What Are Asynchronous APIs?

Chapter 3. Becoming an Asynchronous Company

Earlier in this report, we learned the fundamentals of EVENTful architecture and introduced the AsyncAPI format. Now, in this last section of the report, we’ll dive into the habits and capabilities you’ll need in order to run a robust EVENTful API architecture at scale. We’ll take a closer look at “event-oriented” thinking, discover the tools that you’ll need, and look at the unique challenges of change in an EVENTful world.

To get started, let’s focus on what it takes to incorporate asynchronous APIs into an organization that already understands synchronous RESTful APIs.

Integrating Async APIs into Your Company

Unless you are starting a new company from scratch, there is a good chance that you are already working with RESTful APIs. Incorporating asynchronous APIs into an existing organization can be challenging. That’s because the EVENTful style can be jarring for people who are used to the mental model, tools, and operating models from the RESTful world.

To help with this transition, we’ve outlined a few key areas to tackle when you move from RESTful to EVENTful: event-oriented thinking, combining RESTful and EVENTful styles, and team enablement.

Pivoting to Event-Oriented Thinking

If your team is already building and running RESTful APIs, you’ll need to change the way you think about API design. That’s because event-oriented systems need a reactive mindset rather than an imperative one. In practice, this means that your teams will ...