Api Design (2026)

If you want to become really good at API Design, I'd recommend following people who understand not just how to build APIs, but how to make them intuitive, scalable, consistent, and pleasant for developers to use.

Here are the people I'd put on your reading and following list.

10 people worth following

1. Mike Amundsen

Top recommendation

Focus: API architecture, REST, API-first design, hypermedia.

Author of Design and Build Great APIs. Excellent for understanding API design as a discipline.

Follow: LinkedIn, blog, conference talks

2. Erik Wilde

Focus: API standards, OpenAPI, API lifecycle, enterprise API design.

Great for understanding how to design APIs consistently across organizations.

3. Arnaud Lauret

Focus: REST API design, naming, resource modeling, API design principles.

Particularly good at explaining practical API design decisions.

4. Kin Lane

Focus: API strategy, API ecosystems, API-first thinking.

Useful for understanding the business and strategic side of APIs.

5. Jason Harmon

Focus: API design reviews, governance, modeling, developer experience.

Especially useful for learning how teams design APIs collaboratively.

6. Phil Sturgeon

Focus: REST API design, JSON:API, practical API architecture.

Good for learning what makes an API predictable and developer-friendly.

7. Tom Johnson

Focus: API documentation, developer experience, technical communication.

Great APIs need great documentation. He's worth following for that perspective.

8. Ljubica Lazarevic

Focus: Design-first APIs, developer experience, API adoption.

9. Matthias Biehl

Focus: API product thinking, REST, API lifecycle, API strategy.

Excellent for understanding APIs as products rather than just endpoints.

10. Emmanuel Paraskakis

Focus: API product management, developer experience, API strategy and AI-ready APIs.

Organizations and resources to follow

These are just as valuable as individual experts:

Resource	What you'll learn
Nordic APIs	API architecture, design and strategy
API Evangelist	API-first thinking and ecosystem trends
OpenAPI Initiative	API specifications and standards
Stoplight	Design-first workflows and API governance
Postman	API development, testing and collaboration

A few useful starting points:

• API Design Matters – David Biesack
• API Intersection Podcast
• apiMasters – expert-led API learning

My recommended learning sequence

If I were building expertise in API design, I'd learn in this order:

1. Fundamentals: REST, HTTP, resources, methods, status codes.
2. API modeling: Resource naming, relationships, pagination, filtering, errors.
3. API contracts: OpenAPI, JSON Schema, API-first design.
4. Advanced design: Versioning, backward compatibility, idempotency, security.
5. Developer experience: Documentation, onboarding, consistency, usability.
6. API architecture: Microservices, domain-driven design, event-driven APIs.

One question to tailor the recommendations

What is your primary goal with API Design?

• A. Become a better backend engineer who designs great REST APIs.
• B. Become an API Architect who designs enterprise-scale APIs.
• C. Become an API Product Manager focused on developer experience.
• D. Become an expert in API standards, OpenAPI, GraphQL and API governance.
• E. Learn API design from scratch and eventually become an expert.

I can build you a curated list of people to follow on LinkedIn, YouTube, blogs, and X based on your goal.

Learning API design requires looking at a mix of architecture, developer experience (DX), and product strategy. To master the craft, following the industry's leading practitioners, authors, and consultants is one of the best ways to stay ahead of best practices.

The top experts, thought leaders, and authors to follow to level up your API design skills include:

1. Top API Design Experts & Thought Leaders

• Arnaud Lauret (The "API Handyman")

• Who he is: An independent API consultant and author widely recognized for his pragmatic, user-centric approach to API design.

• What to look for: His deep insights into API style guides, consistency, and treating APIs as products rather than just code endpoints.

• James Higginbotham

• Who he is: Executive API consultant, founder of LaunchAny, and author. Making API decisions: are you connecting business and technical

• What to look for: He focuses heavily on bridging business strategy with technical API architecture, API-first methodologies, and lifecycle management.

• Mike Amundsen

• Who he is: A globally recognized expert on microservices, web architecture, and APIs. He has worked closely with major standards and enterprises.

• What to look for: His architectural essays and deep dives into hypermedia, decoupled systems, and evolution patterns for distributed applications.

• Kin Lane (The "API Evangelist")

• Who he is: A pioneer in tracking the API economy, governance, and the broader tech landscape.

• What to look for: His research, newsletters, and analysis on how companies build, secure, and govern massive API ecosystems.

• Phil Sturgeon

• Who he is: An API design consultant, standards advocate (creator of APIs.guru contributors and OpenAPI tooling fan), and fierce proponent of API craftsmanship.

• What to look for: Pragmatic rants and practical advice on error handling, pagination, versioning, and tooling best practices.

2. Essential Books Written by Industry Leaders

Following these experts naturally leads to their foundational books, which serve as the "bibles" of modern API design:

• The Design of Web APIs by Arnaud Lauret - Excellent for understanding how to design APIs from the consumer's perspective.

• Principles of Web API Design by James Higginbotham - Great for aligning API design with business value and microservices.

• API Design Patterns by JJ Geewax - A Google engineer's catalog of tried-and-true solutions for common API modeling challenges.

• Design and Build Great Web APIs by Mike Amundsen - Focuses on lifecycle management, security, and designing for change.

3. Communities and Events to Follow

To catch these experts live or read discussions among other top-tier practitioners, keep an eye on:

• APIdays Conferences: The premier global conference series covering API design, business, and architecture.

