Most teams treat OpenAPI as documentation. This experiment treats it as an executable contract. Every endpoint, every response, every error is validated against the spec automatically. This post explains the testing concept, the metadata system, and the CI pipeline behind it.
A year of challenges, mistakes, and growth. From leading a new framework team formed from four different teams, to people leaving, to finding our identity through an on-site workshop. This is my story of 2025 as an engineering lead at shopware AG, including the hard-learned lessons about team building, roadmap ownership, and what really matters in engineering leadership.
