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Flutter › REST API Integration in Flutter

How do you properly implement API versioning support within your app, ensuring your Flutter client genuinely continues working correctly even as your backend API itself continues to evolve and change over time?

Intermediate

Answer

API versioning typically involves your backend exposing several separate distinct versions of a given endpoint, commonly identified either through the actual URL path itself, such as slash v2 slash orders, or through a specific custom request header, and your app's own networking layer should genuinely be properly configured to consistently target one particular specific known version, letting your backend team safely introduce genuinely breaking changes within a brand new version while still continuing to properly and reliably support your existing already released app that continues depending on that particular previous older version until it is eventually genuinely fully retired.
final dio = Dio(BaseOptions(baseUrl: 'https://api.example.com/v2'));
Real-world example A backend team introduces a genuinely breaking change to their orders endpoint within a brand new v2 API version, while still properly and reliably continuing to support their existing v1 endpoint specifically for users who have not yet actually updated to their genuinely latest app version.

Common follow-ups: How long should a backend team reasonably continue supporting an older previous API version after releasing a genuinely newer one?;What genuinely happens if your app attempts to call an API version that has already since been fully retired?