation of this transition.

The OAS will continue to be licensed under the Apache 2.0 License.

3. New OAI members 

The interest for joining the OAI after its initial launch has been overwhelming  – and we are happy to welcome the following companies to the group;

If you or your organization is interested in joining the OAI please don’t hesitate to get in touch with the OAI at https://openapis.org/join.

4. New OAI leadership is taking form

The OAI charter designates 3 entities that form its governing structure:

  1. The board of members which set the charter for the group as a whole and manages non technical tasks
  2. The Technical Developer Committee (TDC) that is responsible for the actual technical work on evolving the OAS
  3. The Technical Oversight Board (TOB) that resolves any conflicts in the TDC and makes sure that the TDC delivers in line with the OAIs core values.

The formation for the TDC and TOB is still in progress; as for now the following persons have been elected:

  • TDC members: <still in progress>
  • TOB members:
    • Elected by OAI members: Tony Tam, Ron Ratovsky, Jason Harmon
    • Elected by TDC members: <still in progress>
  • OAI Chairman: Ole Lensmar

Next Steps

As the OAI is starting to take shape we have the following on our agenda:

  • Finalize the TDC and TOB memberships
  • Start work on the next version of the OAS within the TDC
  • Decide on which non-technical activities the OAI can engage in to facilitate the further evolution of OAS and its adoption within the industry

I’m obviously very excited about what we have ahead of us – the industry momentum behind APIs isn’t showing any signs of slowing down and the need for a common language for API definitions is evident as businesses strive to maximize their usage of APIs to provide value to their end-users.

Happy New Year!

/Ole Lensmar

Jan 07
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Interview with Tony Tam on the Open API Initiative and Latest Swagger News

By News

After the Linux Foundation announced the formation of the Open API Initiative (OAI) in the beginning of November with an impressive list of founding members, API developers had questions about the role OAI would play driving consensus around standards.

Tony Tam, founder of the Swagger project, addressed some of these questions later in November at the API Strategy and Practice Conference in Austin, Texas. InfoQ met Tony at the conference to get in-depth answers to questions we felt our readers would want to ask.

InfoQ: Can you tell us more about your new role at SmartBear and why you recently decided to join them?

[Read the full artilce on InfoQ]
Nov 10
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Open Source Projects Further RESTful API-Based Development

By News

Open source projects are emerging to further software development practices based on RESTful APIs, which are becoming more instrumental in providing app back-end services and other functionality.

To establish standards and guidance for how REST APIs are described, SmartBear Software recently launched an open source project under governance of The Linux Foundation called the Open API Initiative(OAI). Meanwhile, other vendors are open sourcing their own homegrown API-based projects, as DreamFactory Software Inc. has done with its back-end for mobile, Web and Internet of Things (IoT) applications.

[Read full story at ADTMag]
Nov 05
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IBM collaborates with Yes Bank, Bian to promote the API economy

By News

IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced API Harmony an intelligent cloud-based API matchmaking technology for developers as part of a series of technology, product and services announcements to advance the growing API Economy.

API Harmony provides a unique developer experience, using cognitive technologies like machine learning and graph technology to anticipate what a developer will require to build new apps, make recommendations on which APIs to use, show API relationships, and identify what is missing.

The API Economy – a commercial exchange of business functions, capabilities, or competencies as services packaged in APIs – is the driving force behind much of the digital transformation across industries today, enabling business leaders to transform their organizations, build new ecosystems and monetize core assets, services and products. The API Economy is estimated to become a $2.2 Trillion market by 2018.1 According to IT Research and Advisory Firm Ovum, during the next two to three years, the number of enterprises having an API program is expected to increase by 150 percent.
[Read the full article at FinExtra.com]

Nov 05
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New Collaborative Project to Extend Swagger Specification for Building Connected Applications and Services

By News

SAN FRANCISCO, CA–(Marketwired – Nov 5, 2015) – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux and collaborative development, today is announcing the Open API Initiative. Founding members of the Open API Initiative include 3Scale, Apigee, Capital One, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, PayPal, Restlet and SmartBear.

