Inspiration
I wanted to make something that makes it easier to work with and develop APIs, both within Postman and within the scope of full-featured projects. More specifically, I wanted my project to directly empower people to develop better APIs by adding adding new ways to test API workflows, compare the efficiency of API calls, and chain API calls based on the data received from previous calls.
What it does
To accomplish these goals, I built the Chainmail API - which is fully documented in this workspace. Along with the OpenAPI documentation, this workspace is designed to provide ample freedom to explore and tailor the API calls to any project or API. To help users get started quickly, the workspace contains a collection of plug-and-play boilerplate templates, along with examples for each of the basic API calls. For inspiration in exploring the functionality that the workspace provides, I have also created a collection of sample use-cases with filled-in API calls to show a few potential scenarios in which this may be useful. I highly recommend starting in either the video demo or the OpenAPI documentation.
How I built it
The API itself is built using Express.js routes and is deployed as a microservice using Heroku. The rest of the workspace was built using the various features within Postman, such as OpenAPI, Collections, Environments, Monitors, and Mock Servers.
Challenges I ran into
I think the biggest challenge I ran into was the implementation and development of my own API. There was a good amount of time spent refactoring the API to make it as simple as possible. For instance, it was only after finishing over half of the project that I thought about the need for handling headers. Once that was built, I felt there was a steep learning curve for me with regard to the Mock Servers/Monitors as that is an area in which I do not often work.
Accomplishments that I'm proud of
This has been a passion project through and through, and I am proud of the API that I have built and the various use-cases to which I have applied it.
What I learned
I learned a ton about Postman and the helpful/creative features it puts into the hands of developers. Specifically, I learned about the Data Visualization tool, as well as the OpenAPI, Environments, and Mock Servers.
What's next for Chainmail
I am extremely excited to further develop my API. I think there are a number of features I would like to add, including the ability to work around HTTP timeouts for public API calls. I would also like to expand the exports functionality to broaden the scope of dynamic data. I appreciate the opportunity to create this for such a cool event!
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