API Design · Senior · Question 7 of 75

How can you remove a widely used field safely?

1Remove it and rely on clients' error handling
✓Correct answer: Deprecate it, add the replacement, measure usage per client, contact heavy users, send Deprecation/Sunset headers, and remove only after usage drops
3Rename it silently

Explanation

Usage telemetry per field and per client is what makes confident removals possible.

Further reading

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