# Vendor facets — RapidAPI (Rapid, now the Nokia API Hub). A marketplace: a provider imports its
# OpenAPI, and the hub renders a listing with a web playground, docs, pricing plans and discussions on
# rapidapi.com, fronts the API with the Rapid Runtime gateway, and (new) serves every listing as MCP
# tools on mcp.rapidapi.com. Everything lives on RapidAPI's domain, so pointer checks can be declared
# but the MCP is a platform template, and a gateway base URL is the marketplace's surface, not the
# provider's. The RapidAPI for Mac client (ex-Paw) is in maintenance with no macOS 27 support.
vendor: rapidapi
name: RapidAPI
website: https://rapidapi.com
areas:
- api-collections
registry_keys: []
rubric_schema_version: 0.22.0
generated: '2026-09-25'
features_refreshed: '2026-09-25'
basis: capability
summary: >-
  A RapidAPI listing gives a provider a hosted playground, a pricing page and an MCP endpoint without
  building any of them, but all of it lives on rapidapi.com. The console and pricing pointers count once
  the provider declares the listing; the MCP server is one Nokia-hosted template across the whole hub
  and grades `platform` (0.25); and a provider that registers the *.rapidapi.com gateway as its base URL
  is registering a surface the marketplace operates. The contract is the OpenAPI the provider uploaded
  — RapidAPI does not create one — and the Mac client is no longer developed.
features:
- id: hub-listing
  name: Hub listing page
  description: >-
    Endpoints tab with a web-based API client and code snippets, About tab with ReadMe and docs, Tutorials,
    Discussions and a Pricing tab of subscription plans.
  source: https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/api-listing-overview
  tier: all
- id: openapi-import
  name: OpenAPI import
  description: Providers create and update listings by uploading an OpenAPI document (JSON or YAML).
  source: https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/adding-and-updating-openapi-documents
  tier: all
- id: rapid-runtime
  name: Rapid Runtime gateway
  description: >-
    With the hosted runtime, consumer requests go to a rapidapi.com subdomain that forwards them to the
    provider's configured base URL.
  source: https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/gateway-configuration
  tier: all
- id: hub-mcp
  name: MCP for listed APIs (mcp.rapidapi.com)
  description: >-
    The hub generates one tool per REST endpoint and serves it from mcp.rapidapi.com; consumers authenticate
    with their x-rapidapi-key and subscription.
  source: https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/consume-apis-using-ai
  tier: all
- id: rapidapi-for-mac
  name: RapidAPI for Mac (formerly Paw)
  description: >-
    The native macOS client; Nokia's notice says macOS 27 and later will not be tested, certified or supported.
  source: https://paw.cloud/
  tier: unknown
maps:
- feature: hub-listing
  check: console_or_sandbox
  layer: composite
  provider_must: Declare the listing's Endpoints page as Console or Playground in apis.yml.
  note: >-
    A real console, but the caller needs a RapidAPI account and a plan subscription first, and it calls
    through the marketplace gateway.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.089
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 3
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.332
- feature: hub-listing
  check: pricing_link
  layer: composite
  provider_must: Declare the listing's Pricing tab as Pricing in apis.yml.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.224
  facet: access_clarity
  points: 4
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.47
- feature: hub-listing
  check: plans_present
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider's plans artifact is harvested from the listing's Pricing tab; the check reads
    the plans artifact, not the link.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.172
  facet: access_clarity
  points: 8
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.44
- feature: hub-listing
  check: sign_up_present
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if RapidAPI is the provider's actual access channel; the hub's sign-up is RapidAPI's, and a provider
    with its own keys and sign-up should declare that one.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.19
  facet: access_clarity
  points: 5
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.463
- feature: hub-listing
  check: documentation_present
  layer: composite
  conditional: true
  condition: >-
    Only if the provider writes the About-tab ReadMe and docs; an endpoint list rendered from the uploaded
    OpenAPI is not documentation the provider wrote.
  catalog_pass_rate: 0.453
  facet: developer_ergonomics
  points: 4
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.95
  saturated: true
  saturated_note: >-
    95% of providers with a contract, docs and a reference already earn this; the vendor cannot move it
    for most of its buyers.
