Opening the Hood: Why Klau Is Built API-First

I've had two careers in waste. The first one put calluses on my hands. CDL driver, dispatcher, operations manager—I spent years in the cab and behind the whiteboard, living the daily chaos of roll-off operations. The second one put calluses on my keyboard. Software engineer, product manager, systems architect—I crossed over to the technology side to build solutions for the industry I knew inside out.

The Hidden Technical Workforce

Here's something outsiders don't realize: the waste industry has developers. Not many, but they exist. Internal IT teams at mid-size haulers maintaining custom integrations. Software vendors building operational tools for regional markets. Consultants duct-taping legacy systems together with API calls and prayer.

These technical professionals are doing heroic work with limited resources. They're connecting systems that were never designed to talk to each other. They're building custom reports because the off-the-shelf software doesn't understand roll-off. They're writing scripts to automate the mundane work that dispatchers shouldn't have to do manually.

I've been one of them. I know what it feels like to stare at an undocumented API at 2 AM, trying to figure out why the integration keeps failing. Klau is different because I built it for people like me.

API-First Is a Philosophy, Not a Feature

When I designed Klau's architecture, I made a deliberate choice: the API comes first. Everything else—our web interface, our dispatch board, our optimization engine—is a consumer of that same API. This isn't a marketing checkbox. It's a fundamental architectural decision that shapes everything.

If we can do it, you can do it. Every capability in Klau is accessible through our public API. There's no hidden functionality reserved for the "real" product. The dispatch board you see? It's making the same API calls you would.

Real documentation, not afterthoughts. Our OpenAPI 3.1 specification is generated from the actual code. When the API changes, the docs change. No drift. No surprises.

Designed for integration. We assume you have existing systems. Your billing software, your customer database, your driver management tools—they're not going away. Klau plugs in alongside them, not instead of them.

The "Optimization-as-a-Service" Vision

Roll-off optimization is hard. Really hard. You need to understand container compatibility, dump site hours, driver schedules, truck capabilities, customer time windows, and a dozen other constraints that traditional routing software ignores. Building this from scratch takes years.

So why should every software vendor in the waste industry build their own?

That's the insight behind our developer platform. Klau provides Optimization-as-a-Service—the ability to call our battle-tested optimization engine through a simple API. You send us jobs, drivers, and trucks. We send you back optimized routes with container chaining, truck compatibility, and all the roll-off-specific logic already handled.

Your software. Our optimization brain.

For haulers with internal development teams, this means you can build custom tools and mobile apps that leverage Klau's intelligence without rebuilding the wheel. For software vendors serving the waste industry, this means you can add "smart dispatch" to your existing product without hiring an optimization team.

Security That Respects Your Data

Trust is earned, not demanded. Every API key is stored using one-way hashing—we couldn't retrieve your credentials even if we wanted to. Keys are prefixed so you can identify them at a glance without exposing the full secret.

Rate limiting protects everyone: per-developer throttles prevent runaway scripts, per-tenant limits ensure one integration can't starve others, and compute-intensive endpoints like optimization have additional safeguards because those operations are expensive.

Real-Time Events, Not Polling

Modern integrations shouldn't require constant polling. When something changes in Klau—a job completed, a driver started their shift, an optimization finished—you should know immediately.

Our webhook system delivers real-time events to your endpoints with guaranteed delivery. If your system is down, we queue events for up to 24 hours with exponential backoff. When you come back online, nothing is lost. Events are versioned and stable.

Built for the Long Game

I'm not building Klau to flip it in three years. This is the intersection of my two careers. The place where my operational experience meets my technical skills. The software I wish existed when I was managing dispatch for a hauler with 20 trucks and zero budget for enterprise tools.

The developer platform is phase one of something bigger. We're starting with direct hauler API access—simple keys tied to a single company, the foundation that validates our API design. From there, we'll expand to vendor support, automated tenant provisioning, and the full model that lets software companies embed Klau's optimization into their products.

An Invitation

If you're a developer working in the waste industry—whether you're building internal tools, maintaining custom integrations, or creating software products for haulers—I want to hear from you.

What problems are you solving? What's broken about the tools you have? What would make your life easier?

Klau's developer platform is designed to serve you. Not as an afterthought. Not as a checkbox on a feature list. As a first-class priority, built by someone who understands both the trucks and the code.

The API documentation is live. The first phase launches this month. And my inbox is open. Let's build something better together.