---
published: true
layout: post
title: >-
  API Evangelist Conversation with Lorna Mitchell, OpenAPI Specification
  Maintainer with the OpenAPI Initiative
tags:
  - OpenAPI
  - Extensions
  - Overlays
  - Experience
image: >-
  https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/api-evangelist-conversations/api-evangelist-conversations.jpg
---
[Lorna Mitchell, OpenAPI Specification Maintainer with the OpenAPI Initiative, and overall API experience expert came by again](https://conversations.apievangelist.com/sessions/2024-12-12-lorna-mitchell.html), this time to talk about the intersection of OpenAPI extensions and experience. I would say our conversation also intersects with the last conversation I had with her about OpenAPI overlays, but focuses on the need to extend the spec to meet the needs around specific experiences, which may or may not be better addressed with overlays. It is all a very fascinating and ever evolving aspect of the OpenAPI spec world, and I am thankful to have someone so close to the spec to talk through and learn from at the intersection of OpenAPI extensions, overlays, and API experience.

<center><iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/6EySYIfPn38?si=ZS6FjWWZWBTDHFX6" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe></center>

The intersection of OpenAPI, workflows, overlays, extensions, and experience will be the an important area of evolution of API services and tooling in coming years. This is where the alignment between the OpenAPI specification and the wider commercial service and open-source tooling vendors will happen. This is where we start getting better at dialing in the properties  of documentation, sandboxes, gateways, SDKs, security, and testing for both the API producer and consumer API experience. This is where we begin to stabilize the service and tooling ecosystem available to API producers and consumers, and getting more explicit with the technical details of our API contract.