Adrian Escutia

Do We Really Need Another Tool for API Interaction via CLI? Absolutely. Here's Why.

Let's be honest—when you hear about yet another tool for API interaction via CLI, the first question that pops into your head is probably, "Do we really need this?"

I get it. With tools like curl, Postman, and a variety of SDKs, you'd think we've got all our API interaction bases covered. But… what if I told you there's a way to make API consumption faster, simpler, and—dare I say it—enjoyable?

APIs are essential for modern software development, enabling communication between systems, microservices, and applications. However, developers and systems integrators often face several challenges when interacting with APIs, even when they are theoretically built to streamline processes.

Here's a breakdown of common challenges I have encountered when integrating with APIs and explore real-world examples, along with practical solutions and steps developers and systems integrators can take to overcome them:

Imagine you're browsing your favorite website on your mobile device. The page is slow to load, the images are taking forever to appear, and your data is quickly getting consumed. Now imagine the same frustration for your users when your web app integrates with APIs that deliver large, unoptimized payloads. This is a common issue when integrating APIs into mobile web applications—large payloads result in slow performance and high data usage.

In this blog post, we'll discuss how to tackle the problem of large API responses for mobile clients, propose practical solutions, and walk through two ways to solve this issue: using HAProxy and NGINX to reduce API payload sizes and optimize performance.

Imagine you're waiting in line at a coffee shop. There's a customer in front of you who keeps ordering one drink after another, hogging the cashier's time while everyone else waits. Eventually, the barista tells them to wait a few minutes before placing another order, and if they persist, they're asked to leave. This is how rate-limiting and slow-down work in the API world: they ensure no single user can hog all the resources, protecting your system from being overwhelmed.