I had a system design interview where the prompt was basically: “Design Instagram from scratch. Handle feeds, media uploads, caching, high-traffic accounts, and ensure that when someone unfollows another user, their photos immediately become non-viewable.” Here’s exactly how I approached it as a developer and engineering manager — clean, technical, and to the point. 1. […]
Security Best Practices for Building HIPAA-Compliant APIs
Healthcare systems move a lot of private data between apps, hospitals, and insurance systems. This data, known as Protected Health Information or PHI, includes details about a patient’s identity, medical history, and treatment. If PHI is exposed, it can cause serious harm to patients and lead to major legal penalties for the company handling it. […]
Designing a Unified API Layer for HL7 FHIR Data Exchange
Healthcare systems generate large volumes of data spread across different platforms — electronic health records, insurance systems, lab software, and more. Each one structures information in its own way, often making interoperability difficult. The HL7 FHIR (Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources) standard was created to improve how healthcare data is exchanged. It defines resource structures such […]
Designing an API as Hub Architecture to Connect Two Independent Healthcare Systems
Connecting two independent healthcare systems is always more complicated than the surface requirements suggest. I recently had to design a near-real-time integration between two products that historically lived in complete isolation. Each platform had its own backend, database, data model, and operational assumptions. Now they needed to exchange information bi-directionally—without becoming tightly coupled and without […]
Building a Unified API Architecture for Reliability, Security, and Observability
Every modern SaaS product eventually needs to connect with multiple systems. These could include EHR and EMR platforms, CRMs, HR tools, accounting systems, or AI services. Each has its own API design, authentication rules, and data formats. Without a unified approach, every integration adds new complexity. The solution is to build a unified API architecture […]
Designing a Centralized Unified API Hub for Scalable SaaS Platforms
As SaaS companies grow, they integrate with dozens of external systems—CRMs, EHRs, accounting platforms, AI tools, and more. Each new connection adds complexity: more endpoints, credentials, monitoring needs, and maintenance work. Without a clear structure, integrations become scattered across services, and scaling them becomes difficult. A centralized unified API hub solves this problem. It provides […]
How Unified APIs Simplify Testing Across Multiple Integrations
Testing APIs is one of the most time-consuming and error-prone parts of integration development. Every external system has its own structure, authentication, and quirks. For teams building SaaS products that connect to EHR, EMR, CRM, accounting, or AI data systems, testing each individual API can become a full-time job. A unified API changes that. Instead […]
How Data Normalization Keeps Your Unified API Consistent Across Platforms
When you build a unified API, one of the biggest challenges is that every external system speaks a different language. Some use first_name, others use FirstName or fname. Some return timestamps in UTC, others use local time. Some APIs include nested objects while others flatten everything. Without a clear structure, your unified API quickly turns […]
How to Build a Scalable Unified API Layer for Your SaaS
If your SaaS product needs to connect with other platforms, you will eventually face the same problem every modern team faces: too many integrations. Each system has its own API, authentication, and data format. Building and maintaining separate connections for every platform quickly becomes hard to manage. A unified API layer solves this by acting […]
What Is a Unified API? How It Simplifies Integration Across Platforms
Modern software rarely works alone. Most products connect to many other tools—CRMs, HR platforms, payment gateways, or analytics systems. Each of these tools has its own API with different authentication, endpoints, and data models. As your customer base grows, integrating with all those systems becomes a full-time job. A unified API fixes this by acting […]