The Initiative will extend the Swagger specification and format to create an open technical community within which members can easily contribute to building a vendor neutral, portable and open specification for providing metadata for RESTful APIs. This open specification will allow both humans and computers to discover and understand the capabilities of the respective services with a minimal amount of implementation logic. The Initiative will also promote and facilitate the adoption and use of an open API standard.

“Swagger is considered one of the most popular frameworks for building APIs. When an open source project reaches this level of maturity, it just can’t be managed by one company, organization or developer,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “The Open API Initiative will extend this technology to advance connected application development through open standards.”

[Read the full article on Reuters]
Nov 05
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SmartBear Launches Open API Initiative with Key Industry Leaders including Google, IBM and Microsoft

By News

New Initiative under The Linux Foundation to Create Open Approach to Governing the Evolution of Swagger Specification

SmartBear Software, the leader in software quality tools for the connected world, has launched the Open API Initiative (OAI) under The Linux Foundation with key industry leaders including Google, IBM and Microsoft. The goal of the OAI is to create an open approach to governing the continued evolution of the Swagger Specification used for describing RESTful APIs.

APIs form the connecting glue between modern applications. Nearly every application contains APIs to connect with corporate data sources, third party data services or other applications. Creating an open description format for API services that is vendor neutral, portable and open is critical to accelerating the vision of a truly connected world.

In organizing the OAI, SmartBear is donating the Swagger Specification to the foundation. Independently, SmartBear continues to invest heavily to foster the Swagger community, ecosystem and tooling built on top of the Swagger Specification. With over 350,000 downloads per month of Swagger and Swagger tooling, the Swagger Specification is the world’s most popular description format for defining RESTful APIs.

[Read the full article on Virtual Strategy Magazine]
Nov 05
Love0

New Collaborative Project to Extend Swagger Specification for Building Connected Applications and Services

By Announcement

The Linux Foundation will host new Open API Initiative with initial contributions from SmartBear and founding members 3Scale, Apigee, Capital One, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, PayPal and Restlet
SAN FRANCISCO, November 5, 2015 – The Linux Foundation, the nonprofit organization dedicated to accelerating the growth of Linux and collaborative development, today is announcing the Open API Initiative. Founding members of the Open API Initiative include 3Scale, Apigee, Capital One, Google, IBM, Intuit, Microsoft, PayPal, Restlet and SmartBear.

The Initiative will extend the Swagger specification and format to create an open technical community within which members can easily contribute to building a vendor neutral, portable and open specification for providing metadata for RESTful APIs. This open specification will allow both humans and computers to discover and understand the capabilities of the respective services with a minimal amount of implementation logic. The Initiative will also promote and facilitate the adoption and use of an open API standard.

“Swagger is considered one of the most popular frameworks for building APIs. When an open source project reaches this level of maturity, it just can’t be managed by one company, organization or developer,” said Jim Zemlin, executive director at The Linux Foundation. “The Open API Initiative will extend this technology to advance connected application development through open standards.”

Swagger was created in 2010 and offered under an open source license a year later. It is a description format used by developers in industries ranging from consumer electronics to energy, finance, healthcare, government, media and travel to design and deliver APIs that support a range of connected applications and services. With downloads of Swagger and Swagger tooling nearly tripling over the last year, it is considered the most popular open source framework for defining and creating RESTful APIs. SmartBear recently acquired the Swagger API open source project from Reverb Technologies and today is working with its industry peers to ensure the specification and format can be advanced for years to come.

The open governance model for the Open API Initiative includes a Technical Developer Committee (TDC) that will maintain and evolve the specification, as well as engage users for feedback to inform development.

