API-First vs. App-First Approach: Choosing the Right Development Strategy

What Is API-First Development?

API-first development prioritizes the design and implementation of an application programming interface first. This approach helps create a robust and well-defined API that serves as a foundation for the entire application system, including front-end and back-end.

APIs are often referred to as " messengers” between the front-end and back-end. They allow applications to interact and communicate. APIs also define a set of protocols that programs need to follow.

API-first development entails:

1. API design process — This is the beginning of an API which involves defining the endpoints, request and response formats, authentication methods, and other details.
2. Decoupled architecture — By designing APIs first, developers separate front-end and back-end. Such decoupling helps teams work independently and simultaneously, leading to a much more efficient software development process.
3. Reusability — APIs are designed for reuse across different applications and platforms. You can use one API for web, mobile, and other client applications.
4. Documentation and testing — The creation of interactive API documentation is a part of the API-first strategy, which helps developers understand the API. Automated tests help ensure API’s consistency and reliability.

The API-first approach is a forward-thinking approach that helps improve software design through better modularity, scalability, and collaboration.

Why Do We Use an API-First Approach?

At Multimodal, we believe that developing APIs should come before developing applications. That’s why we are committed to adopting an API-first approach.

This is how ensure that our AI solutions are robust, scalable, and versatile. It also aligns well with our commitment to deliver AI capabilities tailored to our clients’ needs.

By prioritizing APIs,  our clients can seamlessly integrate our solutions with their existing systems.

• For example, Document AI can be easily integrated with existing loan origination systems.
• Decision AI can be seamlessly integrated with insurance underwriting software.
• Database AI and Conversational AI can be integrated with existing knowledge management or customer support systems.

With the API-first approach, our clients don’t have to replace the whole system, but rather upgrade it with AI Agents. The possibilities range from integration into web apps or mobile apps to backend systems.

Such integration of our API-based AI solutions helps our clients automate middle and back-office tasks, reduce costs, and deliver better client experiences without extensive disruption to their workflow.

By eliminating the complexity of technical integration challenges, our AI solutions help companies drive business outcomes much more efficiently.

As a result, our clients get AI solutions that continuously grow their business while we empower our clients to innovate with maximum efficiency.

“You also want your solution to be flexible and easy to integrate. That’s why we take an API-first approach. This allows clients to leverage our AI capabilities in many different ways. For example, they can access them via a web app, interact with the AI agent directly, or integrate it into their own applications.” — Andrew McKishnie, Senior NLP Engineer at Multimodal

App-First vs. API-First Approach

The app-first approach focuses on building the application’s interface first. The API-first approach first builds out the robust API before developing the front-end and back-end.

App-First Approach:

• Begins with the design and implementation of a user interface.
• Front-end and back-end are integrated which makes the application act as a single unit.
• The back-end of an app supports the front-end during the design in a linear process.
• Such an approach is easier to manage for smaller projects due to straightforward development and deployment.
• The quick development of the front-end allows early user feedback that can lead to the app’s design improvements.

API-First Approach:

• API is designed first to define how the front-end and back-end interact.
• API documentation and clear specifications ensure better communication and coordination between development teams.
• APIs provide a uniform way to access data and services, which ensures better consistency across different platforms and clients.
• API contracts are much more versatile, as they make it easier to integrate new technologies without disrupting the existing service.
• Simplifies the third-party integration to expand the application’s ecosystem.

App-First vs. API-First Strategies for AI Solutions

Building the app’s interface first can lead to coupled systems that are quite challenging to maintain and scale, especially when integrating AI functionalities or dealing with robust data handling and processing capabilities.

That’s why the API-first approach is a much better choice for the development of AI solutions. Designing an API first sets clear instructions for how different key components of the system interact, allowing for parallel and independent development of AI models.

API’s flexibility is well-suited to AI advancements, which require continuous improvement and adaptation.

