Agency API Guidelines
To start
- Have you gathered a list of the public APIs that your agency (and sub-agencies) currently publish?
- Do each of your APIs have an html homepage that provides access to all relevant resources for the APIs?
- If your agency has not yet made an API, get started by building your first.
- Have you created a developer hub?
- Do the URLs agency.gov/developer, agency.gov/developers, and agency.gov/api each direct visitors to this hub?
- Does the hub provide a path to the homepages for each of your agency’s APIs?
- Does the hub convey to visitors that they can expect to find your agency’s future APIs linked from this hub as well?
- Does the hub offer a front-facing feedback mechanism?
- Does the hub offer a link to your GitHub account?
- Does the hub offer a link to your agency’s data hub, maps hub, or other relevant sections?
- Do those sections offer a link to the developer hub?
- Does the hub offer a link to other agency developer hubs?
- For departments, does the hub offer links to your agencys’ developer hubs? For sub-cabinet agencies, does the hub offer a link to your department’s developer hub?
- Does the hub offer a link to all government GitHub accounts?
- Does the hub offer access to basic ‘What is an API?’ information?
- Does your hub provide a means of sharing announcements with developers?
- Does your agency have a public GitHub account?
- Has your agency made public a project in its GitHub account?
- Is your agency’s GitHub account available to the different units of your agency?
- Is your agency’s GitHub account registered with the Social Media Registry?
Next
- For your agency’s individual APIs:
- Have you made available sample code?
- Have you provided interactive documentation?
- Have you made available SDKs?
- If you employ API keys, have you ensured that the developer can receive a key on demand and without delay?
- For your agency’s developer hub:
- Have you unified the Terms of Service for your APIs?
- Have you made available an FAQ section along with a means for the public to request new questions?
- Have you made available an apps gallery to showcase mashups and applications that utilize your APIs?
- Have you made available a status dashboard for your APIs?
- Have you created a public data hub?
- Have you identified a data/API point person within your agency?
- Have you identified a data/API working group that covers the organization?
- For sub-cabinet agencies, have you ensured that your APIs are being shared on your department’s developer hub?
- Have you registered your API at third-party API catalogs, such as ProgrammableWeb.com and APIhub.com?
- Have you reviewed your agency’s most popular data and services for consideration as your next APIs?
- Have you reached out to projects currently in development in order to request that they integrate API production into their requirements?
Advanced
- Have you enabled an API for your website content?
- Have you developed an API-first strategy for upcoming projects?
- Have you developed a plan for systematically API-enabling your current systems and data?
- Have you assembled relevant stakeholders to collaborate on normalizing API documentation and design?
- If you have multiple API key solutions, have you set about normalizing them?
- Have you published a roadmap for your future API plans?
- Have you instituted a means of version control for your APIs?
- Have you created a means for your developers to engage with each other?
- Have you set up a means of allowing agency stakeholders to access the usage metrics of your APIs?
- Have you begun encouraging the different units of your agency to produce their first API if they haven’t already.
- Have you begun encouraging the different units of your agency to consume your agency’s own APIs if they haven’t already.
- Have you looked for opportunities to consume other agencies’ APIs to avoid maintaining duplicative services?
This page cross-posted from the 18F “API-All-the-X” pages