Get Started

The following sections explain important concepts and prerequisites for first-time users.

Read these sections to get started with API Hub for Portal.

Prerequisites

You need the following prerequisites to get started with API Hub for Portal:

API Hub subscription in one of available plans.
One of the following organization-level roles in the connected API Hub for Design organization:
- Designer
- Owner

Both API Hub for Portal and this documentation refer to the following user personas consistently:

Provider. A product designer whose aim is to showcase and promote products.
Consumer. A product user whose aim is to learn what products they can choose from and how to integrate those products into their systems.

API Hub for Portal has two distinct views to reflect the user personas. Each view serves a different function:

Provider view. This view lets you build your products and portal landing page.
Consumer view. This is the customer-facing view that showcases the products.

Capabilities of API Hub for Portal are gated. Learn more about pricing here.

You have the following options to navigate to API Hub for Portal:

In API Hub Home:
1. Select the waffle iron button in the top left corner.
2. Select API Hub for Portal.
In API Hub for Design:
1. Select the relevant organization.
2. Select the <your organization name> Portal button.
After your portal has been created, you can use the following URLs:
https://<portal name>.portal.swaggerhub.com/

You can log in to API Hub for Portal with SmartBear ID. See the SmartBear ID Documentation to learn about the login process and options.

A API Hub for Portal product contains the following resources:

APIs. One or more API definitions, linked from the respective API Hub for Design organization. APIs are always maintained in API Hub for Design.
Documentation. Pages explaining how to interact with the APIs. Pages are created in Markdown language. The page editor in API Hub for Portal features a graphical user interface, also known as a What You See Is What You Get (WYSIWYG) editor.

There are the following types of products in API Hub for Portal:

Public products. These products are visible to everyone without restrictions. Even users without a API Hub for Design account can view them.
Caution
Public products can contain private APIs. If a public product contains a private API, that private API is visible to everyone even if they are not given specific permissions at the organization or product level in API Hub for Design.
You are responsible for tracking the exposure of private APIs in your public products.
Private products. These products are only visible if you are:
- Logged in with SmartBear ID.
- A member of the connected API Hub for Design organization with one of the following organization-level or product-level roles:
  - Consumer
  - Designer
  - Owner
See Role Management to learn how to set up these roles.

API Hub for Portal allows you to set one of the following statuses:

Portal online. This status means that you can access both the provider view and the consumer view. Both providers and consumers can access and navigate your published portal when it is online.
Portal offline. This status means that you can only access the provider view. Opening the consumer view returns an offline message. Providers and consumers cannot access your published portal when it is offline.

You can change the visibility status of your portal anytime.

API Hub for Portal uses the following concepts and hierarchy:

A provider or consumer is a member of a API Hub for Design organization.
A API Hub for Design organization can have one associated portal.
A portal contains one or more products.
A product contains:
- One or more linked APIs.
- One or more documentation pages explaining how to consume the linked API or APIs.

Example Concept Hierarchy for API Hub for Portal

In this section: