the.com/api access
the digital velvet rope that decides whether your app talks to the cool software or just stares at it.
means permission and credentials letting one program request data or actions from another program automatically.
from apis existed since early computing as internal interfaces, but the modern gated, monetized version took off in the 2000s when companies like salesforce and twitter realized other people's code could be a revenue stream, not a security hole.
twitter 2023basic access jumped to $42,000 monthly
rate limitsmost apis throttle you before you notice
key leaksgithub scans repos hourly for exposed keys