Authenticating.com API Experience Review
Bill Doerrfeld | May 10, 2020
I was recently tasked to audit the Developer Experience of the Authenticating.com APIs, a suite of low code APIs for developers to add trust and safety to their applications.
More Info: Developer Experience Reviews
My goal was to provide actionable insights to improve the DX and marketability of the service. The project culminated in a 14 page report and 1-1 consultation.
Overall, though I found developer experience hangups with Authenticating.com, the core service has strong market potential.
Certain API design incongruities were found while testing. Certain API calls didn't match documentation in practice. Error handling was inconsistent. No sandbox existed, no developer account dashboard was live, and doc design looked like a basic template. I also found endpoint naming inconsistencies, and other style issues.
My recommendations included standardizing API design and style elements, and improving documentation to be more explicit for more use cases and circumstances. I recommended adding an OpenAPI specification as a source of truth, and a sandbox for API testing.
As the API landscape grows, developer experience is becoming more of a top concern, especially for newcomers trying to get a foothold in the market. I really enjoyed this project and hope to do more developer experience reviews in the future!
Other Blog Posts
I'm working with Zuplo on some new content around their MCP Gateway release. First up: a deep comparison of MCP gateways on the market!
The constant barrage of AI layoffs is overshadowing the economic reasons behind these cuts, as well as the net-positive talent redistribution happening at large.
My latest for InfoWorld reviews MCP servers and agent-ready tools for connecting AI agents with popular database styles.
For my latest DirectorPlus edition, Joel Carusone from NinjaOne shares how engineering leaders can build the muscle for making tough calls.
My latest InfoWorld feature explores how Model Context Protocol (MCP) supports context engineering for AI-assisted coding.
My latest for Nordic APIs explores 10 API key security risks and what to use alongside keys for stronger API security.
The yearly API conference, apidays New York, is a hotbed for solid discussion on what's top of mind in the API space, and as MC I had a front row seat.
My latest for CIO Online features real results form CIOs actively deploying AI agents to empower sales and revenue teams.
Reports say consumers are souring on AI everywhere, all the time. So, at the risk of losing trust, or even potential business, is adding AI to an existing product really worth it?
Cloudflare rebuilt Next.js over a weekend using agentic coding.
