A REST API descriptor provides a way of describing the operations provided by one or more REST resources together with information about how to access those operations, the MIME types the resources consume and produce, and the expected input and output for the operations. Fundamentally, a REST API descriptor is composed of REST resources and information about how to access those resources. Using this information, Integration Server creates and maintains a Swagger document for the REST API descriptor. Integration Server generates the Swagger document based on version 2.0 of the Swagger specification.

You can create a REST API descriptor from REST resources created using either the legacy approach (invoked using the rest directive) or the URL template-based approach (REST V2 resources invoked using the restv2 directive). You can also create a REST API descriptor containing REST V2 resources from a Swagger document.

For information about the approaches for configuring REST resources, see Approaches for Developing REST Resources.