API-First Practices in Fashion Tech • Juan Carlos Garces & Ignacio Fernandez • GOTO 2024

API-first at Inditex goes beyond technical implementation - it’s a cultural mindset and decision framework that brings together product, technical and management teams

The company manages over 3,000 APIs through an internal developer portal used by 800+ people, categorized into three levels:

• Kernel APIs: Core reusable, strategic functionality
• Shell APIs: Business process specific
• Application APIs: Experience/integration focused

Key accelerators and tools built internally include:

• Automated API scoring engine for design quality
• Breaking change detection
• Automatic mock servers
• Built-in observability metrics
• Dependency management via artifacts
• API gateway configuration automation

Focus on developer experience through:

• Early feedback on API changes
• Auto-generated client libraries (Java, NPM, Python)
• Automated security compliance checks
• Built-in documentation requirements
• Searchable API catalog for discovery

Platform scale highlights:

• 1000+ teams
• 6000+ repositories
• 3000+ deployments per year
• 6 billion+ yearly e-commerce visits
• 68,000 containers during peak events
• Present in 200 markets globally

Implementation practices include:

• Version management and compatibility checks
• Separation of OpenAPI specs from gateway config
• Automated artifact generation
• Pre-built pipelines and workflows
• Support for draft/snapshot versions

Moving towards public API strategy with upcoming developer portal launch to enable external integrations