What is the main purpose of using version control for APIs?

The main goal of version control for APIs is to manage changes and ensure compatibility between different API versions. This allows:

• Supporting multiple API versions simultaneously so that clients can gradually transition to new versions without disruptions.
• Avoiding breaking existing integrations when making changes or adding new features.
• Providing transparency and documentation of changes in the API.
• Simplifying testing and deployment of new versions.

For example, API versioning can be implemented through URLs:

/api/v1/resource
/api/v2/resource

Or through request headers. This helps clients explicitly specify which version they are using, and the server can correctly handle requests.