API Versioning Strategies: Changing Contracts Without Breaking Clients | Clickmasters

URL-path versions for visibility, header-based for purity — the choice matters less than consistency and documentation. Major versions only; minor churn stays additive.

Consumer-driven contracts in CI catch the accidental break before clients do — versioning polices intended changes; testing polices unintended ones.

Skipping the discipline this article describes until an incident, audit, or stalled project forces it — every practice above is cheaper adopted early than retrofitted under pressure.