OpenAPI is more than API docs
Over the past five years, we’ve spoken with countless companies building and consuming APIs. One thing stands out: APIs have always been essential, but the way teams rely on OpenAPI standardization has kept evolving. It’s no longer just about generating API reference documentation. Today, OpenAPI is powering SDK generation, automated API workflows, AI-assisted pipelines, and even new protocols like MCP. Standardization isn’t a “nice-to-have” anymore: it’s the backbone that makes modern API ecosystems interoperable at scale.
That’s the story we want to highlight with this first OpenAPI meetup in Paris.
And for one night only, we’ve pulled together a supergroup of API rock stars to share how they’re pushing OpenAPI beyond docs: MongoDB, Booking.com, Algolia, and Phil Sturgeon. Different backgrounds, different styles, one stage.
📅 Wednesday, October 8, 2025
⏰ 18:30 – 21:30
📍 Algolia HQ, Paris
🍕 Free drinks and food after the talks
Get your ticket now.
Talks
🎶 Zach Winters: Building faster, smarter API documentation at MongoDB
At MongoDB, scaling API documentation to meet developer needs meant rethinking both performance and flexibility. In this talk, Zach Winters shares how his team tackled those challenges: improving load times, enabling customization, and shaping workflows that fit engineers rather than the other way around. Along the way, he’ll reflect on the value of close collaboration with tooling partners, and how that kind of relationship can unlock solutions that wouldn’t emerge in isolation. Expect practical takeaways on building fast, adaptable API docs that actually serve the people using them.
🎸 Marco Spinello: When AI goes off-script: tales from docs pipelines
Marco Spinello has documented REST APIs and Web SDKs in the past, and now he oversees documentation about accessibility and internal tooling at Booking.com.
Recently, his experiments with sprinkling AI into docs workflows haven’t always sparked joy, and he’s ready to talk about it. In this session, Marco shares a few candid “AI oops!” moments from the documentation pipeline trenches: the good, the bad, and the facepalm. Come for the stories, stay for the insights on what AI can and can’t do (yet!) for technical documentation.
🥁 Phil Sturgeon: What APIs can learn from the Internet
APIs don’t need to repeat the mistakes the web left behind. Phil Sturgeon will share what APIs can learn from the internet’s past: ditching megaJSON responses, using caching to cut costs and emissions, and streaming data instead of overloading servers. The result? Faster, cheaper, more efficient APIs that are better for engineers. And the planet.
🎤 Algolia team: One spec, many clients: scaling multi-Language SDKs at Algolia
At Algolia, one API definition powers a dozen client libraries across different languages. But generating and maintaining those clients is more than just codegen. It’s about balancing automation with the idioms and expectations of each ecosystem. In this talk, the Algolia team will share how they built and evolved their multi-language API client generation system: from keeping specs centralized and in sync, to ensuring each client still feels “native” to its language. Expect practical insights on scaling client SDKs without sacrificing developer experience.
If you work with APIs, OpenAPI, or developer platforms, this Paris meetup is for you. Join us at Algolia HQ to learn, share, and connect with the community.
