| name | launch-api-product |
| description | Complete workflow for designing, building, documenting, and monetizing an API product. Covers API-first design, implementation, developer portal creation, SDK generation, pricing strategy, and building a developer ecosystem around your API.
Use when the user wants to launch api product or needs a structured multi-step process for this goal.
Do NOT use when the request is a single-step task or requires professional advice beyond educational guidance. |
| license | Apache-2.0 |
| type | workflow |
| skills | api-designer rest-api-design auth-engineer rate-limiter api-documenter developer-portal-builder tutorial-writer pricing-strategist cicd-architect monitoring-engineer security-auditor community-led-growth |
| trigger_phrases | I want to build an API product I want to launch a developer API How do I monetize my API I need to build a developer portal |
| metadata | {"author":"foundry-skills","version":"1.0.0","tags":"documentation step-by-step planning","category":"software-project","depends":"api-designer rest-api-design auth-engineer rate-limiter api-documenter developer-portal-builder tutorial-writer pricing-strategist cicd-architect monitoring-engineer security-auditor community-led-growth","disclaimer":"none","difficulty":"advanced"} |
Launch Api Product
Estimated time: 6-12 weeks
An API product is more than an endpoint -- it is a developer experience. The most successful API products (Stripe, Twilio, SendGrid) win not because of superior technology alone, but because they make developers productive in minutes. This workflow takes you from API-first design through a polished developer portal with SDKs, interactive documentation, usage-based pricing, and a growing developer community.
The workflow follows the sequence that matters: design the API contract first (before writing code), build and secure the implementation, create world-class documentation and a developer portal, define your pricing and monetization, and then build the developer ecosystem.
When to Use
- User wants to launch api product
- User needs a structured, step-by-step process for launch api product
- User wants to build an API product
- User wants to launch a developer API
- How do I monetize my API
- Do NOT use when: the request is outside the scope of launch api product or requires professional advice beyond educational guidance
- Do NOT use for single-step tasks that one atomic skill can handle independently
Prerequisites
Before starting this workflow, ensure:
- A clear value proposition for the API (what problem it solves for developers)
- Backend engineering capability (team or individual)
- Domain expertise in the problem space
- Hosting infrastructure (cloud provider account)
- Budget for developer portal hosting and tooling
Steps
Step 1: Design the API Contract (uses: api-designer)
design your API contract before writing any implementation code. Follow API-first design: define resources, endpoints, request/response schemas, error formats, and pagination patterns in an OpenAPI specification. Use the API Versioning skill to establish your versioning strategy from day one (URL path versioning or header-based). Design for the developer: optimize for common use cases, provide sensible defaults, and follow the principle of least surprise.
- Input: Problem domain and target developer audience, Core operations the API needs to support, Data models and entity relationships
- Output: OpenAPI 3.1 specification (complete), Resource model documentation, Error code catalog with descriptions and resolution steps
- Key focus: Use the API Designer skill to design your API contract before writing any implementation code
Step 2: Build Authentication and Authorization (uses: auth-engineer)
implement API key management and OAuth 2.0 flows. Design the key lifecycle: creation, rotation, revocation, and scoping. Use the Rate Limiter skill to implement tiered rate limiting that aligns with your pricing tiers. Return standard rate limit headers (X-RateLimit-Limit, X-RateLimit-Remaining, X-RateLimit-Reset) so developers can build responsibly.
