API
Also known as: Application Programming Interface
Following adds this technology to your private workspace so related learning is easier to organise and revisit.
What is API?
An application programming interface is a defined contract through which software components request data or operations from one another. This profile connects the concept to KBY's practical engineering guidance.
An API specifies available operations, inputs, outputs, errors and authentication rules independently of its implementation. APIs may use HTTP, messaging, language-level calls or other transports, and good contracts manage compatibility, versioning, rate limits and failure behaviour explicitly.
Expose controlled software capabilities through a stable, documented interface.
- System-to-system integration
- Exposing application capabilities
- Microservices communication
Explore related technologies
6 resources for API
Browse by purpose, from definitions and learning through operations, diagnostics and controlled recovery.
Learn and operate with API
Ordered as a reader progression -- from core definitions through to operational reference -- using only the content already connected in the technology registry.
Systems Engineering(6)
Learn the architecture, concepts and engineering context.
- Designing a Verifiable Software Architecture Workflow with APIA bounded, evidence-led workflow for designing, validating and safely recovering an API-implemented software architecture, from contract-first layering to canary rollback. Open
- Designing a Failure-Aware API Architecture for Bounded SystemsHow to design, validate and recover one bounded API-mediated workflow using idempotency, circuit breakers, canary promotion and a verified rollback path. Open
- Engineering a Bounded API Workflow for Predictable ArchitectureA bounded, evidence-led API workflow design covering architecture, implementation, validation, failure modes, security boundaries and a reversible rollback path for an isolated validation environment. Open
- Diagnosing INP Regressions via the LoAF APILong Animation Frames API entries expose script attribution, style/layout cost and presentation delay hidden by the Long Tasks API's flat 50ms bucket. Open
- Speculation Rules API: Architecting Safe PrerenderingHow document rules, score-based heuristics and No-Vary-Search headers let the Speculation Rules API prerender navigations without wasting origin compute. Open
- Rust N-API Addons for High-Throughput Node.jsBuilding Rust N-API addons for a Node.js threat scanner: ABI stability across V8 versions, async task dispatch, and safe panic handling at the FFI boundary. Open