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Managing API versions and multiple APIs

Publish several versions and several APIs in one Help Center, set the default version, and deprecate or archive old versions.

Written By Markus Palm

Last updated Less than 20 seconds ago

Overview

Each OpenAPI spec you import is one version of an API, such as v1 and v2. You can publish several versions side by side, choose the default version that readers open first, and deprecate or archive old versions. You can also publish more than one API in one Help Center, each with its own versions and tab.

You manage versions under Settings → Help Center → API reference. Each row in the list is one version, with labels such as Default, Deprecated, or Archived.


How versions work

Name and version label

Each version has a Name, the API name readers see, and a Version label, shown in the version switcher. Both come from info.title and info.version in the spec when you import it. To change them, open the version's Settings tab and edit them under Version. Each version needs its own label.

The default version

Each API has its own default version, the one readers see first when they open that API. The first version you publish in an API becomes its default.

Fibi AI Agent and your Help Center's llms.txt use the default version of each API. Help Center search covers the default version of each API and the version the reader is viewing.

What readers see

With two or more published versions of an API, readers switch between them in a menu at the top of its sidebar. The menu lists only the versions of that API. Switching keeps readers on the same endpoint when it exists in the other version. Otherwise, they land on that version's overview.

State

In the version switcher

What readers see

Active

Yes

The regular endpoint pages

Deprecated

Yes

A banner on every page saying the version is deprecated, with a link to the same page in the API's default version. Search engines do not index these pages

Archived

No

Nothing. Links to its pages redirect to the same page in the API's default version, or to the default version's overview


Add a new version

  1. Go to Settings → Help Center → API reference

  2. Click 'Add API spec'

  3. Import the spec of the new version from a file, a URL, or CI

  4. Review the endpoints and click 'Publish N pages'

The new version does not replace the API's current default. If its label matches an existing version, Featurebase adds a number, such as 2.0-2. Rename it in the version's Settings tab. Publishing an API reference from an OpenAPI spec covers each import option.


Set the default version

Open the version and use either control:

  • In the version's ••• menu, click 'Make default'

  • In the version's Settings tab, turn on Default version

Only a published version that is not archived can be the default. Changing the default of one API does not affect your other APIs.

Note: Addresses in the API reference that do not name a version always open the API's default version. When you change the default, those links show the new default.


Deprecate or archive a version

Open the version's ••• menu and choose:

  • 'Mark deprecated': Keeps the pages online with a deprecation banner

  • 'Archive': Takes the version out of your Help Center and redirects its links

  • 'Mark active': Undoes either one

The default version cannot be deprecated or archived. Make another version of the same API the default first.

An archived version stops its automatic URL checks and accepts no uploads or CI pushes. When you mark a URL version active again, turn Check every 6 hours back on in its Source tab.


Publish more than one API

An API is a group of versions under one name and slug, such as a Core API and a separate Payments API. Each API has its own:

  • Versions: A default version plus any active, deprecated, and archived versions

  • Tab: A tab in your top bar with its own name, start page, and guide sections

  • Address: The first API's pages use the api-reference path. Each additional API adds its slug, such as api-reference/payments

Add another API

To add an API, import its spec as a new API instead of as a version of an existing API, and choose a slug for its address, such as payments. The slug becomes part of every page address of that API. The spec becomes the API's first version and its default. As with any import, the API's name comes from info.title.

Review and publish the import as described in Publishing an API reference from an OpenAPI spec. Add later versions of that API with the steps in Add a new version.

How readers find each API

Readers switch between APIs with the tabs in your top bar. Each tab opens its API's start page. In llms.txt, each API's endpoints are listed under the API's name.

Tip: A new API's tab is named "API reference" until you rename it. Give each tab a name that tells the APIs apart, as described in Organizing the API reference tab.


Version limit

A Help Center can hold up to 50 API versions in total, counting the versions of all its APIs, archived versions included.


FAQs

The dashboard has no delete option. Archive a version to take it out of your Help Center. To delete a version permanently, use the Featurebase API with a Workspace API key. The default version can be deleted only after you make another version the default.

A version is visible to everyone by default, and the dashboard has no setting to restrict it. With the Featurebase API, you can set a version's visibleBy field to everyone or to role and segment IDs, the same values that articles use. Readers outside that audience do not see the version, and Help Center search and Fibi AI Agent skip its endpoints for them.

Yes. Each version has its own Try it mode, example languages, and allowed servers in its Settings tab. See Code samples and the API playground.