I'm building a catalog of internal APIs and docs, what data sources should I integrate?

For an internal API/docs catalog, I’d integrate sources that cover both authoritative definitions and usage/ownership context.

Core data sources

1. API specifications

   • OpenAPI / Swagger
   • AsyncAPI
   • gRPC / protobuf definitions
   • GraphQL schemas
   • WSDL / SOAP, if you still have legacy services

2. Source code repositories

   • Service code
   • Interface contracts
   • README files
   • Doc comments / inline annotations
   • ADRs or design docs linked in repos

3. Documentation platforms

   • Confluence
   • Notion
   • GitBook
   • MkDocs / Docusaurus / internal wikis
   • SharePoint or other intranet docs

4. API gateways and management platforms

   • Kong, Apigee, AWS API Gateway, Azure API Management, etc.
   • Useful for routes, auth, rate limits, environments, and traffic metadata

5. Service catalog / CMDB / architecture tools

   • Backstage
   • ServiceNow CMDB
   • LeanIX, Lucid, Archi, etc.
   • Helps with ownership, dependencies, business criticality, lifecycle

6. CI/CD and deployment systems

   • GitHub Actions, GitLab CI, Jenkins, Argo CD, etc.
   • Helps identify what’s deployed, where, and how often

7. Observability and runtime systems

   • Logs, metrics, traces
   • Datadog, New Relic, Prometheus, Grafana, Splunk, OpenTelemetry
   • Useful for endpoint usage, error rates, latency, actual service interactions

8. Identity and access management

   • Okta, Azure AD, Auth0, IAM policies
   • Good for who can access what, auth schemes, and permission boundaries

9. Ticketing/project systems

   • Jira, Linear, ServiceNow
   • Useful for ownership, roadmap, deprecation, incidents, and support history

10. Communication channels

• Slack, Teams, email archives, incident channels
• Great for “tribal knowledge,” but usually best as a secondary/non-authoritative source

Metadata worth capturing

At minimum, try to normalize:

• API name, version, and type
• Owner/team and support contact
• Source-of-truth link
• Environment(s)
• Auth method/scopes
• Endpoints/events/messages
• Dependencies and consumers
• Status: active / deprecated / experimental / retired
• SLA/SLO or criticality
• Tags: domain, system, PII/regulated data, internal/external

Recommended source priority

If you want a practical order:

1. OpenAPI/AsyncAPI/protobuf/GraphQL schemas
2. Repo code + README/design docs
3. API gateway / service catalog
4. Docs wiki
5. Observability
6. CI/CD and ticketing systems

A good rule of thumb

Use:

• Specs as the source of truth for interface shape
• Repos for implementation context
• Catalog/CMDB for ownership and lifecycle
• Observability for real usage
• Docs/wiki for human explanations

If you want, I can also propose:

• a minimum viable schema for the catalog,
• a source priority matrix,
• or a platform-specific integration list for tools you already use.