Optic documents and tests your API as you build it
How it Works •
Install •
Document APIs •
Detect Changes •
Optic GitBot •
Contributing
License
How it Works
Optic is like Git, but for your APIs
- Optic documents your APIs as you build them by observing development traffic and learning your API's behavior
- Optic detects API changes by diffing traffic against the current specification
- Optic Adds an accurate API changelog to every Pull Request
Add Optic to your API
Similar to git init
Install Optic with npm or yarn"
yarn add global @useoptic/cli
npm install @useoptic/cli -g
Then run init command:
## Navigate to your API project directory
api init
Setup aliases in for the commands your team runs when building the API in optic.yml
ie npm start
-> api start
ie newman run mycollection.json
-> postman-tests
name: My API
tasks:
start:
command: npm start
inboundUrl: http://localhost:4000
postman-tests:
command: newman run mycollection.json
usesTask: http://localhost:4000
How does Optic monitor local traffic? Whenever you start your API or run tests using Optic's CLI, it will observe your traffic and surface API diffs. All of this processing is done locally, in the background, by a Rust binary built from the open source code in this repository.
Document your API using real traffic
Similar to git add
Once you add Optic to your API, hit it with some traffic, and document your first endpoints.
You just have to provide Optic with your API paths, and it will document every status code, response body, and request body automatically based on its observations.
You don't have to worry about hitting every possible request/response your first go -- Optic isn't "one-shot", it builds your spec up incrementally as it makes more observations about your API's behavior. If it sees a 200
for an endpoint, and later sees a 400
for the same endpoint, it will help you add the new response -- same for fields, requests, entire endpoints and instances of polymorphism in your API.
api start
[optic] Starting My API API on Port: 3005, with npm run server-start
Detect API Changes
Similar to git status
You should keep using the Optic CLI to start your API and run its tests whenever you're developing new functionality. Optic strives to be completely transparent, and the aliases api start
and api run <task>
are easy to remember.
While Git diffs your, Optic will be sitting there, in the background, diffing your API. You can run api status
to check if for diffs:
Use the Optic UI to Review Diffs + Update your Specification
Similar to staging changes
When Optic detects an API diff, it helps you:
- Document new endpoints without writing a bunch of OpenAPI
- Update your API specification with a few clicks
- Detect any unplanned changes, breaks and regressions, then fix them
An API Changelog in Every PR
Similar to GitHub's compare page, but for API changes
The Optic GitBot adds an API Changelog during Code Review, so your team understands how the API will change when each PR is merged.
🚦 Prevent Breaking Changes
Discover breaking changes before they're merged. Request compatible changes in code review, or coordinate the breaking changes with consumers.
🔎 API First
Adding explicit API changelogs in PRs facilitates discussion and leads to better API design. It's also a great way to make sure unintended API changes don't get deployed.
✅ Updated Docs
No more doc drift. When you approve an API change Optic also updates the specification.
Install & Set up the GitBot it's free!
Key Features
📝 Accurate API Documentation - We built Optic to make maintaining accurate specs for your APIs automatic and developer friendly. Once you add Optic to your API repo, it automatically tracks your API’s behavior and maintains a changelog
⚙️ Automated Testing - Automate most of your contract testing. Optic turns your existing tests and development traffic into contract tests, and measures your API coverage from various sources.
👍 Beautiful Docs - Stripe-style documentation for every API managed by Optic.
👋 100% Open Source, Runs locally, data is only stored in your API Repo
Resources
Want to help us design the next features? Book Maintainer Office Hours
License
MIT
Contributors ✨
Thanks goes to these wonderful people (emoji key):
This project follows the all-contributors specification. Contributions of any kind welcome!