Edition 6: eBay Using Pact Contract Testing
“From developers to testers and beyond, we’re committed to empowering you with the tools and knowledge to succeed.“
Welcome to edition #6 of the SmartBear DevRel Newsletter – No Fluff, Just Real Stuff ™.
Edition Spotlight
Learn how eBay leverage Pact Contract Testing for their vast microservices architecture to improve resilience and reduce breaking dependencies.
Feature Insight
PactFlow AI now supports multiple languages
AI Augmented contract testing is growing in strength. Initially piloted with Java & Javascript, it now supports Java and Kotlin, TypeScript, JavaScript, .NET, Golang, PHP, and Swift with Python support will be coming soon!
Read about it in our latest Pact Blog.
Craft OpenAPI using Natural Language.
We’ve just rolled out HaloAI for Design in API Hub — and it’s a game-changer, letting you translate requirements intent as a human!
Now, you can create and update OpenAPI specs using plain English. Think of it as ChatGPT meets Swagger, but tailored for API design. This feature is currently in beta, and we’re eager to gather feedback from users. Whether it’s praise, suggestions, or bug reports, we welcome it all.
Why This Matters:
- Natural Language API Creation: Generate OpenAPI definitions by simply describing the API in everyday language.
- Effortless Editing: Modify existing APIs with intuitive prompts, streamlining the update process.
- Accelerated Workflows: Reduce manual coding, minimize errors, and speed up the design phase.
- Seamless Integration: Fits right into the API Hub ecosystem, enhancing your existing workflowz
Check out our Dive Deeper: HaloAI for Design Documentation. A massive shoutout to our brilliant minds in Engineering, UX, and Product who brought this to life.
Note: This is available on all paid plans including legacy SwaggerHub
The DevRel Library
SmartBear & Forrester Webinar
If your company is struggling to move from API Strategy into real execution, then be sure to check our our in-depth session where Frank Kilcommins, and David Mooter (Principal Analyst at Forrester) cover a raft of tactics and practice how-to’s to accelerate your API program
AI affect on the API space – Expert Opinions from APIDays NYC
The Good, The Bad, and The OpenAPI: Why Developers Love and Hate It
AI in Testing: Innovation or Just Noise?
In this episode of the TestGuild podcast, SmartBear’s Fitz Nowlan VP of AI and Architecture at SmartBear, shares his take on what’s real vs. hype in AI-powered DevOps. He explores self-healing tests, agentic AI, and how tools like Playwright and Selenium are evolving. Fitz also breaks down SmartBear’s approach to customer-driven innovation and the future of QA in an AI-first world. Packed with practical insights, it’s a must-listen for anyone navigating today’s fast-moving testing landscape.
Check out the TestGuild Podcast.
How the World Is Celebrating Open Source Maintainer Month
The world runs on open source, how are we celebrating those who maintain our critical projects and libraries? Check out the article from TheNewStack.
Product Spotlight
Introducing the new core ‘Or’ Spectral function
Spectral continues to evolve to meet the governance needs of API teams looking to enforce quality through customizable linting rules. We are happy to introduce a new core function—or—which adds more power to your rulesets and API style guides.
Using our API Portal and want to manage your content in Git?
Frank’s just added HTML support to our DocsAsCode process letting you full manage your API product via your CI/CD workflows.
Check it out here
Webinar: What’s New in API Hub: Standardize, Collaborate, and Scale with Confidence
Struggling to keep API quality aligned across QA, development, and operations? You’re not alone—and our experts are here to help. In this webinar, learn practical strategies to break down silos, streamline testing across the API lifecycle, and build a culture of shared responsibility without sacrificing speed or control.
AI Powered Mobile Testing Is Here and It Changes Everything
With Reflect, you can now create, run, and maintain both web and mobile tests with no-code, AI-driven automation in the cloud.
Differentiators:
- No Code, No Locators: Use natural language or record a test – no scripting, no selectors
- True Cross-Device Execution: One test covers iOS, Android, and hybrid frameworks
- Tests That Adapt – Not Break: Reflect’s runtime GenAI engine behaves like a human tester, dynamically adjusting as your UI changes
- Flexible Device Options: Bring your own device grid or use Reflect’s real device grid or opt for secure private devices
Customer quote: “Reflect completely transformed how I see front-end automation. It showed me that automating complex flows doesn’t have to involve heavy code or tedious maintenance. The mobile testing experience mirrors what I love about [Reflect’s] web automation—intuitive, innovative, and powered by AI-driven prompts that genuinely change the game.” — Tommy Marín, QA Lead at Connect Assistance.
DevRels on Tour
APIDays Helsinki 3/4 June
Frank will be speaking at API Days Helsinki in the fantastic Pikku-Finlandia venue! He has a busy day on June 4th!
Talks / Panels:
- AI-augmented API delivery and Why AI May Decide your API’s Fate
- Getting the Right API Faster using Example Mapping, OpenAPI, and Arazzo
- Building Communities with OpenAPI
You can read more about the above sessions here.
EuroSTAR 3-6 June, Edinburgh
SmartBear is heading to EuroSTAR in Edinburgh—our Jo’s home turf! Go find the team at booth E from June 3–6 to talk testing, tools, and how to deliver quality at speed, and of course to grab some of our awesome swag!
Droid Con 25/26 June, New York City
We also have a team heading to DroidCon NYC on June 25–26! Swing by our booth #20 to talk mobile testing, dev tools, and what’s next for quality at scale.
Tips
Sign up for Ryan Day‘s weekly newsletter Downloadable Resource- API Field Guide for AI and Data Science.
He’ll share tips from his book Hands-on APIs for AI and Data Science.
You can get your copy of his new book here.
Going AEP?
OpenAPI & Spectral were spotted in the wild helping form the basis of a new API design specification and ecosystem of clients and tooling for protobuf and HTTP REST APIs supported by the CNCF – see #aep in CNCF’s slack.
Read about it at aep.dev and if it floats your boat, there are loads of way you can help like improving the generators and API guidance. writing clients or a plethora of smaller docs and issues.
Oh and watch out, watch out, MCP vulnerabilities are out!
Open Source @ SmartBear
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
Meet the Team
Leaving you with…
6 Postman Alternatives So Good, I Almost Forgot Postman – author Sagar Joshi
// The SmartBear DevRel Team
# GitHub: https://github.com/SmartBear-DevRel
# Email: devrel@smartbear.com