Stainless, an innovative startup, is transforming the API landscape with its unique SDK solutions tailored for industry leaders like OpenAI and Anthropic.
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Short Summary:
- Stainless is a rapidly growing startup known for generating SDKs for APIs effortlessly.
- Founded by ex-Stripe engineer Alex Rattray, the company leverages generative AI technology.
- Its services are aimed at enhancing the developer experience by automating SDK generation in multiple programming languages.
Stainless is making waves in the tech sector by providing SDK solutions that simplify API integration for major players like OpenAI, Anthropic, and other cutting-edge startups. Founded in 2022 by Alex Rattray, a former engineer at Stripe, the company is backed by investments from Sequoia Capital. The recent announcement highlights their ambitious plans to expand their team from 15 to around 70 employees over the next three years as they continue to innovate in the API development landscape.
The key driver behind Stainless’s success is its ability to generate Software Development Kits (SDKs) tailored for various programming languages. Rattray, who has a rich background in economics and programming, built Stainless after recognizing a gap in the market while working on API documentation at Stripe. He noted,
“Handwriting the SDKs couldn’t scale. Today, every API designer has to settle a million and one ‘bikeshed’ questions all over again, and painstakingly enforce consistency around these decisions across their API.”
What makes SDKs important? Essentially, APIs are protocols that enable communication between software components, while SDKs provide the tools needed to effectively use those APIs. Without an SDK, developers face the tedious task of reading extensive API documentation and constructing solutions from scratch—a far from ideal scenario. Stainless addresses this by automating SDK generation that adheres to the specific requirements of the API, thus enhancing the developer experience.
Technical Aspects of Stainless
The core offering of Stainless revolves around its SDK generation capabilities, which accept an API specification and produce high-quality SDKs in languages such as Python, TypeScript, Kotlin, Go, and Java. As APIs evolve, the Stainless platform seamlessly updates the corresponding SDKs, maintaining version control and changelogs.
Rattray elaborated on the necessity of this solution, explaining that “API companies today have a team of several people building libraries in each new language to connect to their API. These libraries inevitably become inconsistent, fall out of date and require constant changes from specialist engineers.” He believes Stainless will revolutionize how SDKs are built, growing the ecosystem around APIs.
Stainless vs. Other API Generators
While Stainless isn’t alone in the API-to-SDK generator arena—options like LibLab, Speakeasy, and long-standing open-source projects including the OpenAPI Generator exist—what sets Stainless apart is the added polish and attention to detail it offers. Rattray attributes part of this success to the incorporation of generative AI into their workflow. He stated:
“Stainless uses generative AI to produce an initial ‘Stainless config’ for customers, which is then up to them to fine-tune to their API. This is particularly valuable for AI companies, whose huge user bases include many novice developers trying to integrate with complex features like chat streaming and tools.”
This innovative approach has attracted a list of notable clients, including not only OpenAI and Anthropic but also Lithic, LangChain, Orb, Modern Treasury, and Cloudflare. Rattray revealed that Stainless has “dozens” of paying clients in its beta phase, with the OpenAI SDK being particularly successful, receiving millions of downloads every week.
Business Model and Revenue
On the financial front, Stainless presents an attractive business model: they charge between $250 per month and $30,000 per year for multiple SDKs across different programming languages, while publishing a single SDK via their platform remains free. Currently, most of their customers opt for the enterprise tier, which includes further specialized services and AI functionalities.
Despite running on revenue since inception, Rattray decided to seek additional funding to widen their product offerings. Recently, they closed a $3.5 million seed round, featuring investments from Sequoia Capital and The General Partnership. Anthony Kline, a partner at The General Partnership, remarked:
“Across the tech ecosystem, Stainless stands out as a beacon that elevates the developer experience, rivaling the high standard once set by Stripe.”
OpenAI’s Transition to Stainless
OpenAI has transformed how it handles SDK generation by partnering with Stainless. Previously reliant on a custom-built Python SDK, OpenAI faced challenges with upkeep and complex integrations required by their expanding product offerings. The team’s resources were stretched, with only one engineer dedicated to SDK maintenance. Rattray noted:
“We wanted our engineers to spend time building new APIs to help other businesses.”
This partnership has allowed OpenAI to swiftly roll out numerous API features while ensuring these features are efficiently supported by well-maintained SDKs. The collaboration led to:
- 25 new API features released with simultaneous SDK support.
- Over 100 GitHub issues resolved.
- Enhanced functionality respecting user feedback, including auto-retry and streaming features.
The Stainless approach provided OpenAI with a team of experts who take an active role in identification and resolution of programming issues, enhancing user experience without diverting significant internal resources. OpenAI’s API platform tech lead, Jacob Bednarz, expressed satisfaction with the collaboration:
“The decision to use Stainless has allowed us to move our focus from building the generation engine to instead building high-quality schemas to describe our services.”
The Future Landscape of API Development
As the digital landscape continues to evolve, the importance of seamless API integration cannot be understated. Rattray is vocal about his vision for the future, insisting that a comprehensive developer platform must not only provide documentation and logging but also address challenges surrounding API design and implementation seamlessly. He mentioned:
“With our upcoming Stainless API framework, you’ll be able to declare the shape and behavior of your API in a declarative TypeScript code, generating an OpenAPI specification and documentation without a build step.”
The objective is to create a standard where every developer can ship quality, type-safe REST APIs from a single framework. This foresight aligns with Rattray’s commitment to building open-source standards that favor the developer experience while also investing in the quality of the existing REST ecosystem, which has traditionally faced issues of fragmentation.
In a world where developers navigate various tools, programming languages, and integration challenges, Stainless positions itself as a comprehensive solution provider aimed at bridging these gaps, ensuring that as APIs continue to define the future of software development, they do so in a way that is swift, reliable, and user-friendly.
As such, the journey of Stainless and its contributions are not only impressive but significantly impactful for developers across sectors. By simplifying the integration process and harnessing the latest in AI technology, Stainless invites every developer to participate in this exciting evolution.
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