- feature: hub-mcp
  check: mcp_server
  layer: agent_readiness
  grade: platform
  note: >-
    One Nokia-hosted template on the marketplace's domain serves every listing; 0.22.0 grades that `platform`
    (0.25). The provider neither runs nor authors it.
  points: 12
  baseline_pass_rate: 0.22
earns_nothing:
- feature: openapi-import
  check: contract_present
  why: >-
    The listing consumes the provider's OpenAPI; RapidAPI does not create a contract the provider lacked.
- feature: rapid-runtime
  check: contract_self_operated
  why: >-
    A *.rapidapi.com gateway URL is a surface the marketplace operates; registering it as the API's base
    URL describes RapidAPI's proxy, not the provider's own operated API.
- feature: rapidapi-for-mac
  check: postman_present
  why: A local client (now in maintenance) publishes nothing a provider's pointers can declare.
out_of_reach:
  checks:
  - llms_txt_published
  - agent_skill_present
  - sdk_count_1
  - cli_present
  - well_known_published
  - apis_json_self_hosted
  note: >-
    Nothing on the fetched pages writes an llms.txt, Agent Skill, SDK, provider CLI or .well-known document,
    and a hub listing is by definition not self-hosted.
unscored_practice:
- feature: hub-listing
  why: >-
    Marketplace discussions and provider tutorials on the listing are real consumer surfaces; support_channel
    reads them only if the provider declares the Discussions page.
surface:
  developer_ergonomics:
    reachable: 7.0
    total: 42
  access_clarity:
    reachable: 17.0
    total: 38
  agent_readiness:
    reachable: 3.0
    total: 139
hard_rule: >-
  A model, not a score. Adopting this vendor changes a provider's Kin Score only when the provider publishes
  the resulting artifacts on its own surface; nothing here writes a score, and no sponsorship or partnership
  can.
method: searched
source:
- https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/adding-and-updating-openapi-documents
- https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/api-listing-overview
- https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/consume-apis-using-ai
- https://docs.rapidapi.com/docs/gateway-configuration
- https://paw.cloud/
measured:
  cohort:
    method: vendors-catalog.json detections (CNAME / header / URL shape / markup), never a name match
    detected: 0
    in_baseline: 0
  control:
    basis: providers earning contract_present + documentation_present + api_reference_present, minus the
      cohort
    n: 5216
  metric: >-
    cohort_pct / control_pct = mean share of the check's points earned (derived and platform credit weighted),
    x100
  measured_on: '2026-09-25'
  status: 'not measurable: 0 detected customers clear the baseline (need 20)'
simulation:
  simulated_on: '2026-09-25'
  rubric: 0.23.0
  population: providers publishing a contract (contract_present earned), replayable exactly
  providers: 8977
  providers_unreplayable: 987
  providers_moved: 8545
  conditional_rows: excluded (they depend on what the API already does)
  composite_lift:
    median: 2.1
    p75: 3.5
    p90: 3.6
    max: 3.6
    mean_among_movers: 2.5
  agent_readiness_lift:
    median: 2.1
    p75: 2.2
    p90: 2.2
    max: 2.6
    mean_among_movers: 2.2
  facet_lift_median_among_movers:
    developer_ergonomics: 7.1
    access_clarity: 10.5
  composite_band_moves:
    thin -> developing: 945
    developing -> strong: 299
    emerging -> thin: 223
    strong -> exemplar: 67
    minimal -> emerging: 1
  agent_readiness_band_moves:
    agent-aware -> agent-ready: 639
    agent-ready -> agent-native: 68
  method: >-
    each provider's own kin/checks file, the vendor's maps at their stated credit, the scorer's composite
    formula; from -> to, nothing written