API Versioning

The Types of Version

Ensembl REST has 3 versions available. Knowing which one is relevant to you is important to knowing what could be wrong with a request or why data you expect isn't being returned.

REST Version - info/rest

{"release":"3.0.0"}

This is the first and most important version. It flags what version of the REST API you are communicating with. REST version numbers are composed of 3 parts: major.minor.point. Increments in all three are described below

• major - Indicates significant alteration to the API which could result in your code no longer working
• minor - Indicates some alteration in the API but not sufficient to break code & most likely the introduction of new data or endpoints
• point - No change to the public interface. Normally reserved for bugfixes

It is a good idea to inspect this value when running your pipelines to ensure you are working with the expected version of REST.

Data Version - info/data

{"releases":[75]}

Data version returns the release of Ensembl data REST is currently accessing. Output is an array as REST could be bound to more than one release of Ensembl. At the time of writing this is unlikely. The live REST site should always point to the latest version of Ensembl.

API Version - info/software

{"release":75}

Flags the release of Ensembl software the REST API is currently using.