API Development Company

Your partners call on Mondays when APIs break.
We build APIs that never give them a reason to.

We write the OpenAPI 3.1 spec before a single line of code ships. Your team reviews it. Your partners get SDKs and interactive docs on day one. No consumer ever wakes up to a broken integration.

OpenAPI 3.1 spec-firstREST and GraphQL TypeScript, Python, Go SDKsURL versioning from v1
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api.redefine.dev / v1
live
The API Design Gap

Your engineers spent months building the API. They will spend years maintaining what they skipped.

What rushed API builds leave behind
No versioning strategy
Every change breaks existing consumers. No deprecation window.
Documentation written after the fact
Drift between docs and reality starts on deploy day.
No authentication layer designed in
Auth bolted on later, inconsistent, full of edge cases.
Tightly coupled business logic
Changing one field means three deploys and a Slack channel full of apologies.
No rate limiting or quota management
A single misbehaving consumer can saturate your entire API.
Partner onboarding takes weeks
No sandbox, no SDK, no Postman collection, no example flows.
What you get with Redefine
URL versioning from v1, deprecation notices via headers
Consumers know exactly when v1 ends. No midnight surprises, no emergency deploys.
OpenAPI spec generated from code, not hand-written
Docs never drift. The spec lives in the code, not a wiki someone forgot to update.
OAuth 2.0 and API keys designed into the spec before coding
Auth is a first-class citizen, not a retrofit.
Clean resource contracts, backward compatible by default
Add a new field. Every existing consumer still works.
Token bucket rate limiting per consumer, configurable quotas
Every consumer gets their own lane.
Sandbox, SDK, and interactive docs on delivery day
Partners integrate in hours. Not weeks.

Pain section · Tech lead at whiteboard sketching API resource schema

Technical lead at whiteboard sketching REST API resource schema with team reviewing, natural office light, side angle
API Maintenance Cost Calculator

What is poor API design costing your engineering team right now?

That time could be building features. Move the sliders to see what your team is actually spending on integration maintenance each year.

5
150
8
1h40h
150
$50$350
12
0100
Annual cost of API maintenance
$0
Projected savings with OpenAPI-first design
$0
Based on a 60% reduction in integration maintenance seen across comparable projects.
0
engineering hours recovered per year
0
weeks saved on partner onboarding
Get a Scoped API Proposal

These projections reflect typical outcomes. Your proposal will include scope-specific estimates for your API and integration count.

API Development Capabilities

Five API capabilities. Each one yours to own, yours to operate, no strings attached.

Value stack · Developer reviewing OpenAPI documentation on dual monitors

Developer reviewing structured OpenAPI documentation on dual monitors in clean workspace with natural window light and focused expression
1
REST API Design
OpenAPI 3.1 spec before the first line of code

Every REST API starts with an OpenAPI 3.1 specification. Your team reviews every endpoint, every request schema, every error format, and every authentication flow before we write one handler. Your team approves the spec. Then we build to it. The API server generates this spec from code, so documentation never drifts from reality.

URL versioning starts at v1 on day one. When a breaking change arrives, v1 stays live through a full deprecation window. Consumers get header notices ahead of the cutoff date. Nobody finds out about changes the hard way.

Node.js development services →
openapi.yml
openapi: 3.1.0
info:
title: Redefine Orders API
version: 1.0.0
paths:
/v1/orders:
get:
summary: List orders
security: [{bearerAuth: []}]
2
GraphQL APIs
Flexible queries, no over-fetching

We use GraphQL when different consumers need different shapes of the same data. Headless ecommerce frontends and mobile apps request different fields per screen. GraphQL lets each consumer specify exactly what it needs. No over-fetching. No extra round trips. No versioning debt from endpoint proliferation.

We use Apollo Server on NestJS for production GraphQL APIs. Schema-first design with code-generated TypeScript resolvers. Persisted queries for production security. DataLoader for batching and caching N+1 query problems.

