In microservices architecture, APIs serve as the interfaces through which different services communicate. However, as applications evolve, changes to APIs may be necessary, leading to the need for versioning. Versioning APIs allows developers to manage changes without breaking existing clients. Here are three practical examples of how to implement versioning in microservices APIs.
In this approach, the version number is included in the URI of the API endpoint. This is one of the simplest and most commonly used methods for versioning APIs.
Consider an e-commerce application where the user service provides an endpoint to retrieve user information.
Use Case: The application initially exposes a user profile API that returns user data, but a new requirement arises to include additional information like user preferences without disrupting existing clients.
Example:
GET /api/v1/users/{userId}