APIs & Microservices

APIs And Services That Connect Cleanly With What You Run

We design REST APIs, integrate disconnected systems, and build backend and cloud-native services that fit the infrastructure you already have — not a hypothetical greenfield stack. Whether that means a handful of well-designed endpoints or a properly decomposed set of services depends on your application, your team, and your goals.

How VFP Can Help

Design, Build, Integrate, Secure

From a single well-documented API to a distributed set of backend services, we cover the engineering work end to end.

API Design

Clear, consistent, well-documented API contracts that are easy for your own developers and any third parties to work against.

Building REST APIs

Production-grade REST APIs built to your data model and business rules, with proper versioning, validation and error handling.

System Integration

Connecting applications, databases and third-party platforms that were never designed to talk to each other.

Backend Service Development

Robust backend services and business logic layers built to handle real production load, not just the demo case.

Sensible Service Decomposition

Breaking out the specific workloads that genuinely benefit from independence, and leaving the rest well alone.

Modernising Existing Integrations

Replacing brittle point-to-point integrations and batch jobs with proper, maintainable APIs.

Cloud-Native Service Design

Services built to run well on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud, using managed infrastructure rather than fighting it.

Securing APIs

Authentication and authorisation done properly — OAuth2, OpenID Connect, API keys and rate limiting applied where each is appropriate.

Architecture

When Microservices Make Sense (And When They Don’t)

Microservices solve real problems: independent scaling, team autonomy, and the ability to deploy one part of a system without touching the rest. They’re a good fit when your domains have genuinely clear boundaries and your teams are organised around them.

They also come with a cost — network calls where you used to have function calls, distributed data consistency, more moving parts to deploy, monitor and secure. For a lot of applications, particularly smaller ones or those with a single small team, that cost outweighs the benefit, and a monolith or modular monolith is the more sensible engineering choice. We assess this per project, based on your actual scale, team structure and growth plans — not on the assumption that microservices are automatically the “right” answer.

Independent scaling Team autonomy Clear domain boundaries Operational complexity Modular monoliths Right-sized architecture
Our Approach

From Assessment To Ongoing Evolution

A consistent, engineering-led process whether we’re building one API or a set of services.

1

Assess Your Existing Systems

We start by understanding what you already run — the applications, data stores and integrations in place — so any new API or service fits alongside them rather than forcing a rebuild.

2

API & Service Design

We design the contracts and boundaries first: endpoints, data models, and where services should split (if at all), based on your actual domains and usage patterns.

3

Containerisation

Where it adds value, we package services in Docker containers for consistent, portable deployment across environments.

4

Deployment To Kubernetes Or Cloud Platforms

We deploy to Kubernetes, managed container services, or serverless platforms on AWS, Azure or Google Cloud — whichever matches your operational maturity and budget.

5

CI/CD Implementation

Automated build, test and deployment pipelines so changes to APIs and services ship safely and repeatably, without manual release steps.

6

Monitoring & Observability

Logging, metrics and tracing wired in from the start, so issues in a distributed system can actually be diagnosed rather than guessed at.

7

Ongoing Evolution

APIs and service boundaries change as your business does. We support extending, versioning and, where needed, further decomposing or consolidating services over time.

Technology

Fit-For-Purpose, Not Fashion-Led

We choose languages, frameworks and platforms based on what suits your requirements, your existing stack and your team’s skills — not what’s trending.

REST APIs GraphQL Java Python Node.js Docker Kubernetes Helm AWS Microsoft Azure Google Cloud CI/CD API Gateways OAuth2/OpenID Connect
Business Use Cases

Where This Work Typically Starts

Illustrative examples of the kind of problems that lead organisations to us — not case studies.

Example Scenario

Two or three core systems that were never designed to share data end up connected by manual exports and spreadsheets. A set of clean integration APIs replaces that with something reliable and automatable.

Example Scenario

A growing platform runs well as a whole, but one specific part — reporting, search, or a high-traffic feature — needs to scale independently of everything else. That part gets pulled out as its own service.

Example Scenario

A business wants to expose part of its data or functionality securely to partners, or power a new mobile app, without opening up the whole system. A properly secured API layer does exactly that.

Get In Touch

Need Systems That Actually Talk To Each Other?

Tell us about the systems you’re trying to connect or the service you need to build — we’ll give you a straight answer on the right architecture, not the trendiest one.

Discuss Your API & Integration Requirements

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