Next.js development services →
GraphQL Query
# Product page, 1 query
query ProductPage($slug: String!) {
product(slug: $slug) {
id name price
images { url altText }
inventory { available
locations { warehouse qty }
}
}
}
3
Webhooks and Event Streams
Push events to consumers the instant they happen

Instead of making your consumers poll every 30 seconds, we build webhook delivery systems that push events the moment they happen. Order confirmed, payment captured, shipment dispatched: your consumers get the event payload with a signed HMAC signature within milliseconds.

We build retry queues with exponential backoff so failed deliveries self-heal. Dead-letter queues catch anything that does not land. Partners see their own event logs in the developer portal. They debug their own integrations. They stop calling your support team.

Webhook Event Log
order.confirmed
just nowdelivered
payment.captured
12s agodelivered
shipment.dispatched
retry 2/3retrying
4
API Security Layer
OAuth 2.0, JWT, rate limiting — all in the spec before code

Security is designed into the spec before any handler is written. OAuth 2.0 with PKCE for user-delegated access. API keys for server-to-server integrations. JWT validation at the edge, not inside your business logic. Scopes defined per consumer so a payment processor cannot query your user records.

Rate limiting at the consumer level using token bucket algorithm. Request signing for webhooks. Input validation on every schema field. SQL injection and XSS patterns rejected at the validation layer, never reaching your database.

Security Layer
OAuth 2.0 + PKCEactive
Rate limit: partner-api-001847 / 1000 req/hr
Blocked: invalid JWT401
5
Auto-generated SDKs and Partner Documentation
Partners integrate in hours, not weeks

The OpenAPI spec generates TypeScript, Python, and Go client SDKs on every build. Your partners drop in a typed SDK and start making real API calls. They never read a wall of documentation to get started. Auth, retries, and type safety are already handled.

Interactive documentation using Scalar or Redoc, hosted at your API subdomain. Sandbox environment with realistic fixture data. Postman collection exported and versioned alongside the spec. Your partners integrate in hours, not weeks.

TypeScript SDK
// auto-generated SDK, types included
import { RedefineClient } from '@redefine/api-client'
const client = new RedefineClient({
apiKey: process.env.REDEFINE_KEY
})
// fully typed response
const orders = await client.orders.list({
status: 'pending',
page: 1, limit: 25
})
Protocol Selection

The right protocol for each use case. We choose before the first line of code.

Select a protocol to see when we use it and the tradeoffs your team must know before committing.

REST
HTTP / JSON
GraphQL
Query lang
Webhooks
Event push
gRPC
Service mesh

REST over HTTP/JSON

The default for public APIs, partner integrations, and mobile backends. Cacheable, debuggable, and supported by every language and platform. REST is what we use on 80% of API projects.

Characteristics

Caching: native HTTP caching
Latency: 5 to 150ms
Versioning: URL-based

Best for

Public developer APIs
Partner integrations
Mobile app backends

GraphQL

The right fit when your consumers need different shapes of the same data. Headless storefronts, mobile apps, and complex domain models each pull different fields. GraphQL handles that without extra endpoints.

Characteristics

Caching: persisted queries
Latency: 8 to 200ms
Versioning: schema evolution

Best for

Headless ecommerce
Complex relational domains
Multiple frontend clients

Webhooks

Your API pushes events to consumers instead of waiting to be polled. Orders, payments, inventory changes: consumers get the event the moment it happens. Eliminates polling overhead and reduces latency on event-driven workflows.

Characteristics

Delivery: at-least-once
Latency: event-driven
Retries: exponential backoff

Best for

Order and payment events
ERP, CRM, and warehouse sync
Third-party notification triggers

gRPC

Used for internal service-to-service communication inside a microservices architecture. Binary protobuf encoding is 3 to 10x smaller than JSON. Bidirectional streaming. We do not expose gRPC publicly, only internally where the latency and payload savings matter.

Characteristics

Encoding: protobuf binary
Latency: 1 to 20ms
Contract: .proto files

Best for

Internal microservices only
High-throughput data streams
Service mesh communications
B2B Ecommerce Integration

DrivingI ran on six disconnected systems. Now one API layer keeps everything in sync.

