When designing a RESTful API, it is crucial to effectively achieve versioning and handle backward compatibility. Three main strategies for versioning are URL versioning, custom headers, and media-type versioning.
URL versioning involves incorporating the version number in the API endpoint (e.g., /api/v1/resource). This approach is straightforward and cache-friendly; however, it can clutter the URL, and it lacks flexibility if the API evolves significantly.
Custom headers utilize HTTP headers like "Accept-Version" to specify the desired version. It keeps the URL clean and allows clients to request the version explicitly, although it requires additional header parsing and may not be as intuitive.
Media type versioning employs the "Accept" header with custom media types (e.g., application/vnd.company.resource.v1+json). It provides a clear separation of concerns and is flexible for version negotiation, but the implementation can be complex and challenging for clients to understand.