Explore Anypoint Exchange

Learning Objectives

After completing this unit, you’ll be able to:

• Discuss how Anypoint Exchange assets can be shared by Anypoint Platform users.
  
• Describe the relationship between API portals and Anypoint Exchange.
  
• Explain how Anypoint Code Builder works with Anypoint Exchange.
  

A Library of Knowledge

Building APIs and integrations is a team effort—but how do teams find, share, and reuse the right resources to work faster? That’s where Anypoint Exchange comes in.

Think of Anypoint Exchange as a central library where developers, integrators, and architects can discover APIs, connectors, and templates to speed up their work. Instead of starting from scratch, teams can reuse existing assets to build and scale their application network efficiently.

You can find what you need easily with powerful search features like filtering by API specification properties, using custom fields, and saving searches for later.

And the best part is that the more an organization shares and publishes assets, the more valuable Anypoint Exchange becomes. It develops into a rich library of API specifications, OAS components, templates, and connectors to support integration projects.

Discover and Use API Portals in Anypoint Exchange

APIs power modern applications, but they’re only helpful if people can find and use them. When a REST API is published to Anypoint Exchange, an API portal is automatically generated as part of the asset. These API portals include built-in documentation, an interactive console, and a mock service.

Anypoint Exchange acts as a central directory where users can search for, discover, and access these individual portals. The portals can be kept private for internal use or made public to share with external users

Speed Up Integration with REST Connect in Exchange

Anypoint Exchange also makes it easier to consume REST APIs in Mule applications. With REST Connect, a connector is automatically generated for each published REST API, saving time and effort when integrating with other systems.

How a C4E Helps Scale API Reuse in Exchange

A Center for Enablement (C4E) helps organizations scale API adoption and reuse by promoting best practices. At MUA, Alex's C4E publishes APIs and templates to Anypoint Exchange, making it easy for developers across the organization to find and reuse approved assets instead of reinventing the wheel.

In addition to organization-specific assets, Exchange also includes public assets published by MuleSoft and its partners—such as reusable connectors, templates, and examples. Teams can search both public and private content, depending on what’s needed for their project.

Example: Filling API Gaps with New Assets in Exchange

At MUA, Alex and his team turn to Anypoint Exchange to find prebuilt templates and APIs to kick-start their new application. But as they search, Alex notices a gap—there’s no existing API to manage customer feedback.

No problem! With Anypoint Platform, his team can quickly create and publish a new feedback API, filling in the missing piece and contributing to MUA’s growing library of reusable assets.

Publish and Reuse Assets in Exchange

Anypoint Exchange isn’t just a place to discover APIs—it’s also where teams can publish, test, and refine the APIs they create. That’s where Anypoint Code Builder comes in.

Anypoint Code Builder is MuleSoft’s latest full-lifecycle development environment, designed to help teams build APIs, integrations, and automations—all while seamlessly interacting with Anypoint Exchange.

Here’s how it works.

• Publishing APIs: Once developers create an API specification in Anypoint Code Builder, they can publish it directly to Anypoint Exchange.
  
• Importing assets: Need a head start on an integration? Developers can import API specifications, templates, and connectors from Exchange directly into Anypoint Code Builder—saving time and ensuring consistency.
  
• Testing and mocking: Anypoint Code Builder includes built-in mocking and testing tools, so teams can simulate API behavior before deploying it, ensuring it works as expected.
  

Publishing and Reusing APIs at MUA

At MUA, Alex and his team are building a new flight scheduling API. Instead of starting from scratch, they search Anypoint Exchange for existing templates and connectors that can speed up development.

Once they refine their API in Anypoint Code Builder, they publish the updated specification back to Exchange, making it available for other teams at MUA who need to integrate flight data into their own applications.

By using Anypoint Code Builder and Anypoint Exchange together, Alex’s team saves time, improves collaboration, and ensures API consistency across the organization. Exchange acts as a shared workspace, helping teams across MUA move faster together.

Now that you’ve explored how APIs and integrations are designed and shared, it’s time to look under the hood and see what powers this platform: Mule Runtime Engine.