In my opinion, much of the described features of an API client actually do not belong in a client implementation. An API client cannot be shipped for all platforms. That either blocks platforms to use your API or leaves room for API consumers to get around your policies, like throttling and caching. I think enforcing policies should be done much closer to your API on the server side. An API proxy gateway could be used for most of the described points and would secure your API much better, without the extra effort of writing client libraries.
Comments
In my opinion, much of the described features of an API client actually do not belong in a client implementation. An API client cannot be shipped for all platforms. That either blocks platforms to use your API or leaves room for API consumers to get around your policies, like throttling and caching. I think enforcing policies should be done much closer to your API on the server side. An API proxy gateway could be used for most of the described points and would secure your API much better, without the extra effort of writing client libraries.