APIManagement

API management is a discipline that covers the design, publication, security, monitoring, and analysis of application programming interfaces (APIs) to enable controlled access for developers, partners, and internal teams. It encompasses the full API lifecycle from design and onboarding to versioning, retirement, and monetization where applicable.

Key components include an API gateway for traffic routing and policy enforcement, a policy engine for security and transformation, a developer portal for documentation and onboarding, analytics for usage and performance, and a lifecycle management layer for versioning and deprecation.

Capabilities commonly supported include authentication and authorization (such as OAuth 2.0 and JWT), rate limiting and quotas, access control and token management, traffic shaping, protocol translation, and data transformation. Governance features help catalog APIs, enforce standards, and manage ownership and approval workflows.

Architecturally, API management typically separates a management plane from a data plane. The management plane handles design, policy creation, cataloging, and analytics, while the data plane enforces policies at runtime via gateways. Deployments may be on premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid configurations.

Use cases include exposing internal microservices to external developers, enabling partner ecosystems, creating a self-service API marketplace, and enforcing security, compliance, and monitoring across API traffic.

Standards and interoperability rely on specifications such as OpenAPI, Swagger, OAuth 2.0, JWT, and REST, with support for additional protocols and transformation options.

API management can be delivered as a standalone product or a managed service, with common platforms offered by major cloud providers and vendors.