API integration

A small team can offer rich functionality by standing on infrastructure that someone else builds and maintains. One integration can replace weeks of work and the ongoing upkeep that follows.

The cost is dependency. An integration ties you to the other provider's uptime, pricing and rate limits, and it holds credentials that must be kept safe. So an integration should earn its place. Decide for each need whether to integrate or build, rather than adding connections by default.

1. Read the documentation first. Read the provider's API reference before wiring anything, so you build to how the service really behaves.
2. Check the fit. Confirm that the action you need is exposed in the API, and note the pricing and rate limits.
3. Keep credentials safe. Store keys in environment settings or a password manager, never in code that gets published or in a chat. Give each key only the permissions it needs.
4. Plan for failure. Retry on errors and rate limits, and decide what happens to the data if the other service is down.
5. Prefer official connectors. Use a well-maintained official integration where it covers the need, and build custom only for the gap.
6. Review it regularly. Remove integrations nobody uses, because each one still carries a security surface.

An API integration connects your product to another service through its API, so that the two share data or trigger actions without anyone doing it by hand. Typical examples are pulling payments from Stripe, sending email through a provider, or syncing contacts to a CRM.

The point is to use a service that already solves the problem, instead of building it yourself. You send requests to the other service and act on what it returns. See API for how the requests work and integration for the wider practice of connecting tools.

• Integrating before reading the documentation, then discovering that the API behaves differently from the app's screen.
• Hard-coding keys in scripts or sharing them in chat.
• Assuming every call succeeds, with no handling for errors, retries or rate limits.
• Building a custom connection when an official one already exists.
• Leaving unused integrations active.