Standards are what power APIs. The foundation of modern HTTP APIs is the same foundation for the web–HTTP 1.1, and now HTTP/3. From there other standards like JSON, YAML, OpenAPI, JSON Schema, OAuth, JWT, and Spectral are used to shape API operations using modern API governance practices. APIs and API governance are defined by standards, and 50-75% of your API operations should employ Internet and industry standards, with the remaining being a mix of custom internal code and artifacts that are always leaning toward standardization.
Governance standards begin these fundamentals, but then should go more granular like Problem Details for HTTP APIs as part of standardizing errors, and ISO 8601 for your date parameters and properties. But don’t stop there. Every new policy and API should begin with a search for existing schema, examples, and other evidence from the industry or actual formal standards. Standardization saves time and money, and increases interoperability and business opportunity.
Keep track of the standards you depend, showcase them regularly to teams who are producing APIs, but also your consumers. Get involved in the standards community whenever possible, and make sure to stay up to date with latest changes to any standard you adopt. Always look outside your enterprise for standards, but then also push for standardization of schema and process within the enterprise. Who knows, maybe some day you’ll create something that you can open source and contribute back to the community, and adding to someone else list of standards they depend on.