API Development Overview

Postman supports API-first development with the API Builder. You can design your API directly in Postman using the API Builder. Your specification can then act as the single source of truth for your API project.

You can connect various components of your API development and testing process to your schema, such as collections, documentation, tests, mocks, and monitors. You can version your APIs in Postman and connect elements to specific versions and releases. You can also sync your API in Postman with a remote Git repo.

High-level steps

The following are the high-level steps involved when creating and using APIs:

• Creating an API - Start a new API in Postman.
• Versioning APIs - Manage different versions and releases of your APIs, and connect a remote Git repo to sync your changes.
• Defining an API - Define your API by editing your schema, validating the schema and elements, and generating a collection.
• Developing an API - Add a mock server and documentation to your API.
• Generating server code - Generate server-side boilerplate code from your OpenAPI 3 specification, which you can run and extend to include your business logic.
• Testing an API - Add tests to your API, and use CI integration to build and automate testing.
• Deploying an API - Connect your API deployment service to have greater visibility within Postman.
• Observing an API - Add monitors to observe your API.
• Managing and sharing APIs - Share your API with other team members, add comments, view the changelog, and watch for changes.
• Viewing and analyzing APIs - Use reports to view statistics on how APIs are being used, developed, and improved by your team.

Navigating the API Builder

Open APIs from the left sidebar in Postman. You can open and edit any existing APIs from here, or create or import new APIs. Select a parent entry to open the API's Overview page, or select a child entry underneath to open an API version page.

The API Overview page displays high-level information about all versions of your API, and a list of each version of the API. The Overview page includes actions to create a new version of the API.

Select an API version to open its API version page. The version page contains an Overview tab, which shows a description of the API version, a list of each release of that version, and the associated documentation, environments, and mock servers. The API version page also has has tabs where you define the API schema, view documentation, add tests, view deployments, and monitor the API. This page also has controls to connect to and use an external Git repo.

There's a also right sidebar with several icons, depending on the current page open. For example, on the API version page, there are icons to view comments, generate boilerplate server code from your schema, and view the API's changelog. From the changelog, you can also view and create new releases.