Hi faddat,
eSteemd desktop will have option to connect to local daemon as well as through websocket, but overall it will work through API, yes. About Swagger API, you are right that's very useful even I use it often to do some quick tests, although it is not fully finished. I will finish it when time allows for sure, also thinking to make it stand-alone so you can be just running it locally or host it anywhere you like... :)