Bulk or File APIs

[sa]

Hello folks,

One of the use cases we are working on, or at least being asked for is sending files via APIs (which does not sound like an API to me), but maybe a data API that is more data driven than a functional API. The user wants to send files via APIs, there a long running back end process that parses the records in the file and creates another file for the user to download which they want to do via an API. Does this sound like an API use case at all? Any thoughts on how to deal with bulk APIs or file APIs like these?

Thanks.

[James Higginbotham]

Hi,

Have a look at the following articles that I wrote for Tyk regarding patterns for things like bulk data inserts, fetch, long-running transactions, and file upload support. It might help you get started on your journey:

https://tyk.io/blog/api-design-guidance-bulk-and-batch-import/

https://tyk.io/blog/api-design-guidance-long-running-background-jobs/

https://tyk.io/blog/api-design-guidance-file-upload/

FYI, these patterns are briefly discussed in my book as well: https://www.informit.com/store/principles-of-web-api-design-delivering-value-with-9780137355631

Best,

James

[sa]

Great, thanks!