Dreamware / Services / Software Engineering / API Design & Integration
API Design & Integration
REST, GraphQL, event-driven architectures, third-party integration.
About this service
APIs are the connective tissue of modern software. Whether you need to expose your platform's capabilities to partners, integrate with third-party services, or connect internal systems that grew up separately, the quality of your API design determines how much friction everything downstream has.
We design APIs that are intuitive, consistent, and well-documented — the kind that developers enjoy working with. We build REST APIs for straightforward resource-oriented interfaces, GraphQL for flexible data access patterns, and event-driven architectures when systems need to react to things that happen rather than asking for data.
Third-party integration is often where complexity hides: rate limits, inconsistent data formats, unreliable webhooks, authentication schemes that don't fit your model. We've integrated with the full range of NZ business software — Xero, MYOB, Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, various government APIs — and we know where the sharp edges are.
How Dreamware approaches this
We start by understanding the consumer of the API — not just the current consumer, but the likely future ones. Good API design requires thinking about how the interface will evolve and how to make breaking changes without breaking clients. We apply REST constraints or GraphQL patterns deliberately, not just because they're familiar.
For event-driven systems, we design the event schema and message contracts with the same rigour as synchronous APIs. We think through ordering guarantees, idempotency, dead-letter queues, and observability from the start — not after the first production incident.
What you get
- API design — OpenAPI specification or GraphQL schema with documented conventions
- Implemented API — production-ready, with authentication, rate limiting, and error handling
- Integration layer — adapters for third-party systems with appropriate retry and error handling
- API documentation — developer-facing docs with examples and getting started guides
- Test suite — contract tests and integration tests
- Postman collection or equivalent — for client teams to explore and test the API
Investment guide
API design and integration projects typically run $12,000–$45,000 NZD. Greenfield API design and implementation for a single service runs $12,000–$25,000. Complex integration work connecting multiple third-party systems with significant data transformation sits higher. Third-party integration projects are often scoped after an initial assessment ($1,500–$3,000) to understand the target API's actual behaviour.
All pricing in NZD excluding GST. Fixed-price engagements where scope allows — we'll confirm pricing after a free scoping conversation.
Ready to get started?
Book a free conversation. We'll tell you honestly what's realistic, what it costs, and how we'd approach it.