The Open API Initiative is a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project, which are independently funded software projects that harness the power of collaborative development to fuel innovation across industries and ecosystems. By spreading the collaborative DNA of the largest collaborative software development project in history, The Linux Foundation provides the essential collaborative and organizational framework so project hosts can focus on innovation and results. Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects span the enterprise, mobile, embedded and life sciences markets and are backed by many of the largest names in technology. For more information about Linux Foundation Collaborative Projects, please visit: http://collabprojects.linuxfoundation.org/

Member Company Comments

3Scale
“We’ve been firm supporters of Swagger from early on and are excited about the formation of the Linux Foundation OAI and collaboration on the new API definition format,” said Steven Willmott, CEO, 3Scale Inc. “The new format will be a crucial element to the development of the emerging Web of APIs and we’re very much looking forward to contributing to its evolution.”

Apigee
“The API community has rallied around Swagger as the de facto standard for describing and sharing APIs. Independent, open governance under the Linux Foundation is the necessary next step. Apigee is proud to have been a founding member of the Swagger Working Group in 2014, and we are excited to team with our friends across the industry today in carrying on this important work,” said Ed Anuff, SVP Product Strategy, Apigee.

Capital One
“Open source is essential to our development process. It’s a powerful approach that lets people work together to build great solutions while realizing shared benefits,” said Rob Alexander, CIO, Capital One. “We believe that the Open API Initiative will enable the broader community of developers to contribute at unprecedented levels, allowing companies to design and deliver great experiences across industries.”

Google
“Google is committed to open specifications and promoting APIs as a fundamental building block of modern software. We are excited to join the Open API Initiative and to help usher in the next era in connected systems,” said Dan Ciruli, Product Manager, Google Cloud Platform.

IBM
“The open governance and ecosystem support behind the Open API Initiative will help advance common standards across industries,” said Marie Wieck, General Manager, IBM Middleware. “IBM is helping accelerate participation in the API economy and laying the foundation for cognitive business.”

Intuit
“Contributing to the Open API Initiative allows Intuit to help advance an important industry standard and build on years of API development investment,” said Thomas Barnes, Intuit Distinguished Architect. “We are looking forward to working with others in the industry on the initiative to shape the next generation of the specification.”

SmartBear
“Across industries, Swagger has gained incredible adoption for its expressiveness, comprehensive toolchain and vibrant community alike,” said Tony Tam, VP of Products, Swagger at SmartBear and founder of the Swagger open-source project. “Working with both API vendors and consumers, SmartBear sees the value in open governance around the specification which will allow for even more rapid growth and adoption across the API industry, and is honored to donate the Swagger Specification into the Open API Initiative under The Linux Foundation.”

PayPal
“The Open API Initiative will promote standards that will further simplify the integration experience for our developers, and we are pleased to be a part of this important work,” said Deepak Nadig, Head of API & Developer Platform Engineering at PayPal.

Restlet

“Restlet welcomes the creation of the Open API Initiative and looks forward to collaborating with the community on the critical topic of API metadata specifications,” said Jerome Louvel, Chief Geek (CTO) and Founder of Restlet. “It is time for the API community to unite around a common API language that will facilitate the integration between various API tools – open source and commercial. As a vendor, our goal is to simplify the life of API developers and advance API innovation on new fronts. Restlet is committed to supporting specifications from the Open API Initiative in both our open source API framework and our API cloud platform.”

For more information about the Open API Initiative, please visit: openapis.org

For more information on Swagger, visit: http://swagger.io/.

About The Linux Foundation

The Linux Foundation is a nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux and collaborative software development. Founded in 2000, the organization sponsors the work of Linux creator Linus Torvalds and promotes, protects and advances the Linux operating system and collaborative software development by marshaling the resources of its members and the open source community. The Linux Foundation provides a neutral forum for collaboration and education by hosting Collaborative Projects, Linux conferences including LinuxCon, and generating original research and content that advances the understanding of Linux and collaborative software development. More information can be found at www.linuxfoundation.org. 

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The Linux Foundation and Linux Standard Base are trademarks of The Linux Foundation. Linux is a trademark of Linus Torvalds.

Media Contact
Jennifer Cloer
The Linux Foundation
503-867-2304
Jennifer@Linuxfoundation.org

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