Edition 4: Dora Compliance -Are your APIs the Weakest Link?
“From developers to testers and beyond, we’re committed to empowering you with the tools and knowledge to succeed.“
Welcome to edition #4 of the SmartBear DevRel Newsletter – No Fluff, Just Real Stuff ™.
Edition Spotlight
DORA Compliance: Are Your APIs Your Weakest Link? The Digital Operational Resilience Act (DORA) is raising the bar for the EU financial sector. While many focus on incident response and testing, we need to remember modern software is built upon APIs! Are your APIs well designed, maintainable, and secure – if not your entire resilience strategy crumbles!
Check out the article from Akansha Shukla to learn more!
Feature Insight
Explore.CLI 0.8.0 is out!
There’s a new version of Explore.CLI out which delivers upon one of our most requested features – Nested Postman Collection Imports! Check out the repo or Frank’s post to learn more about importing Postman Collections into API Hub – Explore.
The DevRel Library
Documentation-driven API Design
Wouldn’t it be great if you create the documentation for an API operation and have an OpenAPI descriptions created for you? Check out Bruno Pedro’s experiments with AI and mocking tools.
You can read the blog here.
Psst….we might have something cool from SmartBear to show you here soon too!
Around the world OSS
Contractual
Our long time friend and Pact contributor, Omer Morad has just launched a new Open-source tool Contractual. Omer said it has been designed to unify the lifecycle of API definitions and json contracts, ensuring consistency, versioning, and type safety across modern development workflows.
If you are working in a TypeScript based ecosystem, and have used Swagger/OpenAPI Codegen tooling, and want an innovative way to evolve API safely, utilising Spec first development, API descriptions such as OpenAPI and auto-generated schemas via Zod. It provides a great level of static type safety, and a great IDE experience. It would be a great candidate to pair with Smartbear’s API Hub Design & Contract testing capabilities.
Take a look, and tell us what you build!
Deepseek
Deepseek, a fresh competitor to the current breed of US based AI companies has been making headlines, and impacting wallets for investors and end users. With comparable performance, at a lower cost, we will continue to see innovation, at rapid pace. GitHub have just announced that it has been added to their Models library, and you can use it, and compare it side-by-by with other models.
Product Spotlight
SmartBear launches API Hub!
We’re excited about the availability of SmartBear API Hub which has consolidated our most trusted API tools into dynamic, modular, and AI-augmented hub that streamlines workflows and promotes the delivery of high-quality APIs.
Read more >>
Set the Standards, Stay Ahead: Introducing SmartBear API Hub
Creating APIs isn’t just about writing code—it’s about collaboration, governance, and delivering seamless experiences that empower teams and businesses alike.
Introducing SmartBear API Hub, your comprehensive solution for API design, testing, and documentation, built with industry-leading tools like Swagger, Spectral, and Pact at its core. Join our webinar to learn more!
Watch on-demand >>
SmartBear Acquires QMetry, Extending AI and Test Management Solutions
SmartBear has acquired QMetry to enhance its AI-driven test management and quality solutions, helping DevOps teams accelerate software delivery and maintain high standards. QMetry’s AI-enabled platform brings advanced features like auto test case generation, flaky test detection, and compliance support, strengthening SmartBear’s reach in regulated industries.
QMetry will integrate into SmartBear Test Hub, streamlining testing processes and expanding SmartBear’s AI-driven ecosystem to improve developer experience and test efficiency.
Welcome to SmartBear, QMetry! Read more >>
SmartBear API Hub wins 2025 DEVIES Award!
Not alone are we incredibly proud and excited about the launch of our SmartBear API Hub, but so too is the industry, and we’re excited to let you know that SmartBear API Hub has won the 2025 DEVIES Award for API Management and Support! Check out the Devie Awards!
Tips
Is Docker on MacOS still slow? Improvements in open source virtualization on Apple Silicon hardware, as part of the containers project, namely libkrun are seeing adoption in projects such as Podman, and now Docker.
Check it out
Using GitHub Actions? Speed up your workflows, and reduce waiting time with Linux ARM64 runners, now available in public preview.
Find out more.
Open Telemetry (OTel) meets CI/CD
Continuous integration, driven in part by VCS providers, offering cheap, or free hosted runners, in which to run your code on, have exploded in popularity, however these still lacks a universal pane of glass, to see how your code and pipelines are faring. Small tools like CCMenu fill some gaps, but leave others. SaaS providers come and go, my favourite of the bunch was meercode, but it has since closed its doors. OpenTelemetry is neatly placed as a leader in open standards, in the observability field, to create a unified way for CI/CD systems to communicate, and hopefully empower our next wave of developers to build better tooling, to inform us of areas of attention sooner.
Read the article here.
DevRels on Tour
In our next DevRels on Tour stop, Frank has an action packed agenda at DeveloperWeek Feb 11-13 (and virtually Feb 18-20) delivering workshops, talks, and co-hosting the full-day OpenAPI Summit as part of the conference.
- “Intro to Contract Testing: Evolving APIs Safely” – Feb 11, 12:00 p.m. – 12:50 p.m. PST
- “Describing API Workflows with Arazzo” – Feb 12, 10:30 a.m. – 10:55 a.m. PST
As a valued subscriber to our newsletter, here’s a link to redeem a Free Open Pass to attend the conference!
APIDays Paris (recap)
Our booth was nonstop swamped with a steady stream of people wanting to talk to us and curious about the newly launched API Hub and Yousaf was on the ground giving lots of demos. Attendees provided positive feedback, with some calling it the “best stand” with the “best swag”.
Frank’s audience was not just standing room only, it was spilling out the door. They need to give him the huge keynote room next time! Adrian Minnock, one of our wonderful Senior Solution Engineers, delivered a thought provoking session on “Breaking Down Barriers for Effective API Design and Testing”.
The event not only strengthened SmartBear’s presence in the API space but also fostered meaningful conversations and opportunities for collaboration in the future.
We’d like to give a shout out to our wonderful booth neighbours Gravitee and Solo and also a big thanks to everyone who took the time to visit our booth. We are already looking forward to the next APIDays event in New York in May!
Learnings
In 2024, the OpenAPI Initiative set a high bar for activity with the release of new specifications like Arazzo 1.0.0 and Overlay 1.0.0, along with two important patch versions of the OpenAPI Specification: 3.1.1 and 3.0.4. Check out Frank’s blog announcing the release of Arazzo Specification version 1.0.1.
API Hub Learning
Want to learn more about the new SmartBear API Hub? Check our our Intro course, Contract Testing course, and API Hub Administration course on the SmartBear Academy. All courses are free!
Open Source @ SmartBear
Cucumber – The Next Chapter – A Community Driven Future
What you need to know
- SmartBear is transitioning Cucumber’s stewardship to the Open Source Collective to ensure its independent growth
- Unlike Swagger and Pact, Cucumber lacks a commercial extension, making community-driven governance a better fit
- The project remains free and open, with more opportunities for contributors to shape its future
- SmartBear remains committed to open source, focusing on sustainable investment in open-core projects.
SoapUI 5.8.0 Released
You can check out the Release Notes here.
The team have also been reviewing some of the current pull requests and we will be introducing a new CLA process to make it easier for you to submit changes to the project.
SmartBear has a powerful and comprehensive suite of open-source tools.
Have you used one or more of these products as part of your development toolset?
Useful links to learn more:
Check out Swagger
Check out Pact
Check out Spectral, Prism, and Elements
Check out Cucumber
Check out SOAPUI
Leaving you with…
// The SmartBear DevRel Team
# GitHub: https://github.com/SmartBear-DevRel
# Email: devrel@smartbear.com