API versioning strategy exists

An unversioned API has no mechanism to introduce breaking changes without breaking every existing consumer simultaneously. The first time a field is renamed, an endpoint is removed, or a response type changes, all integrators are affected with no warning or migration path. iso-25010:2011 compatibility.interoperability and maintainability.modifiability both require that the API surface area be stable across releases — and versioning is the mechanism that makes stability promises credible. Adding /v1/ retroactively after you have external consumers is far more disruptive than doing it before launch.

Add URL-based versioning to all endpoints now, before external consumers lock in on your paths:

// Before:
/api/users
/api/orders

// After:
/api/v1/users
/api/v1/orders

For GraphQL, version via @deprecated directives and a documented deprecation timeline rather than URL versioning. For gRPC, add package versioning to your .proto files: package myapi.v1;. If you already have consumers on unversioned paths, add a redirect layer from /api/ to /api/v1/ while you migrate client code.