---
layout: post
title: Some Thoughts For The Coming Wave Of API Hubs, Garages, and Workbenches
image: https://s3.amazonaws.com/kinlane-productions2/api-evangelist-logos/api-evangelist-butterfly-vertical.png
author:
  name: kinlane
tags:
  - Hubs
---
I've been getting demos of some pretty interesting new work spaces meant for API architects, and designers. Examples of this are [API Garage](http://apigarage.com/), [RepreZen API Studio](http://www.reprezen.com/), and the recent [SwaggerHub](https://swaggerhub.com). These are just some of the API life-cycle solutions I'm seeing emerge recently, where companies are trying to provide API design, development, and deployment solutions in a single, tidy, work space.

Now that the API life-cycle has expanded beyond just API management, deployment, and design, into testing, monitoring, security, and beyond, I predict these types of API work-spaces that span multiple stops along the API life-cycle will become common place. To help prime the pump, and ensure there will be more viable products launched, I wanted to share a few thoughts on what these solution providers should consider as part of their offerings.

Here are some of my scribbles while drinking an IPA at my local bar:

*   **API Definitions -** Speak Swagger, API Blueprint, Postman Collections, and other common API definition formats, and allow for the importing and exporting of them at every step.
*   **Provide APIs -** Make sure you provide APIs to all the functionality available within the workspace -- paying the whole API thing forward.
*   **Consume APIs -** Make sure you allow the consumption of APIs, from within the interface, either as part of http client, or add-ons.
*   **Plug-in Framework -** Allow some sort of extensibility of the work space, allowing 3rd parties to augment the platform via plugins.
*   **Play Well With Others -** Please play nice with other service providers, all of this works because of interoperability, and I should be able to use the services I need via my work space.
*   **Search -** Provide a comprehensive search, allowing me to discovery across everything I do within a work space, via a comprehensive history
*   **Notebook -** Give me a notebook for storing my work, draft APIs, and other items I gather through my work, allowing me to come back and re-use work from the past.
*   **Use Github -** Make sure Github is a first class citizen within the workspace, allowing me to import, and publish all my work to Github -- think orchestration, not just import and publish.
*   **Non-Developer Friendly** \- Make sure tht the work space isn't just for developers, and anyone can come in and participate throughout the API life-cycle.
*   **Provide a HTTP Client -** Make sure there is a built-in, or embeddable HTTP client, so get building one, partner with existing, or acquire one you like.

These are just a few of my thoughts as I received a demo of one API work space, and was reading about a couple of other new products. After scribbling these thoughts, I sat back, drank a another pint of IPA, and contemplated the role of these types of work spaces in the future of the API industry. I predict there will be a wave of these API work spaces emerge in coming months, providing their own take on exactly what the API life-cycle looks like, and want to help developers standardize and be successful.

I am looking forward to playing with all the new work space, and hoping there will be at least one to emerge that suits my unique needs as the API Evangelist. I will need all of the elements listed above, or I probably won't be working in there full-time.