SmartBear Software has created the SmartBear Developer Network (SDN) for its community of users and partners to freely build integrations and plugins to further extend the functionality of the company’s software quality tools.

Customers and partners can build plugins and extensions for most SmartBear products, starting with any of the Ready! API [application programming interface] family of tools, to meet their specific needs. The SDN provides an opportunity for the SmartBear community to collaborate on projects, share ideas and the plugins themselves, says Lorinda Brandon, technical evangelist, API Products at SmartBear.

SmartBear has already collaborated with several API product companies, including 3scale, Apiary, IBM, Mashery, an Intel Company, MuleSoft and Swagger, among others, and expects to add more. Various plugins are currently available on the SDN including RAML, Groovy Console, SSL Workaround for REST Discovery, Apiary’s API Blueprint, APIs from 3scale, Dragonfly, IBM API Management and Mashery Intel I/O Docs.

Ready! API’s plugin architecture makes extending the tool fast and easy, according to Brandon. The plugin framework uses annotation-based extension points instead of XML configuration files and provides automatic installation of any third-party dependencies. Ready! API offers a plugin browser so users are able to find and install plugins quickly. For more information on the SDN go to http://tinyurl.com/k4uhtpp .