Technical Specifications

aid: technical-specifications
name: Technical Specifications
description: Technical specifications are detailed technical requirements, standards, and parameters that define the characteristics
  and performance criteria of a product, system, or service. In the API and software domain, technical specifications include
  formal API description formats (OpenAPI, AsyncAPI, JSON Schema), data exchange formats (JSON, XML, CSV, Protobuf), communication
  protocols (HTTP, gRPC, WebSocket, GraphQL), and encoding standards. Organizations adopt technical specifications to address
  interoperability, consistency, and governance challenges in their technology environments. Key specifications in the API
  economy include the OpenAPI Specification, AsyncAPI Specification, JSON Schema, RAML, API Blueprint, and GraphQL SDL.
url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/technical-specifications/refs/heads/main/apis.yml
created: '2025-01-01'
modified: '2026-05-03'
specificationVersion: '0.19'
tags:
- Documentation
- Engineering
- Requirements
- Specifications
- Standards
apis:
- aid: technical-specifications:openapi-specification
  name: OpenAPI Specification
  description: The OpenAPI Specification (OAS) is a vendor-neutral, language-agnostic interface to HTTP APIs that allows both
    humans and computers to discover and understand the capabilities of a service. An OpenAPI document describes or is used
    to generate clients, servers, documentation, test cases, and tooling. Maintained by the OpenAPI Initiative under the Linux
    Foundation.
  humanURL: https://www.openapis.org/
  baseURL: https://spec.openapis.org/oas/v3.1.0
  tags:
  - API Description
  - Documentation
  - HTTP
  - OpenAPI
  - REST
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://spec.openapis.org/oas/latest.html
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.openapis.org/
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/OAI/OpenAPI-Specification
- aid: technical-specifications:asyncapi-specification
  name: AsyncAPI Specification
  description: AsyncAPI is an open source initiative that seeks to improve the current state of event-driven architectures
    (EDA). The AsyncAPI Specification is used to describe and document message-driven APIs in a machine-readable format. It
    supports protocols such as AMQP, MQTT, Kafka, WebSocket, and HTTP.
  humanURL: https://www.asyncapi.com/
  baseURL: https://spec.asyncapi.com/versions/3.0.0
  tags:
  - AsyncAPI
  - Event-Driven
  - Messaging
  - Streaming
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://www.asyncapi.com/docs
  - type: Website
    url: https://www.asyncapi.com/
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/asyncapi/spec
- aid: technical-specifications:json-schema
  name: JSON Schema
  description: JSON Schema is a vocabulary that allows you to annotate and validate JSON documents. It is used to define the
    structure, constraints, and semantics of JSON data, and underpins both OpenAPI and AsyncAPI for data model definitions.
    The current stable version is Draft 2020-12.
  humanURL: https://json-schema.org/
  baseURL: https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12
  tags:
  - Data Validation
  - JSON
  - Schema
  - Validation
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://json-schema.org/learn/getting-started-step-by-step
  - type: Website
    url: https://json-schema.org/
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/json-schema-org/json-schema-spec
- aid: technical-specifications:graphql
  name: GraphQL Specification
  description: GraphQL is a query language for APIs and a runtime for fulfilling those queries with your existing data. GraphQL
    provides a complete and understandable description of the data in your API, gives clients the power to ask for exactly
    what they need, and makes it easier to evolve APIs over time. Maintained by the GraphQL Foundation under the Linux Foundation.
  humanURL: https://graphql.org/
  baseURL: https://spec.graphql.org/October2021
  tags:
  - GraphQL
  - Query Language
  - Schema
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://graphql.org/learn/
  - type: Website
    url: https://graphql.org/
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/graphql/graphql-spec
  - url: graphql/technical-specifications-graphql.md
    type: GraphQL
- aid: technical-specifications:grpc
  name: gRPC
  description: gRPC is a modern open source high performance Remote Procedure Call (RPC) framework that can run in any environment.
    It uses Protocol Buffers as the interface description language and supports bidirectional streaming and flow control.
    Originally developed by Google, now a CNCF project.
  humanURL: https://grpc.io/
  baseURL: https://grpc.io/docs/
  tags:
  - gRPC
  - Protocol Buffers
  - RPC
  - Streaming
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://grpc.io/docs/
  - type: Website
    url: https://grpc.io/
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/grpc/grpc
- aid: technical-specifications:raml
  name: RAML Specification
  description: RAML (RESTful API Modeling Language) is a YAML-based language for describing RESTful APIs. RAML enables you
    to manage the whole API lifecycle from design to sharing. It provides a human-readable format that describes RESTful API
    models and supports reuse via includes and libraries.
  humanURL: https://raml.org/
  baseURL: https://raml.org/spec
  tags:
  - API Description
  - Modeling
  - RAML
  - REST
  properties:
  - type: Documentation
    url: https://github.com/raml-org/raml-spec/blob/master/versions/raml-10/raml-10.md
  - type: Website
    url: https://raml.org/
  - type: GitHub
    url: https://github.com/raml-org/raml-spec
common:
- type: VulnerabilityDisclosure
  url: security/technical-specifications-vulnerability-disclosure.yml
- type: DomainSecurity
  url: security/technical-specifications-domain-security.yml
- type: Website
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Specification_(technical_standard)
- type: About
  url: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technical_standard
- type: Vocabulary
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/technical-specifications/refs/heads/main/vocabulary/technical-specifications-vocabulary.yml
- type: JSONLDContext
  url: https://raw.githubusercontent.com/api-evangelist/technical-specifications/refs/heads/main/json-ld/technical-specifications-context.jsonld
maintainers:
- FN: Kin Lane
  email: kin@apievangelist.com