Browse API History articles, tutorials, and practical guides from Automated Hacks.
Long before OpenAPI, developers relied on HTML forms, query strings, and CGI scripts as practical “APIs.” From 1995–1998, browser scripting and early dynamic web integration created implicit contracts that later demanded standardized API descriptions.
Slack’s API-era integrations didn’t appear out of nowhere. In 1995–1998, CGI scripts, HTML forms, early JavaScript, and intranet dashboards established the core patterns—requests, responses, automation triggers, and human-in-the-loop workflows—that later became familiar in Slack apps and webhooks.
GitHub’s API-driven automations didn’t appear out of nowhere. In 1995–1998, browser scripting, CGI endpoints, and HTML forms quietly established the practical patterns—requests, payloads, authentication, polling, and event notifications—that modern developer workflows now take for granted.
Twilio arrived much later, but the API patterns it popularized—parameterized requests, server-side endpoints, and callback-driven workflows—were prototyped on the early web via CGI scripts, HTML forms, and browser scripting between 1995 and 1998.
Stripe feels modern, but its developer-first approach has deep roots in 1995–1998: HTML forms, CGI scripts, early JavaScript, and the first mainstream patterns for integrating dynamic services on the web.
From SSL-protected form posts to CGI scripts and cookie-backed sessions, 1995–1998 quietly defined the first practical patterns for payment integration—proto-APIs that shaped modern checkout flows.
HTML5 media APIs didn’t appear out of nowhere. Between 1995 and 1998, the web experimented with CGI, forms, early scripting, and plugin-based playback—patterns that strongly influenced how browser-native media APIs would later be designed.
Long before EventSource and Server-Sent Events, developers in 1995–1998 tried to keep web pages “live” using CGI, forms, frames, and early browser scripting—laying conceptual groundwork for streaming web APIs.
WebSockets weren’t a 1990s technology, but the need for real-time interaction was. From CGI and HTML forms to early JavaScript and frames, 1995–1998 introduced the patterns—and the pain—that later shaped the WebSocket API.
In 1995–1998, the web didn’t have Web Workers—but it definitely had the problem they solve. This chapter traces how early JavaScript, CGI, and form-driven interactivity revealed the need for background processing in browsers.