---
published: true
layout: post
title: Visualizing Your OpenAPI, API Requests, and Responses
tags:
  - Visualizations
  - OpenAPI
  - Graphs
  - Charts
image: >-
  https://kinlane-productions2.s3.amazonaws.com/algorotoscope-master/yellow-journalism-japanese-cherry-tree.jpeg
---
A question came in yesterday about being able to visualize a rather large OpenAPI that was an industry standard. Visualizing API requests and responses, but also the surface area of an API and API operations is a recurring need in the API space with very few solutions delivered over the years. Every time a question comes in from the API Evangelist it is a fresh opportunity to take a look at what is available to help visualize the API landscape. Seeing APIs is difficult so any tooling is helpful, with the following options currently available to work with.

- [**OpenAPI Map**](https://openapi-map.apihandyman.io/) - The API Handyman produced the OpenAPI Map years ago and recently upgraded to 3.x.
- [**OpenAPI Doctor**](https://pb33f.io/doctor/?view=explore&node=root) - The Doctor from Heavy Beef Industries provides a nice way to quickly visualize your work.
- [**Todiagram**](https://todiagram.com/) - A new player that lets you visual JSON objects but also the responses from an API using a client.

OpenAPI Map and OpenAPI Doctor are centered on API operations, but the Todiagram introduced an introducing way to approach dynamically visually responses. Using the Postman Visualizer emerged as a promising front for this type of visualization, but sadly it seems to be just another buried feature of the platform that hasn't seen much more investment in standardizing visualizations from API responses. This post will be the first in a series of posts taking a fresh look at what else is out there to be used for visualizing API requests and responses, but also the surface area of the API using OpenAPI--if you know of anything interesting please share.