Planning for API Retirement

API retirement refers to the intentional and planned discontinuation or deprecation of a whole API, not just a single version. It involves removing an existing API from service, indicating that it is no longer supported and that existing users should transition to an alternative solution. The suggested alternative solution can be an API from another company or a newer one that’s been built to replace the one that’s being retired. Whatever the case, you should create a grace period to allow users to successfully migrate out of the retired API. Keep reading to learn how to manage the retirement of your API effectively.

You’ll start this chapter by understanding when is the right moment to retire an API. You’ll see the key events that can trigger the decision to put an API to rest. You’ll see that the decision to start a retirement process comes from factoring in the costs of keeping your API running against the benefits...