Improved internal API discovery with the redesigned Private API Network

We’ve been making significant improvements to how organizations discover APIs. A robust set of private APIs, built alongside an effective API-first strategy, can create huge benefits for organizations. For instance, private APIs open up an organization’s existing capabilities for reuse by internal teams and reduce the time and resources needed to develop new features for customers.

However, organizations only benefit from private APIs if they can be discovered easily. As the number of private APIs in an organization increases, it becomes more difficult for consumers to find the API they are looking for. This lack of visibility leads many teams to invest time and resources in building duplicate functionality.

Millions of developers leverage collaborative Postman workspaces to solve these problems. Workspaces enable you to organize your APIs and workflows through collections, reducing developer onboarding time and increasing API reuse. Developers also leverage the Private API Network to create a central directory of all internal APIs in their organization. We understand, however, that teams will benefit from the ability to explore workspaces and collections, in addition to APIs, from the Private API Network.

As part of the launch of Postman v10, we redesigned the Private API Network to help developers discover relevant APIs and API artifacts faster. Teams can now publish workspaces and collections along with APIs built in the API Builder. The publishing workflow has also been updated. The new interface makes it easier for consumers to discover APIs, fork collections, and use them in their own workspaces.

Let’s take a look at the key new features of the Private API Network.

Collections

Discover organized API requests and elements faster by adding collections to your Private API Network. Collections on the network are presented as beautiful, human-readable API documentation with dynamic examples and machine-readable instructions. Only the environments of your collection that are intended for use by consumers are visible on the Private API Network:

Workspaces

Teams can onboard developers faster by publishing workspaces built around key concepts such as onboarding workflows and access controls. Consumers will be able to see the workspace description and browse through all the APIs and collections directly from the network:

Improved APIs

The all-new API views let you jump instantly into the APIs you have access to. Consumers will be able to see collections and navigate through schema documentation directly from the network:

You will be able to navigate between releases directly from the network with the all-new API Builder releases workflow:

Filter by type on the Overview page

The Private API Network Overview page has been updated to let you see all the elements of the Private API Network in one place. Consumers can also filter elements by type and owner:

Forking collections

You can fork collections directly from the Private API Network, making it easier to dive right in and try things out:

Watching

You can watch APIs, collections, and workspaces directly from the Private API Network to stay up-to-date on any changes:

Governance with an approval flow

We’ve expanded the approval flow to support collections and workspaces. The new approval flow makes it easier to govern your Private API Network by allowing you to control what gets added to your network. You can enable the approval process in your team’s settings, and assign team members to the API Network Manager role:

Sign up here for early access to the redesigned Private API Network, or schedule a time with us to learn more. If your organization is interested in learning more about how to adopt Postman enterprise-wide, talk to our sales team.