Erwin API
Erwin's primary API (SCAPI) is COM/IDispatch automation inside the Windows desktop app, covering the full model graph. REST exists only at the edges: Mart Server report endpoints with 4 hour bearer tokens, plus separate Evolve and Data Intelligence APIs.
Frequently asked questions
Erwin scores D+ on the API Report Card. Erwin's primary API (SCAPI) is COM/IDispatch automation inside the Windows desktop app, covering the full model graph. REST exists only at the edges: Mart Server report endpoints with 4 hour bearer tokens, plus separate Evolve and Data Intelligence APIs.
Without a usable official API, teams fall back on manual exports, file drops, or one-off vendor integrations. The other option is an unofficial API layer like Supergood that automates the authenticated web app directly.
erwin is a portfolio of enterprise data management products owned by Quest Software, anchored on erwin Data Modeler (the flagship, formerly ERwin / CA ERwin / AllFusion ERwin Data Modeler, with a lineage going back to Logic Works in 1988 through Platinum Technology, Computer Associates, and the standalone erwin Inc.
Vertical: misc, Enterprise Data Modeling & Data Intelligence (the closest Supergood-canonical vertical is loosely Enterprise/HR/ERP or GRC/Compliance, but data modeling is its own category and the platform spans every industry). Enterprise data architects open erwin Data Modeler on Windows desktops and build conceptual / logical / physical models, entities, attributes, domains, datatypes, indexes, foreign keys, subject areas, naming standards macros, for new applications or to document existing databases via reverse-engineering against Oracle, SQL Server, PostgreSQL, DB2, Teradata, Snowflake, Databricks, Fabric Lakehouse, Redshift, BigQuery, Azure SQL, MongoDB, Cassandra and JSON/Avro sources.
6/10, erwin Data Modeler is one of the named incumbents in essentially every enterprise data modeling RFP, alongside Idera ER/Studio, SAP PowerDesigner and (for the Oracle stack) Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler.
Partially, erwin's data is critical *as metadata* but is usually not the runtime operating data of the business.
erwin's lineage runs back to 1988, when Logic Works released ERwin/ERX for the Macintosh and Windows; Platinum Technology acquired Logic Works in 1998; Computer Associates acquired Platinum in 1999 and rebranded the product AllFusion ERwin Data Modeler and later CA ERwin Data Modeler.
Primary API (SCAPI) is COM/IDispatch and runs inside the Windows desktop process, no first-class REST/HTTPS surface for the actual modeling object graph; non-Windows clients are effectively excluded. API documentation is sparse and version-fragmented across r7, r8, 2018 R1, 2019 R1, 2020 R2, 2021 R1, 12.0, 12.5, 13.x, 14.x, 15.x, every release lives at a separate bookshelf URL, and examples of successful code are scarce. Full sourced list under Sources below.
Common alternatives include Idera ER/Studio, SAP PowerDesigner, Oracle SQL Developer Data Modeler, Toad Data Modeler (also Quest), SqlDBM, Hackolade. Graded alternatives appear under "More from the report card" below.
Grades measure one thing: can a customer's engineering team get their own data out programmatically? We check six things (whether a real API exists, how access is gated, data coverage, auth quality, docs and developer experience, and stability) and roll them into a letter grade. Grades get re-verified, and they only move on evidence.