3 ms·

Upstream APIs change constantly. How will you pay for the development costs, after your $120 boxed copy 1 year license is up?

CarelessExpert 6y ago
They... really don't. Any service with any level of client integration will a) version their APIs, and b) keep things sufficiently stable so that clients aren't constantly breaking.
- DenseComet 6y ago
  For everything but the most high profile platforms, IFTTT expects the service provider to build a custom API made for IFTTT, and pay IFTTT to include the service in their public catalog. https://platform.ifttt.com/docs/api_reference https://platform.ifttt.com/docs/api_reference
- elpatoisthebest 6y ago
  My experience has been different. I currently maintain about 280 different API integrations. I have a team that does constant maintenance. Usually 1-2 API breaking changes per day is what we see after you get past the stable big ones. Even versioned APIs kick you off the old version pretty regularly. In the upcoming months we have 3 scheduled version bumps that are mandatory as they will discontinue the old version completely. Not "use the new version for more features", like completely 100% "we are not supporting v2 any longer. You won't get responses in 60 days. Good luck." It's easy to say, "they're doing versioning wrong" but it's the reality. Everyone does oauth wrong. Everyone does versioning wrong. Everyone adds or removes fields that were once critical to someone's workflows. Maybe 25% of our integrations are a joy to work with. Once you get to the smaller players, things start to get weird.
  - skinnymuch 6y ago
    Can you explain a bit more about oAuth being done wrong by most people? One thing I notice is how some do the constant refresh token and most don’t.
  - CarelessExpert 6y ago
    > I currently maintain about 280 different API integrations. And if I was trying to self-host software that integrated with 280 different APIs, I'd probably have that problem, too. Most people don't need 280 different APIs. Then need a half dozen? Maybe a dozen? Most of which are likely to be the "stable big ones" that you refer to. So the rate of breakage in your experience just isn't applicable for anyone doing anything at the hobbyist level. That's not to say it's maintenance free! But I've been running my own automation with Huginn for a year now, and for what I need, I could not justify $120 per year.
  - especito 6y ago
    Seen a lot of ppl complaining at the price on Twitter and offering other smaller, unknown services. People rarely think that these aggregators store your access tokens to all services and they pretty much work as passwords. I would look up these services first and look at their investors - are they well known for their security standards and all. I think their price is fair if running these connections is your thing and you care about your information.

CarelessExpert 6y ago

They... really don't. Any service with any level of client integration will a) version their APIs, and b) keep things sufficiently stable so that clients aren't constantly breaking.

DenseComet 6y ago
For everything but the most high profile platforms, IFTTT expects the service provider to build a custom API made for IFTTT, and pay IFTTT to include the service in their public catalog. https://platform.ifttt.com/docs/api_reference https://platform.ifttt.com/docs/api_reference
elpatoisthebest 6y ago
My experience has been different. I currently maintain about 280 different API integrations. I have a team that does constant maintenance. Usually 1-2 API breaking changes per day is what we see after you get past the stable big ones. Even versioned APIs kick you off the old version pretty regularly. In the upcoming months we have 3 scheduled version bumps that are mandatory as they will discontinue the old version completely. Not "use the new version for more features", like completely 100% "we are not supporting v2 any longer. You won't get responses in 60 days. Good luck." It's easy to say, "they're doing versioning wrong" but it's the reality. Everyone does oauth wrong. Everyone does versioning wrong. Everyone adds or removes fields that were once critical to someone's workflows. Maybe 25% of our integrations are a joy to work with. Once you get to the smaller players, things start to get weird.
- skinnymuch 6y ago
  Can you explain a bit more about oAuth being done wrong by most people? One thing I notice is how some do the constant refresh token and most don’t.
- CarelessExpert 6y ago
  > I currently maintain about 280 different API integrations. And if I was trying to self-host software that integrated with 280 different APIs, I'd probably have that problem, too. Most people don't need 280 different APIs. Then need a half dozen? Maybe a dozen? Most of which are likely to be the "stable big ones" that you refer to. So the rate of breakage in your experience just isn't applicable for anyone doing anything at the hobbyist level. That's not to say it's maintenance free! But I've been running my own automation with Huginn for a year now, and for what I need, I could not justify $120 per year.
- especito 6y ago
  Seen a lot of ppl complaining at the price on Twitter and offering other smaller, unknown services. People rarely think that these aggregators store your access tokens to all services and they pretty much work as passwords. I would look up these services first and look at their investors - are they well known for their security standards and all. I think their price is fair if running these connections is your thing and you care about your information.