Gravitee livestream: how to build a self-service API platform

Introduction

This tutorial will guide you through building a self-service API platform using Gravitee, a powerful API management tool. By following these steps, you'll learn how to enable seamless API access, develop an API-as-a-service program, and effectively create, expose, and publish APIs as products. This knowledge is essential for enhancing your platform engineering initiatives.

Step 1: Setting Up Gravitee

• Install Gravitee: Download and install Gravitee on your server or local machine. You can find installation instructions on the Gravitee documentation website.
• Start the Gravitee server: Use the command line to start the Gravitee server:

  ./bin/start
  

• Access the management UI: Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost:8083 to access the Gravitee management console.

Step 2: Creating an API

• Navigate to the API section: In the Gravitee management UI, find the section labeled "APIs."

• Click on 'Create API': Follow the prompts to set up a new API. You will need to provide:

  • API name
  • Context path (the base URL path for your API)
  • Versioning information

• Define the API endpoints: After creating the API, specify the various endpoints that your API will expose. This includes:

  • The HTTP methods (GET, POST, etc.)
  • The paths for each endpoint

• Add security settings: Configure security measures for your API, such as OAuth2, API key, or JWT authentication, to control access.

Step 3: Exposing the API

• Configure plans: Set up plans that define how users can interact with your API. You might want to create:
  • Free tier for testing
  • Paid tiers for production usage
• Set quotas and rate limits: To manage traffic and prevent abuse, define quotas (the number of API calls allowed) and rate limits (the frequency of calls).

Step 4: Publishing the API

• Go to the API Products section: Here, you can package your API into a product that users can subscribe to.
• Create a new API product: Provide a name and description for your product. Include the APIs that are part of this product.
• Publish the product: Once your product is configured, publish it to make it accessible to users. Ensure you test its functionality before going live.

Step 5: Enabling Self-Service Access

• Setup the Developer Portal: Gravitee provides a user-friendly Developer Portal for users to discover and access APIs.
• Customize the portal: Add documentation, tutorials, and guides to help developers understand how to use your APIs effectively.
• Allow user registrations: Enable developers to create accounts and manage their API subscriptions directly through the portal.

Conclusion

In this tutorial, you learned how to build a self-service API platform using Gravitee by setting up the environment, creating and exposing APIs, and enabling self-service access through a Developer Portal. Key steps included configuring security, defining usage plans, and publishing your APIs. For next steps, consider exploring advanced features of Gravitee, such as analytics and monitoring, to further enhance your API management strategy.