What Is API Service Composition?

This is another one of those topics I talk a lot about, but only found few examples of me talking about on the blog--API service composition. If you aren't familiar with the concept, it is the art of taking digital resources (aka APIs), and mix and match them in different ways, until you find the right approach to delivering APIs, that provides value for both provider and consumer.

API service composition is about taking the basic building blocks of any web API, the URL, path, and VERBS (ability to get, add, update, and delete), and put them into as many different configurations as you think makes sense. Limiting who can access, how much they use, restrict by time frame, and crafting different pricing for different users or groups, require trial periods, setup costs, and even restricting to specific countries. API service composition is all about taking your APIs, and if you are using modern API infrastructure like from 3Scale, you can compose any service you desire, serving it up to anyone, in a secure way, using the open Internet.

This is the magic of modern API-driven solutions, when an API can be any digital resource, from simple data and content, to media like images, audio, and video, all the way to an increasing number of devices like fitness trackers, thermostats in our homes, and even our cars. When you have all of these resources at your finger tips, and the ability to compose them into any possible package, to satisfy any group of consumers--you have unlimited potential.

This is why so many companies, organizations, institutions, and government agencies are jumping on the API train. When you do APIs right, you gain a new level of control over the increasing amount of digital resources that are dominating our lives. API service composition is the key to all of this, and is one of the parts of the journey I enjoy the most--composing meaningful API service that offer value to consumers, and have the potential to change how business, industries, and even government can work.