Frontend developers need to continue work while the backend API in API Gateway isn't ready. What is the most operationally efficient way to allow frontend integration to continue?

Configuring mock integrations directly within API Gateway is the most operationally efficient solution. This built-in feature allows API Gateway to return predefined responses without needing any backend compute, enabling frontend developers to proceed with integration testing immediately. Connecting a Lambda function to return mocked responses is less efficient because it introduces an unnecessary compute layer (Lambda) and associated costs and operational overhead for a temporary mocking solution. Adding new API endpoints on the API Gateway stage that return mocked responses creates redundant endpoints and complicates API management. The mock integration feature is designed for this exact scenario without creating extra resources. Configuring a proxy resource is not suitable here. A proxy resource typically forwards requests to another backend service, which is the opposite of what's needed for mocking when the backend isn't ready.