How to build a unified API for your product integrations

Building integrations with multiple third-party APIs can become complex due to various authentication flows, data models, and rate limits, leading many B2B SaaS companies to adopt unified APIs for a streamlined approach. Unified APIs offer a single interface for interacting with different APIs, simplifying integration logic, reducing maintenance, and improving developer experience. While pre-built unified APIs can accelerate initial development, many companies eventually need to create custom unified APIs to cater to specific business needs and data models. The construction of unified APIs involves defining interactions with external APIs, establishing a consistent data model, and implementing robust error handling. Despite the advantages, there are challenges such as unification limitations and the need for ongoing maintenance of mapping logic. Custom unified APIs offer flexibility and control but require significant upfront development effort. Companies should consider their specific use cases, opting for unified APIs when supporting multiple APIs with similar functionalities, while direct integrations might be better for core systems requiring specific functionalities. The process involves starting with one API, expanding incrementally, and using the right tools and frameworks to ensure extensibility and maintainability.