You know the drill. You’ve got a prototype to build, an integration to test, or a front-end you need to demo… but you’re stuck.
Not because the code is hard. Because the data isn’t there.
You want to simulate a CRM. Or invoice syncing. Or product catalog APIs. And all you’ve got is the Swagger Pet Store. (Seriously—why is that still the default?)
That’s exactly the frustration that led us to create apiexplorer.io: a completely free API playground built for developers who need realistic business APIs—not toy endpoints.
The Problem with Traditional “Demo” APIs
There are plenty of public APIs out there. JSONPlaceholder is a classic. ReqRes is nice. Stripe and Shopify offer sandboxes if you’re willing to sign up and wade through auth flows.
But none of them are designed for what real developers actually need in the earliest phases of app development and system integration:
- Mocking up workflows
- Building frontend demos
- Teaching or learning API patterns
- Prototyping automation
And none of them offer generic, realistic business objects like Customers, Orders, Invoices, or HR Records—without friction.
The Idea Behind apiexplorer.io
We wanted a space where you could instantly hit well-documented, mock-but-functional APIs representing the kinds of systems real businesses use.
So we built one.
With apiexplorer.io, you can test and build against a suite of APIs that behave like real business backends:
- Customers linked to Orders
- Products tied to Invoices
- CRUD support for everything
- Realistic data flows that mirror ERP/CRM logic
Each API comes with OpenAPI specs, a Postman collection, and a live Explorer UI for poking around. You get sample data that’s editable and test-friendly—without requiring a signup, sales call, or corporate sandbox.
Why We Used Lonti to Build It
This wasn’t just a side project—we used it to test our own stack.
We built the backend in Negroni, using Common Data Model principles to ensure consistency across APIs. Then we exposed those data models in Martini, our low-code API builder and orchestrator.
To top it off, we gave each API its own lightweight frontend using Bellini, so devs could see what the data looked like visually before hitting the endpoints.
It was our way of pressure-testing the tools we give to developers. Turns out? It works really well.
Real Developer Use Cases
This isn’t just about building pretty dashboards. Since launching, devs have used apiexplorer.io to:
- Prototype multi-system workflows without touching production
- Onboard junior engineers with real, low-risk API interactions
- Build and test frontends in Bellini or with their own React/Vue/Next apps
- Demo API-powered apps to clients—no fragile backends required
Whether you're testing failure scenarios, simulating data syncs, or building UI on top of predictable endpoints, it's a game-changer.
You Don’t Have to Use Lonti (But It Helps)
Everything in apiexplorer.io is open and standards-based. You can plug it into Postman, curl, your Node.js app, your Zapier flows—whatever.
That said, it integrates beautifully with the Lonti platform if you want to:
- Bind endpoints to Bellini components
- Orchestrate APIs in Martini
- Model and publish new APIs in Negroni
We built it to be useful either way.
Final Thoughts
We couldn’t find the kind of API sandbox we needed to move fast, so we built one—and now it’s yours too.
If you’re a developer working on apps, integrations, or automations, and you just need a reliable place to start—this is it.
No more placeholder JSON. No more staging environment gatekeeping. No more waiting.
Original source: We Couldn’t Find Free Business APIs to Prototype With — So We Built Them
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