Endpoint Inventory and Ownership Map (Onboarding)

Endpoint Inventory and Ownership Map (Onboarding)

1. 01

   Enumerate every endpoint the client's stack touches before signing the retainer scope

   Pull the OpenAPI specs, list third-party webhooks, and note which endpoints are client-owned versus vendor-owned. Anything undocumented gets flagged as a discovery risk in the SOW.

2. 02

   Assign a named owner to each endpoint, internal or external

   Unowned endpoints are the ones that break silently at 2am. Record the owner, escalation contact, and SLA tier in a single sheet the client can see.

3. 03

   Classify each endpoint by traffic type: human UI, server-to-server, or AI agent

   Agent traffic needs different rate limits and spend caps than browser sessions. Gateways such as Zuplo separate inbound agent calls from outbound LLM calls for exactly this reason.

4. 04

   Confirm the documentation layer matches the live spec

   If the client's developer portal is stale, the first integration ticket will be a documentation bug. Platforms like ReadMe generate explorers from OpenAPI specs, so drift is visible rather than discovered mid-sprint.

5. 05

   Set a baseline error budget and latency target per critical path

   Pick the three endpoints whose failure stops revenue (checkout, auth, CRM sync) and record current p95 latency and error rate. Without a baseline, every later incident becomes a debate.

6. 06

   Decide gateway tier against actual volume, not ambition

   A 200-request-per-day client does not need an enterprise gateway with token rate limiting. Match the control plane to the traffic profile and write the upgrade trigger into the contract.

7. 07

   Document the credential rotation and secret storage path

   Note where keys live, who can read them, and how often they rotate. This becomes the first item in the client handoff pack.