API testing involves testing the application programming interfaces (APIs) directly and as part of integration testing to determine if they meet expectations for functionality, reliability, performance, and security. Since APIs lack a GUI, API testing is performed at the message layer.

API testing is critical for automating testing because APIs now serve as the primary interface to application logic and because GUI tests are difficult to maintain with the short release cycles and frequent changes commonly used with Agile software development and DevOps.

When you release a new version of the system (e.g. changing some of the business components or internal data structures) you need to have a fast, easy to run set of API regression tests that verify that those internal changes did not break the API interfaces and therefore the client applications that rely on the APIs will continue to function as before.