Building Applications Faster with SAS OpenAPI Specifications and GitHub Copilot in VS Code
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Modern application development increasingly relies on well‑defined APIs and strong developer tooling. At SAS, most REST APIs are formally described using OpenAPI specifications, which are publicly available on developer.sas.com.
When you combine these specifications with Visual Studio Code and GitHub Copilot, you can dramatically accelerate application development—generating strongly typed clients, request/response models, and even boilerplate service code in Python or TypeScript with minimal effort.
In this post, we’ll walk through:
- What are OpenAPI specifications
- How to download SAS OpenAPI specs from developer.sas.com
- How to use GitHub Copilot in VS Code to generate Python types from those specs
- A practical workflow you can reuse for your own SAS integrations
What is an OpenAPI Specification?
OpenAPI (formerly known as Swagger) is an industry‑standard way to describe REST APIs in a machine‑readable format, typically YAML or JSON.
An OpenAPI specification defines:
- Available endpoints (paths)
- HTTP methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, …)
- Request parameters and payloads
- Response structures and status codes
- Authentication mechanisms (OAuth2, API keys, etc.)
- Data models (schemas)
In short, it is a contract between the API and its consumers.
Why OpenAPI Matters for Developers
OpenAPI specifications allow you to:
- Generate client SDKs automatically
- Validate requests and responses
- Produce accurate documentation
- Enable AI tools (like GitHub Copilot) to reason about your API with high precision
For GenAI‑assisted development, OpenAPI acts as ground truth. Instead of guessing shapes of payloads, Copilot can rely on explicit schemas.
OpenAPI Specifications on developer.sas.com
SAS publishes OpenAPI specifications for many SAS Viya REST APIs on developer.sas.com.
These specifications typically cover APIs such as:
- Job Definition and Job Execution
- Compute
- CAS Management
- Files and Content
- Identity and Authorization
- Model Management and Analytics services
Each API page usually includes:
- Human‑readable documentation
- A downloadable OpenAPI definition
How to Download OpenAPI Specifications from developer.sas.com
Step 1: Navigate to the SAS Developer Portal
Go to: https://developer.sas.com
From there:
- Choose APIs
- Select REST APIs
- Select the SAS Viya service you are interested in (for example, Job Execution)
Step 2: Locate the OpenAPI Definition
On each API documentation page, you will find a button labeled Download.
Download the specification file to your local project directory, for example:
api_specs/
└── jobExecution-v7-openapi.yml
This file will be the foundation for everything that follows.
Setting Up Your VS Code Environment
Before involving Copilot, make sure you have:
- Visual Studio Code
- GitHub Copilot extension
- GitHub Copilot enabled and signed in
- Python or TypeScript tooling installed (depending on your target language)
Recommended VS Code extensions:
- YAML (for syntax highlighting and validation)
- Python or TypeScript language support
- OpenAPI / Swagger Viewer (optional but useful)
Using GitHub Copilot with OpenAPI Specs
GitHub Copilot shines when it has context. An OpenAPI file provides extremely rich context.
Key Idea
You are not asking Copilot to invent an API client.
You are asking it to translate a formal contract into code.
Generating Python Types with GitHub Copilot
Step 1: Add the OpenAPI File to Your Project
Place the downloaded .ymlfile directly in your workspace.
VS Code + Copilot will automatically index it.
Step 2: Open a New Chat
Step 3: Prompt Copilot with Explicit Instructions
At the top of the file, write a clear comment:
Using the OpenAPI specification in jobExecution-v7-openapi.yaml, generate Python data models using pydantic for:
- JobRequest
- JobExecution
- JobStateWithin seconds, Copilot will typically:
- Parse the schemas section of the OpenAPI file
- Generate pydantic.BaseModel classes
- Respect field names, types, and optionality
You can then refine:
- Field descriptions
- Enum handling
- Date/time parsing
- Validation rules
Why This Works Well
OpenAPI schemas map naturally to:
- pydantic models
- Typed request/response objects
- Safer, self‑documenting Python code
Going Further: Generating Service Code
Once types exist, you can push Copilot further:
Create a Python client class that wraps the SAS Job Execution REST API using httpx and the pydantic models defined above.
Because Copilot can see:
- The OpenAPI file
- Your types
- Your existing code
…it can generate surprisingly complete and accurate service layers.
Best Practices for This Workflow
- Keep the OpenAPI file in your repo
- Reference the file explicitly in Copilot prompts
- Generate types first, logic second
- Treat Copilot output as a draft, not final code
- Leverage SAS authentication docs alongside OpenAPI
Conclusion
OpenAPI specifications are far more than documentation—they are executable knowledge. By downloading SAS OpenAPI definitions from developer.sas.com and combining them with GitHub Copilot in VS Code, you can:
- Generate strongly typed models in minutes
- Reduce API integration errors
- Accelerate both frontend and backend development
- Let GenAI work from a precise, authoritative contract
This approach turns API integration from a manual, error‑prone task into a fast, repeatable, and highly productive workflow—especially powerful in the SAS Viya ecosystem.
If you’re already working with SAS REST APIs, OpenAPI + Copilot is one of the highest‑ROI upgrades you can make to your development process.
Find more articles from SAS Global Enablement and Learning here.
