Get Started with Anypoint Design Center

Learning Objectives

In this project, you’ll:

• Create an API Specification in Anypoint Platform’s Design Center.
  
• Test the API Specification with a mocking service
  
• Publish the API Specification for reuse.
  

Introduction

In this Trailhead project, you get hands-on experience with MuleSoft Anypoint Platform. You learn about API specifications and how Anypoint Platform uses them to begin building data integrations. This includes some time-saving tips to help get your integrations up and running quickly!

Why Design an API Specification First

Writing an API specification is the best way to start your integration. API specifications explain API behaviors, fundamental design philosophy, and supported data types. Taking the time upfront can pay off later down the line.

• It serves as documentation for reuse by future applications via the Anypoint Exchange.
  
• Stakeholders/consumers of the APIs can perform acceptance tests before the app is ever built.
  
• It can be used to prepopulate your implementation with artifacts and metadata to reduce development time.
  

So, What Is an API Specification?

An API specification is a contract easily digestible by humans and computer systems. It’s digestible because it combines API documentation (think READMEs) and API definitions, like Web Services Description Language (WSDL) files. This design simplifies your understanding of how to interact with the implementation, which increases adoption and speeds up project completion. So let’s start thinking about API specification in the language you use: RESTful API Modeling Language (RAML).

RAML is the native API specification language in MuleSoft API Designer, though OAS/Swagger import is also supported and converted to RAML. For more information on RAML, visit RAML.org.

Get Set Up

First, sign up for a free 30-day Anypoint Platform account, so you can start working with Anypoint Design Center.

1. Go to https://anypoint.mulesoft.com/login/signup.
   
2. Fill out the form. For Email, enter an active email address.
   
3. After you fill out the form, click Accept and create account.
   
4. A Verify Email message appears. Click Verify Email.
   
5. Enter the verification code from your email account. Click Confirm.
   

Now connect your new Anypoint Platform account to Trailhead.

1. Make sure you’re logged in to your Trailhead account.
   
2. In the Challenge section at the bottom of this page, click Connect Anypoint Account.
   
3. On the Authorize App screen, click Grant Access to Account.
   

Click Verify Step to go to the next step in the project, where you create an API specification.