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.
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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!
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