API / Swagger Interview questions

What is the difference between Swagger and OpenAPI?

These terms are often used interchangeably in casual conversation, but they refer to two related, distinct things: OpenAPI is the specification (the standard itself), while Swagger is the brand name attached to a specific set of tools built to work with that specification.

OpenAPI	Swagger
The open specification/standard itself.	A family of tools implementing/consuming that spec.
Maintained by the OpenAPI Initiative (Linux Foundation).	Maintained primarily by SmartBear.
Versions: 2.0 (formerly Swagger 2.0), 3.0, 3.1.	Tools: Swagger UI, Swagger Editor, Swagger Codegen.
A document format anyone can implement tooling against.	One specific, popular implementation of that tooling.

In practice, "writing a Swagger doc" and "writing an OpenAPI doc" usually mean the same thing to most developers, since Swagger's tools remain some of the most widely used ways to author and view OpenAPI documents, even though other independent tools exist too.

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Which term refers to the actual specification/standard? OpenAPI

✓ Correct! Well done.

Swagger exclusively

✗ Try again if not.

Neither term refers to a specification

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Who primarily maintains the Swagger-branded tools? No one maintains them

✗ Try again if not.

The OpenAPI Initiative exclusively

✗ Try again if not.

SmartBear

✓ Correct! Well done.

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