api-catalog: A well-known URI to help discovery of APIs

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Table of Contents

3. Associated Media type: the api-catalog linkset

A request to the api-catalog well-known URI is expected to return a set of one or more links, each labelled with a link relation to allow machines and humans to decide if, and understand why, to follow them. The api-catalog is recommended to consist of:¶

• link(s) to the API gateway(s), or portal(s), of the Web Host, that present a public Web page with details of APIs offered, documentation, Ts & Cs etc.¶
• links to each API offered by the Web Host. Ideally each of these links will be to an API bookmark, which, if followed, will provide further links with information on API endpoints, operations, versions, documentation etc.¶

[RFC9264] defines the application/linkset+json JSON document format for link sets, and is used for the following example:¶

{ "linkset":
  [
        { "anchor": "https://example.com/",
          "api-portal": [
                {"href": "https://developer.example.com/my_portal"}
          ]
        },
        { "anchor": "https://example.com/,
          "https://example.com/relations/api1" : [
                {"href": "https://developer.example.com/apis/api1"}
          ]
        },
        { "anchor": "https://example.com/,
          "https://example.com/relations/api2" : [
                {"href": "https://developer.example.com/apis/api2"}
          ]
        },
        { "anchor": "https://example.com/,
          "https://some_standards_org.example.com/relations/some_api" : [
                {"href": "https://developer.example.com/apis/api3"}
          ]
        },
  ]
}

4. Link relations

(Editor's note: TODO. Suggested are: "api-catalog", and also "api-portal" because it seems likely many implementers will have such a portal, hence it makes sense to make that common. The APIs themselves are less likely to be common across implementers and should use extensible link relations, providing a URI to their definition. This also applies if the API being linked to is based on a standard, in which case the standard body in question should declare the URI for the extensible link relation definition, e.g. https://some_standards_org.example.com/relations/some_api , and this can be used by all implementing hosts of that API)¶

6. IANA Considerations

7. Security Considerations

TBD¶

Acknowledgements

TODO¶

Author's Address