---
layout: default
section: Guidance
title: Technology of APIs
summary: How we design, define, build, deploy, secure, and operate the connective tissue of the modern internet.
nav: Guidance
sub: Technology of APIs
---

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      <!-- HTTP & Protocols -->
      <h5 class="fw-semibold text-muted mb-3 mt-2 pb-1 border-bottom">HTTP &amp; Protocols</h5>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/http-1-1/" class="text-decoration-none">HTTP 1.1</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">The foundational version of HTTP that powers REST APIs.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/http-2/" class="text-decoration-none">HTTP/2</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Multiplexed connections and server push for faster API communication.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/http-3/" class="text-decoration-none">HTTP/3</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">QUIC-based HTTP for low-latency API delivery.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/rest/" class="text-decoration-none">REST</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Representational state transfer as the dominant HTTP API architectural style.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/graphql/" class="text-decoration-none">GraphQL</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">A query language and runtime for flexible API data fetching.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/grpc/" class="text-decoration-none">gRPC</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Google Remote Procedure Call as a high-performance binary API protocol.</p>
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      <!-- Specifications & Contracts -->
      <h5 class="fw-semibold text-muted mb-3 mt-2 pb-1 border-bottom">Specifications &amp; Contracts</h5>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/openapi/" class="text-decoration-none">OpenAPI</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">The machine-readable contract standard for HTTP APIs.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/asyncapi/" class="text-decoration-none">AsyncAPI</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">The specification standard for event-driven and messaging APIs.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/json-schema/" class="text-decoration-none">JSON Schema</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Vocabulary for annotating and validating JSON data structures.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/json-api/" class="text-decoration-none">JSON API</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">A specification for building APIs in JSON with resource relationships.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/json-ld/" class="text-decoration-none">JSON-LD</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Linked data format that brings semantic meaning to API payloads.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/spectral-rules/" class="text-decoration-none">Spectral Rules</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Linting rules for enforcing API design standards via Spectral.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/vacuum-rules/" class="text-decoration-none">Vacuum Rules</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">High-performance OpenAPI linting rules via the Vacuum engine.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/semantic-versioning/" class="text-decoration-none">Semantic Versioning</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">A versioning convention communicating the scope of API changes.</p>
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      <!-- Design Patterns -->
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/hypermedia/" class="text-decoration-none">Hypermedia</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">API design that embeds navigational links in responses.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/webhooks/" class="text-decoration-none">Webhooks</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">HTTP callbacks that push events from producer to consumer.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/event-destinations/" class="text-decoration-none">Event Destinations</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Configurable targets for routing API events to downstream systems.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/event-driven/" class="text-decoration-none">Event-Driven</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Architecture where APIs communicate through asynchronous event streams.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/microservices/" class="text-decoration-none">Microservices</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Architectural pattern of small independently deployable API services.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/serverless/" class="text-decoration-none">Serverless</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Function-as-a-service compute that powers on-demand API execution.</p>
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      <!-- Developer Tooling -->
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/documentation/" class="text-decoration-none">Documentation</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Human-readable reference material generated from API definitions.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/mocking/" class="text-decoration-none">Mocking</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Simulating API responses before the backend is built.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/testing/" class="text-decoration-none">Testing</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Verifying API behavior against the contract and expected outcomes.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/clients/" class="text-decoration-none">Clients</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Tools and libraries consumers use to call and interact with APIs.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/sdks/" class="text-decoration-none">SDKs</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Generated language-native libraries that wrap API operations.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/git/" class="text-decoration-none">Git</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Version control as the source of truth for API definitions and code.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/ci-cd/" class="text-decoration-none">CI/CD</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Continuous integration and delivery pipelines for automating API lifecycle stages.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/ide/" class="text-decoration-none">IDE</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Integrated development environments with API tooling and governance inline.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/copilots/" class="text-decoration-none">Copilots</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">AI coding assistants integrated into the API development workflow.</p>
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      <!-- Security & Auth -->
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/security/" class="text-decoration-none">Security</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Protecting APIs from unauthorized access, abuse, and vulnerabilities.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/authentication/" class="text-decoration-none">Authentication</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Verifying the identity of API consumers before granting access.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/keys/" class="text-decoration-none">Keys</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">API keys as the simplest token-based mechanism for authenticating requests.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/oauth/" class="text-decoration-none">OAuth</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">The delegation framework for granting third-party API access.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/jwt/" class="text-decoration-none">JWT</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Compact signed tokens for conveying API identity and claims.</p>
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      <!-- Distribution & Operations -->
      <h5 class="fw-semibold text-muted mb-3 mt-2 pb-1 border-bottom">Distribution &amp; Operations</h5>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/gateways/" class="text-decoration-none">Gateways</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Proxies that manage routing, authentication, rate-limiting, and observability for APIs.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/discovery/" class="text-decoration-none">Discovery</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Finding and cataloging APIs across an organization or the web.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/observability/" class="text-decoration-none">Observability</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Logs, metrics, and traces that reveal API runtime behavior.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/traceability/" class="text-decoration-none">Traceability</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Distributed tracing that follows a request across API service boundaries.</p>
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      <!-- AI & Agents -->
      <h5 class="fw-semibold text-muted mb-3 mt-2 pb-1 border-bottom">AI &amp; Agents</h5>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/mcp/" class="text-decoration-none">MCP</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Model Context Protocol enabling AI agents to call tools and APIs.</p>
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              <h2 class="fs-6 mb-1"><a href="https://guidance.apievangelist.com/store/agent-skills/" class="text-decoration-none">Agent Skills</a></h2>
              <p class="text-muted small mb-0">Packaged capability units that AI agents load to execute API operations.</p>
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