Glossary SDK
SDK
Acronym Also known as:
software development kit, client libraryTechAPI
Definition
Software Development Kit — the library, types, and tooling a vendor ships so a developer can use its platform in a language rather than over raw HTTP
An SDK wraps an API. The API is the contract; the SDK is a convenience over it in one language, and it can lag, leak, or reshape the contract. When the SDK and the docs disagree, the API is the truth.
The vendor's own client. Reach for it first; know what it is doing underneath, because the day it does not do what you need, the underlying API is what you will be calling.