Unlock RAML’s benefits with the best API design and management platform

RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML ) makes it easy to manage the API lifecycle from design to deployment to sharing. It's concise and reusable; you only have to write what you need to define and you can use it again and again. Uniquely among API specs, it was developed to model an API, not just document it. To make that happen, RAML comes with tools including a RAML/API Designer, an API Console and the API Notebook, which allows developers to interact with your API. You can therefore model and test your API to make sure that it will be robust, easy to use, and long-lived. And RAML is both machine and human readable; it’s written in the YAML format, making it easy to read and easy to edit with any kind of technical background.

Great Tools to Design RAML-based APIs

We believe that RAML is a powerful language as a contract for APIs. RAML allows teams to define, build and collaborate on APIs rapidly and with great ease. Anypoint Platform for APIs is built to easily manage RAML-based APIs; our API management tools are designed to make API management simple. With API Manager, you can manage users, traffic and SLAs as well as make your APIs secure with just a few simple steps. In addition, Mule can help you connect to any backend service or data source as an API gateway. Our API management tools will help you you take advantage of all the benefits RAML provides.

And we are now offering one more tool to help you use RAML to design, build, and share APIs that your teams will love and will be used again and again. API Workbench is a full-featured integrated development environment (IDE) as a free service to the RAML community. It aligns with RAML’s design principles to make it as simple as possible to write and read APIs, and to promote reusability and consistency. It offers robust capabilities to developers building RESTful APIs that foster a design-first approach.

The Secret to a Great API - A Great API Spec

When you’re designing an API, it’s important to think about how to build your API for the long-term and make sure there aren’t bad design elements like glitches or inconsistencies and generally bad design early on. Selecting an API spec can save you months and even years of extra design and build time. RAML  is recommended as a good spec building tool as it offers the most support for Spec-Driven Development, and it also allows you incorporate API design best practices, enables you to reuse code, and lets you take advantage of design patterns to ensure consistency in your API.

For more about information about RAML, particularly in comparison to other API specs, as well as best practices for designing APIs, take a look at the book Undisturbed REST: A Guide to Designing the Perfect API.