A presentation given by Nolan DiMare Sullivan, Head of Developer Relations, Speakeasy, at our 2023 Platform Summit, October 17-18, 2023.

1. SDK-first: the new
API-first?
Nordic APIs - 18/10/2023

2. Nolan Di Mare Sullivan
Head of developer relations at Speakeasy,
working to bring a first-class DevEx to every
company’s API.
Previously led product for LiveRamp’s API
Platform.

3. Here’s a pattern…
- Company launches an API initiative
as part of a platformization effort
- Makes important parts of their API
available publicly
Initiative starts with excitement
Then you run into problems
- Adoption has been slower than
hoped
- Integration takes a long time:
months, quarters.
What’s going on??
- Company launches an API initiative as part
of a platformization effort
- Makes important parts of their API available
publicly
- Adoption has been slower than hoped
- Integration takes a long time: months,
quarters.

4. Now Imagine…
A restaurant with fantastic food that doesn’t have
a front door.
Instead, potential customers climb through the
front window…

5. Today: API Integrations =
entering through the window
Read API
Docs
1
Identify the
relevant
endpoints
2
Curl API in
sequence to
check it
works
3
Write auth &
networking
boilerplate
4
Write
production
API calls
5
Expand API
usage for
new use
cases
10
Add retries,
pagination &
rate limiting
9
Write code
for error
handling.
8
Test &
debug
7
Parse & use
Response
data
6

6. The Solution: Become
SDK-first

7. API Integrations via SDK =
A beautiful front door
Install the
Package
1
Copy & paste
relevant code
snippets
2
Adjust
snippet for
your use
case
3
Test &
debug
4
Expand to
new use
cases
5

8. Some Social Proof
While everyone was busy becoming API-first,
Stripe became SDK-first…

9. How SDKs Help API Users
1. Reduce users time to ‘200’
2. Remove room for error
3. Supercharge your
documentation

10. Faster Time to 200? Provide the Boilerplate
- SDKs handle the tedious aspects of building API integrations for
your users:
- Authentication
- Networking Client Code
- They can also handle the features that support enterprise use
cases:
- Retries
- Pagination
- Rate Limiting

11. Eliminate Errors? Type Safety
- Type safety is the single best
tool you can give to your users
- In IDE hints make life 10x
better
- You’ll prevent runtime
errors
- SDKs make Co-Pilot even more
powerful

12. Unhelpful Docs? Add Usage Snippets
- If you build it, they will come doesn’t work for API Docs
- There’s nothing more tedious than having to meander through
technical references to find relevant API Details.
- Usage snippets are great, developers love to copy & paste, then
adjust as needed.
- Fetch commands are fine, but usage Snippets are even more
powerful when they’re linked with an official SDK.

13. How SDKs Help API Builders
For Internal Developers, SDKs are a great
communication interface.
- Share types natively between
teams.
- Package relevant APIs into custom
team-dependent generations.
- Track exact versions of an API for
client and server at time of
deployment.

14. How to Build an SDK
Strategy

15. Consistent
Idempotent
Backward Compatible
Documented
Versioned
Secure
Stable
Generalizable
S
i
m
p
l
e
Start with an API Strategy
Idiomatic

16. Layer 1 SDKs (HTTP Client)
- HTTP clients are a great first step in
your SDK strategy:
- They alleviate the pain of
writing boilerplate code.
- They dramatically reduce
errors
- They enhance usage with
enterprise features
- They enrich your docs
Layer 2 SDKs (API Client)
- Level 2 SDKs add in business logic that
lives outside the API itself.
- You chain together API primitives into
methods that are tailored to a specific
use case
They’re called layer 2 because they sit
on top of your HTTP client.
- Don’t build this until you’ve found PMF
with your API.
Generate your SDKs!

17. Thank You!
Email: nolan@speakeasyapi.dev
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nolan-dm-sullivan-010/
Phone: +44 7795-371694
Meet me outside!

18. Resources
Why SDKs ?
- Ebook: Supercharge your API
adoption
- Speakeasy feature week
Speakeasy v OpenAPI Generator:
- Typescript
- Go
- Python