The Origins (2010)
Swagger was first created in 2010 by Tony Tam, a developer at Reverb Technologies (formerly Wordnik).
It started as an open-source project designed to solve a common problem: documenting RESTful APIs in a way that was both machine-readable and human-friendly.
Before Swagger, API documentation was often a mess—either scattered across various wiki pages or written in long, unreadable text files. Developers struggled with inconsistent documentation, making API consumption difficult.
Early Growth (2011-2014)
Swagger gained rapid popularity in the early 2010s as companies realized its benefits. It introduced:
- A standardized way to describe APIs using JSON/YAML
- Interactive API documentation with the Swagger UI
- Code generation tools that allowed developers to create API clients and server stubs automatically
I started using it around 2015, the appeal being how it took alot of pain out of maintaining APIs and documentation.
SmartBear Acquisition (2015)
In 2015, SmartBear Software acquired Swagger. Instead of keeping it closed-source, they donated it to the OpenAPI Initiative (OAI), a Linux Foundation project aimed at standardizing API specifications.
This was a big moment because it ensured Swagger (now called OpenAPI Specification or OAS) would remain open and widely adopted.
Rebranding & OpenAPI Specification (2016-Present)
After joining OAI, the specification was renamed OpenAPI Specification (OAS), but the Swagger tools (Swagger UI, Swagger Editor, etc.) remained.
Since then:
- 2017: OpenAPI 3.0 was released, bringing major improvements in API definitions.
- 2021: OpenAPI 3.1 was released, aligning more closely with JSON Schema.
- Now: OpenAPI remains the gold standard for defining APIs, with Swagger tools widely used alongside other solutions like Postman and Redoc.
Legacy & Impact
Swagger revolutionized REST API documentation and development. Today, it is:
- Used by thousands of companies (including Microsoft, Google, and Amazon)
- A critical part of modern API development workflows
- The foundation of the OpenAPI Specification, which is supported by countless tools and frameworks
Even though OpenAPI is the official standard, many people still call it Swagger, showing how deeply it has influenced the industry.