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<!DOCTYPE html>

<head>

<title>API Integration - Full Stack Python</title>

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<span class="logo-title"><a href="https://www.fullstackpython.com/">Full Stack Python</a></span>

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<h1>API Integration</h1>

<p>The majority of production Python web applications rely on several

externally hosted application programming interfaces (APIs). APIs are also

commonly referred to as third party services or external platforms.

Examples include <a href="https://www.twilio.com/docs/">Twilio</a> for messaging and

voice services, <a href="https://stripe.com/docs/api">Stripe</a> for payment processing

and <a href="https://disqus.com/api/docs/">Disqus</a> for embedded webpage comments.</p>

<p>There are many articles about proper API design but best practices for

integrating APIs is less commonly written about. However, this subject

continuously grows in importance because APIs provide critical functionality

across many implementation areas.</p>

<h2>Hosted API testing services</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<p><a href="https://www.runscope.com/">Runscope</a> is a service specifically designed

for APIs that assists developers with automated testing and traffic

inspection.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://apiary.io/">Apiary</a> provides a blueprint for creating APIs so

they are easier to test and generate clean documentation.</p>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>API Integration Resources</h2>

<ul>

<li>

<p>Some developers prefer to use

<a href="http://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/">Requests</a> instead of an API's

helper library. In that case check out this

<a href="http://engineering.hackerearth.com/2014/08/21/python-requests-module/">tutorial on using requests to access web APIs</a>.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Product Hunt lists many commonly used

<a href="https://www.producthunt.com/e/an-api-for-everything">commercial and free web APIs</a>

to show "there's an API for everything".</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>There's a list of all government web APIs at

<a href="http://18f.github.io/API-All-the-X/">18F's API-All-the-X list</a>. The list

is updated whenever a new API comes online.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>If you use Requests check out this handy guide on gracefully

<a href="http://www.mobify.com/blog/http-requests-are-hard/">handling HTTP errors with Python</a>.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>John Sheehan's

"<a href="https://speakerdeck.com/johnsheehan/zen-and-the-art-of-api-maintenance">Zen and the Art of API Maintenance</a>"

slides are relevant for API integration.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>This post on

"<a href="https://stormpath.com/blog/api-driven-development/">API Driven Development</a>"

by Randall Degges explains how using APIs in your application cuts down

on the amount of code you have to write and maintain so you can launch your

application faster.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://www.slideshare.net/SmartBear_Software/safe-sex-with-thirdparty-apis">Safe Sex with Third Party APIs</a>

is a funny high level overview of what you should do to protect your

application when relying on third party services.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="http://www.coglib.com/~icordasc/blog/2014/12/retries-in-requests.html">Retries in Requests</a>

is a nice tutorial for easily re-executing failed HTTP requests with the

Requests library.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>My DjangoCon 2013 talk dove into

"<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iGP8DQIqxXs">Making Django Play Nice With Third Party Services</a>."</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>If you're looking for a fun project that uses two web APIs within a

Django application, try out this tutorial to

<a href="https://www.twilio.com/blog/2014/11/build-your-own-pokedex-with-django-mms-and-pokeapi.html">Build your own Pokédex with Django, MMS and PokéAPI</a>.</p>

</li>

<li>

is a way to capture and replay HTTP requests with mocks. It's extremely

useful for testing API integrations.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p><a href="https://realpython.com/blog/python/caching-external-api-requests/">Caching external API requests</a>

is a good post on how to potentially limit the number of HTTP calls

required when accessing an external web API via the Requests library.</p>

</li>

</ul>

<h2>API integration learning checklist</h2>

<ol>

<li>

<p>Pick an API known for top notch documentation. Here's a list of

<a href="https://medium.com/she-hacks-hacker-academy/4d3c43be9386">ten APIs that are a good starting point for beginners</a>.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Read the API documentation for your chosen API. Figure out a simple

use case for how your application could be improved by using that API.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Before you start writing any code, play around with the API through the

commandline with <a href="http://curl.haxx.se/">cURL</a> or in the browser with

<a href="http://www.getpostman.com/">Postman</a>. This exercise will help you get

a better understanding of API authentication and the data required for

requests and responses.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Evaluate whether to use a helper library or work with

<a href="http://docs.python-requests.org/en/latest/">Requests</a>. Helper libraries

are usually easier to get started with while Requests gives you more

control over the HTTP calls.</p>

</li>

<li>

<p>Move your API calls into a <a href="/task-queues.html">task queue</a> so they do not

block the HTTP request-response cycle for your web application.</p>

</li>

</ol>

<h3>What's next after integrating web APIs into your project?</h3>

<p class="under-btn">How do I create an API for my web application?</p> </div>

</div>

<p class="under-btn">How do I log errors that occur in my application?</p> </div>

</div>

<p class="under-btn">What can I do to mitigate security vulnerability in my web app?</p> </div>

</div>

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<h4>Sign up here to receive a monthly email with major updates to this site, tutorials and discount codes for Python books.</h4>

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<p style="font-size: .8em; margin-top: 10px;">Searching for a complete, step-by-step deployment walkthrough? Learn more about <a href="http://www.deploypython.com/">The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book</a>.

