API governance is most effective when applied in the IDE rather than at the CI pipeline stage. Using Spectral as a VS Code extension lets engineers see rule violations the moment they type them, with inline documentation explaining the policy rationale. This transforms governance from a blocking gate into continuous, just-in-time guidance. The emotional difference matters: a lint error in CI feels like getting caught, while the same finding in the editor feels like help. The recommendation is to lead with IDE integration so that by the time code reaches CI, engineers have already been guided and corrected, making the pipeline a rare backstop rather than the primary enforcement point.
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