# Overview
An API Provider is you, if you wish to publish data from your API to on-chain contracts which are called requesters. You can do so by building an Airnode. An Airnode is a first-party oracle that will push off-chain API data to any on-chain requester. See the Developer section to learn more about how developers will use your Airnode.
See the Guides section in the API Provider docs to build the necessary files required to deploy an Airnode. The diagram below illustrates the basic steps to successfully deploy an Airnode.
config.json: Contains the Airnode's configuration. The OIS object is important as it maps an API to Airnode endpoints.
secrets.env: Values that should not be exposed in config.json.
aws.env: AWS credentials required by the Docker deployer image.
In summary you only need to do a few things.
- Create cloud provider credentials (AWS), add them to aws.env.
- Get a blockchain provider URL for the chain you wish to use (mainnet and/or a test network).
- Create the config.json (with an OIS object) that defines an Airnode and place any secret values in and secrets.env.
- Run the Docker deployer-image to deploy the Airnode.