Chapter 11. OpenAPI (Swagger) Specification
The OpenAPI specification, most notably known by it’s former name Swagger, is a JSON schema that can be used to construct a JSON or YAML definition of a set of restful APIs. OpenAPI itself is language agnostic, meaning the underlying APIs can be constructed in any language with any tool or framework the developer would like. The sole concern of an OpenAPI document is to describe the inputs and outputs, among other things, of API endpoints. In this respect, an OpenAPI document acts as a documentation tool allowing developers to easily describe their public APIs in a format that is widely known, understood, and supported.
The OpenAPI document, however, is not just limited to being documentation. Many tools have been developed that are capable of using an OpenAPI document to auto-generate client projects, server stubs, an API explorer UI for visually inspecting the OpenAPI document, and even server generators. Developers can find such tools...