Therefore, the API-first approach helps build better AI solutions that are robust, maintainable, and future-proof, with an easy way of integrating new AI technologies according to user demand.

Pros and Cons of the App-First Strategy

Pros of App-First Approach

1. Quick prototyping — Helps quickly develop the user interface, gather early feedback, and make a user-centered design with early improvements.
2. Focused development — Provides an easier way to create an engaging user experience, ideal for consumer apps.
3. Simple setup — Simplifies the development process by avoiding the complexity of designing an API, which can reduce the time and resources needed to start the project.
4. Lower up-front costs — It reduces the immediate need for back-end and API development, which lowers the up-front costs that fit smaller budgets.
5. Phased complexity — By focusing more on front-end development, developers can incrementally add complexity to the back-end as the project evolves.

Cons of the App-First Approach

1. Limited scalability — Building AI with an app-first approach makes the scalability of AI functions difficult. This can reduce the ability to extend the app’s capabilities.
2. Integration challenges — Integrating complex features, such as AI functionalities, into an existing front-end is challenging and it requires difficult modifications.
3. Sequential development —The back-end that follows the front-end usually takes longer to develop. This can cause delays and negatively impact the progress of the back-end's development.
4. Maintenance and Flexibility — Ongoing maintenance is much more difficult, and for example, updating AI models requires changes across the entire application, which limits the adaptation to new technologies or updates.

Pros and Cons of the API-First Approach

Pros of API-First Approach

1. Improved scalability and reusability — It’s easier to extend AI functionalities to new environments without reworking the system with the API-first approach.
2. Parallel development — The development process is quicker and much more efficient.
3. Better collaboration — The API’s clear specification and documentation improve the communication between development teams, reducing integration issues.
4. Future-proofness — Stable API improves integration of new technologies, which makes it easier to adopt new AI functionalities.
5. Seamless integration — Standardized API makes integration into third-party apps effortless, which helps expand AI’s capabilities into established systems.

Cons of API-First Approach

1. Initial complexity — API-first strategy requires a more significant up-front investment to design and document an API, which is often complex and time-consuming.
2. Dependency on API quality — The success of the whole system often depends on the API’s quality and robustness. Low-quality APIs can lead to integration issues and inefficiencies.

Should You Choose an API-First or App-First Approach?

When deciding between an API-first and an app-first approach, you should consider the project’s long-term requirements.

In our case, the API-first strategy and its benefits align with our goals as they allow our AI solutions to grow and adapt to clients’ businesses across various industries.

The app-first approach has decent benefits, but it can also present many challenges regarding maintenance and scalability.

Key Factors to Consider When Choosing Your Approach

Several factors that make the biggest difference between the two include:

• Scalability — API-first supports scalable and modular development, which makes it easier to extend and integrate its functionalities with your system.
• Project complexity — The API-first strategy ensures consistent data access and streamlined integration.
• Development speed and feedback — The app-first approach provides a quick prototyping experience with early user feedback, which is ideal for refining user interface and experience.
• Team structure and expertise — The API-first strategy enables faster development which provides a faster time-to-market.
• Long-term maintenance — The API-first strategy ensures a more robust framework that’s ideal for future updates, helping your solution adapt as technology or business needs evolve.

Balancing these key factors ensures optimal outcomes.

While the app-first approach provides quicker prototyping and feedback, it might result in tightly coupled systems that can lead to the challenges we described earlier.  On the other hand, the API-first strategy supports better growth and integration consistency, which is ideal for complex projects or future flexibility.

Take Advantage of Our API-First Approach

We prioritize the API approach, which helps ensure our AI solutions are easy to scale and integrate into your existing systems.

If you’d like to learn more about our AI solutions that we can integrate directly into your workflow to enhance it with AI functionalities, please schedule a 30-minute call with our experts.

We can discuss your needs and find the best way to integrate AI-enabled APIs into your workflow to meet your needs by implementing AI functionalities. We can also show you how our AI solutions work live, so book a call today!