RepreZen, creators of the RAPID-ML resource modeling language, have launched the KaiZen OpenAPI Editor and KaiZen OpenAPI Parser for the Swagger API description language, now known as the Open API Specification (OAS), with support for versions 2.0 and the soon-to-be-released 3.0, which is expected in July 2017.
Previously known as SwagEdit, the KaiZen editor brings a native ID E experience to editing Open API descriptions, with essentials such as syntax highlighting and outline navigation as well as access to local file systems, on-premises version control, and automated build systems. The KaiZen parser provides high-performance parsing and validation of Open API descriptions with JSON and YAML serialization support. Both are available through the Eclipse Marketplace. OAS 2.0 and 3.0 editing is also supported experimentally in the RepreZen API Studio, also available as a plug-in to the Eclipse IDE.
KaiZen developed out of RepreZen's involvement in the Swagger, and now the Open API, communities for the past couple of years, accompanied by their recently joining the Open API Initiative. The project marks one of the earliest contributions to the community in terms of OAS 3.0 support, and indeed is likely the first editor compatible with OAS 3.0.
The Open API Initiative falls under the open governance of the Linux Foundation. OAS is a vendor-neutral, standardized format for describing REST APIs and originates from the Swagger specification. Version 3.0 has yet to be formally released, with the current draft specification awaiting a comment period during 19-30 June 2017 and the final specification to be released in July 2017. Notable changes to the spec include more comprehensive support for JSON Schema, improved structure and documentation, the introduction of a callbacks component, and a Links component, which is the first step towards hypermedia support in the specification. A visual guide published on the blog of Readme.io explains the changes with examples and a diagram of the components in Swagger 2.0 versus Open API 3.0.
Among the expansion of components and new features in OAS 3.0, Ted Epstein, CEO of RepreZen, is most excited about the new callbacks component. In a conversation with InfoQ, he said, "It opens the idea of two way communication between services and clients, meaning that the difference between the two is narrower than it was before." This improved ability to represent asynchronous solutions that include both clients and services, in addition to the greater reusability of response body definitions and security schemes, open up new possibilities for standards and collaboration that were not easy before.
With the new version still being finalized, developers can expect ongoing support in KaiZen and other tools for version 2.0 as the ecosystem catches up. Previous enterprise open-source contributions to the community with support for version 2.0 include IBM's API Microgateway and MuleSoft's API Modeling Framework, complementing a broad spectrum of open source support for the specification. RepreZen’s addition to the Open API community is but one more action in the API industry's growing consolidation around OAS.
