---
layout: post
title: The OpenAPI Toolbox And My API Definition Research
image: http://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api_evangelist_site/blog/open_api_toolbox_icons.png
atomdate: 2017-03-21 00:00:00+00:00
tags:
- OpenAPI
- Research
- Definitions
- Open
- Toolbox
---
[I have the latest edition of my API definition research published](http://definitions.apievangelist.com/guide/), complete with [a community-driven participation model](https://apievangelist.com/2017/03/20/a-community-strategy-for-my-api-definition-guide/), but before I moved on to my [design](http://design.apievangelist.com/), [deployment](http://deployment.apievangelist.com/), and [management](http://mangement.apievangelist.com/) guides, I wanted to take a moment and connect my [OpenAPI toolbox](http://openapi.toolbox.apievangelist.com/) to this research.

My API definition research encompasses any specification, schema, or authentication and access scope used as part of API operations, providing a pretty wide umbrella. I am always on the hunt for [specifications, schema, media types, generators, parsers, converters, as well as semantics and discovery solutions](http://definitions.apievangelist.com/tools/) that are defining the layers of the API space. 

This is one reason I have my [OpenAPI Toolbox](http://openapi.toolbox.apievangelist.com/), which helps focus my research into the fast-growing ecosystem developing around the [OpenAPI specification](https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification). I'm always looking for people who are doing anything interesting with the OpenAPI specification. When I find one I get to work crafting  a title, description, image, and project link so that I can add to [the OpenAPI Toolbox YAML file](https://github.com/kinlane/openapi-toolbox/blob/master/_data/tools.yaml), driving the toolbox website. If you are developing any open tooling that uses the OpenAPI specification [please let me know by submitting a Github issue for the toolbox, or if you are feeling brave...go ahead and add yourself and submit a pull request.](https://github.com/kinlane/openapi-toolbox)

My OpenAPI Toolbox is connected to my API definition research at the hip. The toolbox is just a sub-project for my wider API definition research. If you are doing anything interesting with API definitions, schema, or scope please let me know. I am happy to add to my API definition research. The best of the best from my [API definition research](http://definitions.apievangelist.com/) and the [OpenAPI Toolbox](http://openapi.toolbox.apievangelist.com/) will be included in my industry guide, receiving wider distribution than just my network of API Evangelist sites.