One in Four Developers Now Design APIs for AI Agents, According to Postman’s 2025 State of the API Report

Findings highlight new security, collaboration, and business challenges as organizations ride the AI tidal wave

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Postman, the world’s leading API collaboration platform, today released the findings of its 7th annual State of the API Report, the industry’s most comprehensive look at APIs surveying over 5,700 developers and API professionals. This year’s report reveals that while APIs have cemented themselves as a cornerstone of modern software development -- with 83.2% of respondents adopting some level of an API-first approach -- organizations face new pressures from AI adoption, security threats, and collaboration at scale.

"This year’s report shows a clear turning point: APIs are no longer just powering applications, they’re powering AI agents,” said Abhinav Asthana, co-founder and CEO of Postman. “That shift brings enormous opportunity — but also raises the stakes for security, governance, and collaboration. Organizations that adapt their APIs for both human and machine consumption will set the pace for the next decade of software."

The 2025 State of the API Report also incorporates proprietary data observed on the Postman API Platform, which helps more than 40 million users and 500,000 organizations design, test, and manage APIs that power both human workflows and intelligent agents. Key findings include:

• AI reshaping API design: Nearly one in four developers (24.3%) are already designing APIs with AI agents in mind, a fundamental shift that signals the rise of machine-consumable APIs.
• Security concerns grow: Rogue AI agents are now the top security concern, with half of developers (50.8%) citing unauthorized or excessive API calls as their biggest worry. 49% also are concerned about AI systems accessing sensitive data they shouldn’t see, and 45.95% are worried about AI systems sharing or leaking API credentials.
• Collaboration breakdowns: Despite working mostly in small teams, 93% of API teams still face collaboration challenges, including documentation gaps (reported by 55% of respondents), duplicate efforts (35%), and difficulty finding existing APIs (34%).
• Model Context Protocol (MCP) adoption lags: Less than one year after MCP’s launch, an impressive two-thirds of developers are already aware of it. However, only 10% use MCP regularly in daily work, though 24% plan to explore it, indicating significant future adoption.
• Revenue impact: APIs now generate revenue for nearly two-thirds of organizations (64.5%), with 22.1% directly attributing new revenue streams to API adoption over the past 12 months.

Learn more about the findings in the interactive 2025 State of the API Report here.

About Postman

Postman is the world’s leading API collaboration platform, used by more than 40 million developers and 500,000 organizations, including 98% of the Fortune 500. In a world that is increasingly embracing an API-first mindset, Postman is uniquely positioned to streamline API and AI application development and drive innovation through teamwork by transcending traditional testing and fostering team collaboration across the entire API development lifecycle — from creation to deployment. The company is headquartered in San Francisco with offices in Bangalore, Boston, New York City, and Tokyo. Postman is privately held, with funding from Battery Ventures, BOND, Coatue, CRV, Insight Partners, and Nexus Venture Partners. Learn more at postman.com or connect with Postman on X via @getpostman.