</p>

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<h3 class="panel-head">Email Updates</h3>

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<h5>Sign up to get a monthly email with Python tutorials and major updates to this site.</h5>

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<h3 class="panel-head"><a href="/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fff;">Table of Contents</a></h3>

</div>

<a href="/introduction.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>1. Introduction</a><a href="/learning-programming.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Learning Programming</a><a href="/why-use-python.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Why Use Python?</a><a href="/python-2-or-3.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Python 2 or 3?</a><a href="/enterprise-python.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Enterprise Python</a><a href="/best-python-resources.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Best Python Resources</a><a href="/best-python-videos.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Best Python Videos</a><a href="/development-environments.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>2. Development Environments</a><a href="/vim.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Vim</a><a href="/emacs.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Emacs</a><a href="/python-programming-language.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>3. Core Language</a><a href="/generators.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Generators</a><a href="/comprehensions.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Comprehensions</a><a href="/web-development.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>4. Web Development</a><a href="/web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Web Frameworks</a><a href="/django.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Django</a><a href="/flask.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Flask</a><a href="/bottle.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Bottle</a><a href="/pyramid.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Pyramid</a><a href="/morepath.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Morepath</a><a href="/other-web-frameworks.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Other Web Frameworks</a><a href="/web-design.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Web Design</a><a href="/cascading-style-sheets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Cascading Style Sheets (CSS)</a><a href="/javascript.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>JavaScript</a><a href="/websockets.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>WebSockets</a><a href="/template-engines.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Template Engines</a><a href="/web-application-security.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Web Application Security</a><a href="/static-site-generator.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Static Site Generators</a><a href="/jinja2.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Jinja2</a><a href="/data.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>5. Data</a><a href="/databases.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Relational Databases</a><a href="/no-sql-datastore.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>NoSQL Data Stores</a><a href="/object-relational-mappers-orms.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Object-relational Mappers</a><a href="/postgresql.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>PostgreSQL</a><a href="/mysql.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>MySQL</a><a href="/sqlite.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>SQLite</a><a href="/application-programming-interfaces.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>6. Web APIs</a><a href="/api-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item active" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>API Integration</a><a href="/api-creation.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>API Creation</a><a href="/deployment.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>7. Deployment</a><a href="/servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Servers</a><a href="/platform-as-a-service.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Platform-as-a-Service</a><a href="/operating-systems.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Operating Systems</a><a href="/web-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Web Servers</a><a href="/wsgi-servers.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>WSGI Servers</a><a href="/source-control.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Source Control</a><a href="/application-dependencies.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Application Dependencies</a><a href="/static-content.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Static Content</a><a href="/task-queues.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Task Queues</a><a href="/configuration-management.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Configuration Management</a><a href="/continuous-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Continuous Integration</a><a href="/logging.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Logging</a><a href="/monitoring.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Monitoring</a><a href="/web-analytics.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Web Analytics</a><a href="/docker.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Docker</a><a href="/caching.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Caching</a><a href="/microservices.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Microservices</a><a href="/devops.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>DevOps</a><a href="/nginx.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Nginx</a><a href="/apache-http-server.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Apache HTTP Server</a><a href="/caddy.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Caddy</a><a href="/green-unicorn-gunicorn.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Green Unicorn (Gunicorn)</a><a href="/ubuntu.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Ubuntu</a><a href="/testing.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>8. Testing</a><a href="/unit-testing.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Unit Testing</a><a href="/integration-testing.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Integration Testing</a><a href="/code-metrics.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Code Metrics</a><a href="/debugging.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Debugging</a><a href="/bots.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Bots</a><a href="/what-full-stack-means.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>9. Meta</a><a href="/change-log.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Change Log</a><a href="/future-directions.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>Future Directions</a><a href="/about-author.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif; padding-left: 27px;'>About the Author</a> <a href="/table-of-contents.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",san-serif;background-color:#22B24C; color: #fff;'>...or <span style="border-bottom: 1px dotted;">view the full table of contents</span>.</a>

</div>

</div> <div class="panel panel-success">

<div class="panel-heading"><h3 class="panel-head">API Integration</h3></div>

Major updates are tweeted via

<a href="https://twitter.com/fullstackpython">@fullstackpython</a>.

<hr/>

Need more detailed tutorials than you see here?

<a href="http://www.deploypython.com/">Learn more about The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book.</a>

</div>

<h3 class="panel-head"><a href="/table-of-contents.html" style="color: #fff;">Chapters</a></h3>

</div>

<a href="/introduction.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>1. Introduction</a><a href="/development-environments.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>2. Development Environments</a><a href="/python-programming-language.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>3. Core Language</a><a href="/web-development.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>4. Web Development</a><a href="/data.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>5. Data</a><a href="/application-programming-interfaces.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>6. Web APIs</a> <a href="/api-integration.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item active" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>» API Integration</a>

<a href="/deployment.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>7. Deployment</a><a href="/testing.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>8. Testing</a><a href="/what-full-stack-means.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item " style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",sans-serif;'>9. Meta</a> <a href="/table-of-contents.html" class="list-group-item smaller-item" style='font-family: "Helvetica Neue",san-serif;background-color:#22B24C; color: #fff;'>...or <span style="border-bottom: 1px dotted;">view the full table of contents</span>.</a>

</div>

</div></div></div>

<hr/>

</div>

<p class="banner"><a href="https://www.gumroad.com/l/python-deployments" style="color: #fff">Learning web development? Check out The Full Stack Python Guide to Deployments book</a>!</p>

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</div> <div class="container">

<a href="http://www.mattmakai.com/" class="underline">Matt Makai</a>

2016

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