Everything you need to know about Strapi (v3)

Earlier this year, we announced a major change on Strapi. We received an overwhelming number of questions about it. A lot of you are intrigued and excited about this new version. In this post, I will try to clearly explain what is our vision, and answer the most asked questions.

Let me introduce to you our new logo. Thanks to Quentin Chapon for the rocket!

Our mission

Create, deploy and manage an API easily.

We would like to provide an open-source ecosystem for developers who want to build and manage an API. From the design stage, going through the deployment and the management, Strapi will allow building an API in minutes.

As a reminder, an API is an app that exposes functionalities and data, to third-parties, devices and more.

Our vision

Originally, limited to expert developers, the APIs are now accessible to everyone. As a real marketing tool, the development of an API opens new opportunities to your product.

At Strapi, we are not limiting our vision of API to the developers. We think that creators for every level (writers, product designers, etc.) should be implicated in its development process.

An API allows sharing content and data. It's also an awesome tool that allows to imagine new services and determine the needs. That's why we are trying to reduce the technical terms at best. We are also paying attention to our interfaces in order to make them enjoyable, easy-to-use and intelligible to anyone.

Our product

In October 2015, for the first release of Strapi, we described us as a Node.js framework. Nowadays, we define ourselves as an ecosystem that helps to build API during over her whole life cycle.

We mainly target developers seeking to quickly and easily build an API. Whatever your level, we want Strapi to be easy-to-setup and easy-to-use. For that, we are constantly striving to improve the user experience.

Specifically, Strapi is composed of a dashboard from which you create, put online and manage an API. In certain cases, without writing any single line of code. For the more experts, Strapi is based on a top of an MVC Node.js framework that lets you custom your API and add a new feature. Easy peasy!

In the next few months, we will provide a lot of resources such as tutorials, a video series and also a better documentation.

Our challenge

Strapi has been designed to build scalable moderns apps using a service-oriented architecture. Strapi will fit with any web project that requires an API. However, with this new version, we started a new challenge:

Be able to build and deploy an API within 10 minutes without any development skills.

Furthermore, the user should be the only owner of the codebase and the data.

Our business model

Currently, we are doing support and counsel for companies that need our expertise. If you need Node.js enterprise support, feel free to send us an email.

The next version of Strapi will introduce two new tools: a hosting solution and a marketplace. The purpose of these platforms will be to expand our range of services. The first one will provide an easy way to put Strapi apps online by clicking on a button. The second and last one will provide a bunch of plugins which add new functionalities to your app.

Our community

Our team is mainly composed of developers. We grew up and learned thanks to the tools provided by the awesome open-source community. The value of sharing is essential for us. When we are facing a choice, we always place ourselves in the shoes of a developer to be sure to take the right decisions for Strapi.

Strapi will always be an open-source and free project.

The Strapi community is his strength. You are the creators and the users of Strapi. An open-source project without community can not survive. That's why, we would like to thank again, the people who are evolved into the project. We are continually trying to be more reactive and transparent with you.

Our future

Currently, we can't tell you more because this is not official yet. Despite all, we are super excited because great things are coming up! This will be excellent news to ensure the project's long-term future.

Conclusion

I hope this post will help you to understand our vision. During the next months, your help will be more than welcome! The release cycle should be more intense. We will need you to help us to improve the project and give us feedback.

If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment this post or send us a message on Slack.

Thanks for reading!