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Getting started

Ship your first commercial API product with Farther Shore.

NextCore concepts

On this page

What you can buildThe first product pathPrerequisitesPlatform surfacesWhat happens when a request is liveNext steps

Farther Shore helps API builders turn an upstream service into a product people can discover, subscribe to, call with API keys, and pay for.

You bring the API. Farther Shore provides the product model, developer portal, API keys, billing strategy, usage metering, and gateway enforcement layer around it.

What you can build

Use Farther Shore when you want to:

  • sell access to an API without building a billing system first
  • publish a developer portal for subscribers
  • issue and revoke subscriber API keys
  • enforce plan limits at the edge
  • meter usage for billing, analytics, and operations
  • support subscription, usage, overage, pay-as-you-go, or prepaid credit models
  • keep the request path fast by enforcing compiled runtime rules in the gateway

The first product path

Most teams should start with one simple product and one simple meter:

  1. Create a product in the builder console.
  2. Choose what the product meters, such as requests.
  3. Configure the upstream API URL that should receive allowed traffic.
  4. Pick a billing strategy and create one plan.
  5. Publish the product.
  6. Subscribe with a test customer and issue an API key.
  7. Send a request through the gateway.
  8. Confirm the request is allowed, forwarded, and metered.

After that path works, add more plans, custom meters, portal content, and launch traffic.

This same path is the fastest way to validate that portal, gateway, metering, and billing behavior are connected end to end.

Prerequisites

Before launching a product, have these ready:

RequirementWhy it matters
Upstream API URLThe gateway forwards allowed requests to this service.
Product name and audienceThe portal needs clear positioning and labels.
Meter choiceBilling and enforcement depend on what usage means.
Billing modelPlans must map to how subscribers should pay.
Test subscriberYou need a real subscription and API key to validate the path.
Product docsSubscribers need examples and integration instructions.

Platform surfaces

SurfaceUsed byPurpose
Builder consoleProduct ownersCreate products, plans, billing, portal settings, and integrations.
Developer portalSubscribersDiscover products, read docs, choose plans, and manage API keys.
GatewayAPI callersAuthenticate keys, enforce access, forward traffic, and emit usage.
CorePlatform control planeStore products, compile runtime policy, process billing, and publish configuration.

You usually work in the builder console. Your subscribers usually work in the developer portal. The gateway and core run the product behind the scenes.

What happens when a request is live

When a subscriber calls a live product, the gateway:

  1. resolves the product from the hostname
  2. validates the presented API key
  3. loads the subscriber's compiled plan and entitlement
  4. checks feature access, limits, credits, and concurrency rules
  5. forwards allowed traffic to your upstream API
  6. records usage and sends events back to core

The gateway does not ask core for every request. Core publishes versioned runtime artifacts ahead of time so the request path stays fast.

Next steps

  • Read Core concepts for the vocabulary used across the platform.
  • Follow Launch a request-counted product for a concrete first build.
  • Use Launch checklist before sending production traffic.