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OASQuali: Automated Quality Analysis of OpenAPI Specifications

Authors: Alix Decrop; Mikel Vandeloise; Patrick Heymans; Gilles Perrouin;

OASQuali: Automated Quality Analysis of OpenAPI Specifications

Abstract

The rapid adoption of modern web architectures (i.e., REST APIs) relies on clear and accurate documentation. The OpenAPI Specification (OAS) standard is widely adopted for this purpose, as it is machine-readable and provides a range of API-related fields. However, maintaining high-quality documentation is complex, as the frequent omission of important information significantly hinders the effectiveness of testing tools and API understanding. To address this problem, we introduce OASQuali, a tool that quantifies OAS quality across five dimensions: format, version, metadata, servers, and descriptions/examples. We conduct a large-scale empirical evaluation with 2,529 public specifications. Our results reveal a mean documentation quality of 67.11%. While aggregate quality is independent of API size, we identify a systemic "semantic gap" in large-scale implementations: As APIs enlarge, they become more up-to-date with OAS versions (53.10% -> 88.00%). However, the quality of their descriptions and examples drastically decreases (42.18% -> 24.00%). Notably, the absence of parameter examples in 86.95% of specifications represents a major bottleneck for operational clarity. OASQuali provides a rigorous framework for revealing these deficiencies, paving the way for more thoroughly documented web services.

Country
Belgium
Related Organizations
Keywords

REST APIs, OpenAPI Specification, Automated Analysis, Quality Metrics

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selected citations
These citations are derived from selected sources.
This is an alternative to the "Influence" indicator, which also reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Citations provided by BIP!
popularity
This indicator reflects the "current" impact/attention (the "hype") of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Popularity provided by BIP!
influence
This indicator reflects the overall/total impact of an article in the research community at large, based on the underlying citation network (diachronically).
BIP!Influence provided by BIP!
impulse
This indicator reflects the initial momentum of an article directly after its publication, based on the underlying citation network.
BIP!Impulse provided by BIP!
0
Average
Average
Average
Green