Proof · Integration team reviewing unified API data flow on dashboard

Integration team reviewing unified API dashboard showing ERP, Salesforce, and BI data in sync on large monitors in modern office with natural light
DrivingI Before — Fragmented Systems
Manual data entry, broken syncs, weeks-long integrations
ERP and storefront inventory fell out of sync whenever pricing changed
Customer approvals required manual steps with no way to trigger workflow state
Pricing, customer records, and marketing data lived in three separate systems
B2B pricing rules were hardcoded in the monolith with no external access
Every new integration was a bespoke project taking weeks of developer time
DrivingI After — Unified API Layer
Node.js, Next.js, Microsoft Dynamics 365 integration
Inventory and pricing pull live from Microsoft Dynamics on every page load
Approval workflows trigger automatically via API hooks, zero manual steps
Salesforce, BI, and marketing tools all read from one typed API contract
Custom catalog API delivers customer-specific pricing tiers to any consumer
New integrations plug in through versioned, documented endpoints in days, not weeks
0
integrations running automatically, zero manual data entry
DrivingI · B2B Headless Ecommerce Platform

ERP, CRM, BI, and marketing data unified through a custom Node.js API layer. Real-time accuracy across every customer account. Approval workflows and customer-specific pricing automated through typed API contracts. What took a developer week to connect now takes hours.

Everything a Typical Agency Bills Separately

We include what most API development agencies charge extra for. And we include it by default.

What you need
Typical agency
Redefine
OpenAPI 3.1 spec
Design-first, generated from code
Sometimes
Always
URL versioning from v1
Deprecation window + header notices
Rarely
Always
OAuth 2.0 + API key auth
Designed into the spec, not bolted on
Add-on
Included
Rate limiting per consumer
Token bucket, configurable quotas
Rarely
Included
Auto-generated TypeScript SDK
From OpenAPI spec on every build
Extra cost
Included
Sandbox + interactive docs
Hosted at your API subdomain
Extra cost
Included
Distributed tracing + monitoring
OpenTelemetry, latency per endpoint
Not included
Included
Code owned fully by you on delivery
No vendor dependency, no ongoing license
Varies
Always
Common Questions

What CTOs and engineering leads ask before starting an API development engagement.

We start every API engagement with an OpenAPI 3.1 spec written before any code. The spec defines all endpoints, request and response schemas, error formats, and authentication flows. Your team reviews and approves the spec before we write a single handler. This design-first process eliminates ambiguity and gives you a permanent contract your consumers can rely on.
Yes. We build REST APIs for most projects because they are simpler to cache, document, and integrate with third-party tools. We use GraphQL when the consumer needs query flexibility, which is most common on headless ecommerce frontends and mobile apps where data requirements change per screen. We help you choose the right protocol in the discovery phase. See the protocol comparison above for the full tradeoff analysis.
We version APIs from the first endpoint. URL versioning is the default (v1, v2) because it is explicit and easy to debug. When you need to introduce a breaking change, the old version stays live for a defined deprecation window. Consumers are notified ahead of the deprecation date via API response headers and documentation. No consumer wakes up to a broken integration.
A focused REST API with 10 to 20 endpoints, authentication, documentation, and a sandbox typically takes 4 to 6 weeks. Larger projects with 50 or more endpoints, multiple integration partners, and custom SDKs run 8 to 16 weeks. We scope before we quote. The OpenAPI spec review in week one gives you a concrete deliverable before the build begins.
API development engagements typically run between $30,000 and $180,000. Endpoint count drives scope. Integration partners drive complexity. Protocol choice (REST vs. GraphQL) affects timeline. SDKs, sandbox environments, and production monitoring add deliverables but also compress your total maintenance cost after launch. See our API pricing guide for a phase-by-phase cost breakdown.
Start the Conversation

Tell us about your API project. We will send a scoped proposal in 3 days.

We respond within two business days. No commitment. No pitch.

Form
48 hours
Response
3 days
API spec
OpenAPI 3.1
Always first
100%
Code owned

Prefooter · API developer reviewing endpoint documentation and monitoring dashboard

API developer reviewing API documentation portal and performance monitoring dashboard at clean workstation with natural desk light and focused expression
Your partners need an API they can count on. Let us build it for them.
Book a Technical Strategy CallSee API Development Pricing

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Every service that connects to this one

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