> Markdown version of [/videos/1013-a-journey-from-internal-tools-to-public-sdk?t=330](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1013-a-journey-from-internal-tools-to-public-sdk?t=330). Every page supports `.md` or `Accept: text/markdown`. Links point to the HTML versions so they work for humans too. Agent guide: [/agents.md](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/agents.md).

---

# A Journey from Internal Tools to Public SDK

How did Canva scale its developer ecosystem without compounding maintenance overhead? Learn how they systematically transformed internal UI components into robust, composable public SDKs.

- **Speakers:** [Lucille Tachet](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/@lucille-tachet)
- **Event:** World Congress 2024
- **Published:** August 20, 2024
- **Duration:** 20:06
- **URL:** https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1013-a-journey-from-internal-tools-to-public-sdk

## Summary

Canva scales its developer ecosystem by systematically transforming internal UI components into robust public SDKs. As the number of supported SaaS platforms and third-party apps grew, the Canva Ecosystem team realized that directly building more integrations caused maintenance overhead tracking to negatively impact product quality. To resolve this bottleneck, the engineering team shifted their focus from linear app production to comprehensive developer enablement, empowering system integrators and external partners with highly reusable tooling.

The core drivers of this strategy are stringent “dogfooding” protocols and aggressive pattern recognition. By continuously consuming their own internal tooling to build initial marquee integrations, the API team catches cross-boundary UI glitches—such as obscure z-index and stacking context overlaps between separately maintained component libraries—before they ever reach production. Additionally, by noticing that most partner builds were functionally identical Digital Asset Management (DAM) apps demanding identical fetch-display-export workflows, Canva consolidated multiple disparate codebases into a single, highly composable React template. This allowed developers to bypass significant boilerplate code and deliver natively crafted UI experiences with simple configuration toggles.

To safely roll out these improvements, Canva adheres to a strict three-tier release funnel: internal rollout, private partner registry validation, and finally public GA. This staged architecture provides a crucial buffer for deprecation management; for example, it recently prevented a widespread breaking change during a JWT authorization migration because internal staff encountered missing query parameters first, allowing precise documentation updates before public distribution. Ultimately, iterating on internal tools to produce external utilities—like a new token management service and their highly anticipated Connect REST API—ensures third-party developers face minimal friction while their feedback actively shapes the internal engineering roadmap.

**Keywords:** public sdk development, developer ecosystem scaling, internal dogfooding workflows, third-party system integrators, digital asset management integrations, composable react component templates, staged api release strategy, jwt authorization migration, api signature verification deprecation, private partner api registry, canva apps sdk, canva connect rest api, token management service, partner integration frameworks

## Chapters

1. **Introduction to Canva and its developer application ecosystem** (00:03) — Third-party developers utilize isolated javascript bundles to seamlessly embed distinct user workflows directly into the design platform.
1. **Target audiences for application development platforms** (03:45) — The different groups building integrations include third-party developers, enterprise customers, and professional system integrators.
1. **Scaling application development through strategic focus and enablement** (05:30) — Focusing on tooling and enabling system integrators prevents quality degradation when maintaining multiple frontend integrations.
1. **Improving product quality through strategic internal dogfooding** (06:54) — Building internal applications creates a fast feedback loop for discovering subtle frontend integration bugs.
1. **Identifying common architectural patterns in digital asset management** (09:10) — Designing multiple content applications reveals shared architectural requirements for asset fetching, filtering, and exporting.
1. **Using configuration-driven templates to unify application development** (10:43) — Consolidating duplicate application code into a highly composable configuration template drastically reduces frontend maintenance.
1. **Catching authentication vulnerability deprecations with staged internal releases** (12:23) — Staged internal releases silently uncover undocumented dependencies on deprecated query parameters before deployments reach external developers.
1. **Establishing a multi-stage release flow for developer SDKs** (15:15) — Publishing internal tools across successive private and public registries ensures continuous feedback loops and platform resilience.
1. **Future roadmap for authentication services and integration frameworks** (17:42) — Future initiatives focus on centralized token management services and providing robust public REST endpoints.

## Related Moments

- [Driving developer adoption through internal developer platforms and components](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1433-transforming-task-management-integrating-camunda-with-scalable-frontend-solutions) (from "Transforming Task Management: Integrating Camunda with Scalable Frontend Solutions")
- [Iterating from early prototypes to scalable products](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/473-fleet-management-reinvented) (from "Fleet Management - Reinvented")
- [Treating developer platforms as internal products to drive adoption](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1946-from-pipelines-to-platforms-how-devops-automation-becomes-a-force-multiplier-at-scale) (from "From Pipelines to Platforms: How DevOps Automation Becomes a Force Multiplier at Scale")
- [Integrating developer docs and product experiences seamlessly](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/1986-one-developer-journey-two-surfaces) (from "One Developer Journey, Two Surfaces")
- [Summarizing the organizational benefits of platform engineering](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/885-platform-engineering-vs-devops-why-not-both) (from "Platform Engineering vs. DevOps Why not both?")
- [Expanding open source participation through cloud developer environments](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/videos/604-can-you-build-a-career-in-open-source) (from "Can you build a career in open source?")

## Related Articles

- [Events like RSAC Get You CISOs. Developers Decide What Actually Gets Deployed.](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/693-events-like-rsac-get-you-cisos-developers-decide-what-actually-gets-deployed)
- [Devs vs. Marketers, COBOL and Copilot, Make Live Coding Easy and more - The Best of LIVE 2025 - Part 3](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/663-devs-vs-marketers-cobol-and-copilot-make-live-coding-easy-and-more-the-best-of-live-2025-part-3)
- [Exploring AI: Opportunities and Risks for Developers](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/522-exploring-ai-opportunities-and-risks-for-developers)
- [Walking Into The Era of Supply Chain Risks](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/magazine/106-walking-into-the-era-of-supply-chain-risks)

## Related Jobs

- [Senior Web Designer, Growth](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/102722-senior-web-designer-growth) at **Intercom, Inc.**
- [iOS Engineer, Swift/SwiftUI/Combine (B2C Broker)](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1611832-ios-engineer-swift-swiftui-combine-b2c-broker) at **Bitpanda**
- [Tribe Lead - ( Software) Engineering Centre of Excllence](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/1475530-tribe-lead-software-engineering-centre-of-excllence) at **SD Worx**
- [Staff Frontend Engineer](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/48313-staff-frontend-engineer) at **SMG Swiss Marketplace Group**
- [Senior Engineer, Infrastructure Platform](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/ext/328836-senior-engineer-infrastructure-platform) at **Intercom, Inc.**
- [Staff Frontend Engineer (Expert+/Lead equivalent) - Hybrid working model, 100%, Ho Chi Minh City](https://www.wearedevelopers.com/jobs/48314-staff-frontend-engineer-expert-lead-equivalent-hybrid-working-model-100-ho-chi-minh-city) at **SMG Swiss Marketplace Group**