What company had the first API?
11th October 2010
My answer to What company had the first API? on Quora
They weren’t the first to have an API, but Flickr were the first consumer web site that really pushed the concept in my opinion. They originally promoted it as “you can always get your data back if you want to”, but they then greatly benefited from the ecosystem that grew up around it.
More recent articles
- Writing about Agentic Engineering Patterns - 23rd February 2026
- Adding TILs, releases, museums, tools and research to my blog - 20th February 2026
- Two new Showboat tools: Chartroom and datasette-showboat - 17th February 2026