• API Specifications Discussions: Following repositories or communities around the OpenAPI Initiative (OAI) on GitHub gives you a front-row seat to where API description standards are heading.

Are you currently working on a specific type of API (like a public REST API, internal microservices, or a GraphQL schema) that you're trying to design?

To master API design, it helps to follow industry veterans, read foundational texts, and study the public style guides of tech giants. Rather than relying solely on individual social media feeds, the most impactful insights come from these leading experts, authors, and open-source references.

Top Experts & Authors to Follow

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Mike Amundsen: Co-author of Designing Web APIs and a prominent voice in microservices and API-first design. Follow his insights via Mike Amundsen's Substack. Mike Amundsen - Amundsen-com, Inc. | LinkedIn

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Kin Lane: Known as the "API Evangelist," he has spent over a decade mapping the entire lifecycle, business models, and governance of APIs.

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Mehdi Medjaoui: Founder of the APIdays conference series, he specializes in API ecosystems, strategy, and governance.

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Jaroslav Tulach: Author of Practical API Design: Confessions of a Java Framework Architect, focused heavily on architectural longevity and modular framework design. Practical API Design : Confessions of a Java Framework Architect

Essential Enterprise API Guidelines (Must-Reads)

Instead of individual handles, studying the production-ready design handbooks of major engineering teams offers a practical masterclass in real-world consistency:

• _

Google Cloud APIs Design Guide_: Excellent, concise rules for naming, resource structuring, and versioning.

• Microsoft REST API Guidelines: A comprehensive, community-driven deep dive into building robust RESTful interfaces.

• Zalando RESTful API Guidelines: Widely regarded as one of the most practical, developer-friendly open-source style guides in the industry. Recommendation reading (books/blogs) for best practices

Would you like to focus on a specific architectural style (like REST, GraphQL, or gRPC) or do you need recommendations on API specification formats like OpenAPI/Swagger?

Follow Google’s API Design Guide for clear, consistent principles, and study Stripe’s API docs for practical examples of pagination, idempotency, and backward-compatible changes. For deeper guidance, read API Design Patterns by JJ Geewax.([x.com][1])

[1]: https://x.com/0xlelouch_/status/2092256815870333263 "Abhishek Singh on X: "Top 10 resources to learn API design (useful ..."

If you want to learn API design, follow a mix of seasoned engineers, educators, and influencers who share practical insights and frameworks. Some of the most impactful voices include Kelsey Hightower, Fran Mendez, Phil Sturgeon, Matthias Biehl, and educators like Fireship or Traversy Media who break down API concepts in accessible ways.

🌟 Key Experts in API Design

Name	Focus Area	Why Follow Them
Kelsey Hightower	Kubernetes, cloud-native APIs	Known for making complex cloud APIs accessible; his talks and demos are gold for understanding distributed systems.16 Famous API Experts & Developers (2026)
Fran Mendez	AsyncAPI, messaging APIs	Creator of AsyncAPI, shaping standards for event-driven APIs.16 Famous API Experts & Developers (2026)
Phil Sturgeon	REST API design, standards	Advocate for sustainable API practices and author on API standards.16 Famous API Experts & Developers (2026)
Matthias Biehl	RESTful API design	Author of RESTful API Design and founder of API-University.com, offering structured frameworks for scalable APIs.8 Expert-Recommended REST API Books for Developers - BookAuthority
Nikki Siapno	Practical REST principles	Shares bite-sized lessons on RESTful design and API gateways, making theory actionable.Top 10 Tech Leaders to Follow in 2025
Milan Jovanović	.NET, architecture	Microsoft MVP teaching clean architecture and REST API design through newsletters.Top 10 Tech Leaders to Follow in 2025
Fireship(Jeff Delaney)	Web dev & APIs	Engaging YouTube tutorials on REST, GraphQL, and cloud APIs.25 TOP TECH INFLUENCERS TEACHING API INTEGRATION IN 2025
Traversy Media	Full-stack & APIs	Clear, practical guides on REST and GraphQL APIs for developers at all levels.25 TOP TECH INFLUENCERS TEACHING API INTEGRATION IN 2025

📌 How to Use These Voices

• For deep theory & standards: Follow Matthias Biehl, Phil Sturgeon, and Fran Mendez. They’ll help you understand API lifecycle, modeling, and emerging standards.

• For practical coding & tutorials: Fireship, Traversy Media, and CodeWithHarry simplify API integration with hands-on examples.

• For architecture & leadership: Milan Jovanović and Nikki Siapno provide guidance on how APIs fit into larger system design and engineering culture.

• For cloud-native APIs: Kelsey Hightower is essential if you’re working with Kubernetes or distributed systems.

⚠️ Risks & Considerations

• Over-reliance on tutorials: YouTube educators are great for quick learning, but they may skip deeper design trade-offs. Balance them with books and standards.

• Rapidly evolving standards: GraphQL, gRPC, and AsyncAPI are still evolving. Following creators like Fran Mendez ensures you stay current.

• Platform bias: Some experts focus heavily on specific ecosystems (e.g., .NET, Node.js). Diversify your sources to avoid tunnel vision.

👉 If you’re starting out, I’d recommend Matthias Biehl’s book for fundamentals, then supplement with Fireship or Traversy Media tutorials for hands-on practice, and finally follow Phil Sturgeon and Fran Mendez to stay ahead on standards.

Would you like me to curate a step-by-step learning path (books, tutorials, and experts in sequence) so you can build API design skills systematically?