Changelog

2.7.0 - 2025-08-19

Single page version is now available.

2.6.0 - 2025-08-13

• Added guidance under General Guidelines for Development Process, Environments and Test Data which includes Test Data Best Practices.

2.5.0 - 2025-03-04

• Upgraded MkDocs version to improve screen reading experience for Section 508 compliance.

2.4.4 - 2025-02-28

• Modified image descriptions to be Section 508 compliant.

2.4.3 - 2025-01-17

• Modified tables and headings to be Section 508 compliant.

2.4.2 - 2025-01-14

• Fixed code block examples to be Section 508 compliant.

2.4.1 - 2025-01-09

• Added underline on hyperlinks for Section 508 compliance.

2.4.0 - 2024-12-05

• A new section called Consumer Support was added. This section contains guidance for supporting consumers.

2.3.1 - 2024-10-02

• Updated formatting and improved Partial Deprecation examples.

2.3.0 - 2024-09-24

• A new section called Production Management was added. This section contains guidance on managing and deploying releases of APIs to minimize impact to dependent systems.

2.2.0 - 2024-08-26

• A new section called API Design Patterns was added. This section will contain API design best practices and standards for reusable solutions to common problems encountered while designing and developing APIs.
  • A Pagination subsection was added to the API Design Patterns section.

2.1.2 - 2024-08-07

• Updated documentation page
  • Guidance for OAS documentation was updated to use OAS version 3.0.x
  • The example OAS was updated to include more details and guidance.

2.1.1 - 2024-07-30

• The monitoring section was expanded to include information and guidance on Service Level Objectives (SLOs). This content explains what SLOs are, how to create and monitor them, and, why they are important.

• The health checks content was moved to its own page.

2.0.1 - 2024-07-29

• Clarifying the Lifecycle content for deprecation, deactivation, and decomposition.

2.0.0 - 2024-02-09

• Rebranded the Lighthouse API Standards as the VA API Standards.
• Lighthouse specific content has been moved to a new public-facing API guide on CODE VA.

1.3.0 - 2023-09-01

• Updated the deprecation page with expanded governance details on the process, such as when to deprecate, headers marking an API as deprecated, and suggested deprecation/deactivation timelines.
• Updated the versioning page to recommend that there should be no more than one active version of API at a time.
• Added a decomposition page with guidance on splitting a single API into multiple standalone APIs.

1.2.0 - 2023-07-10

• Added a Defaults section which lists the default rate limit, timeout, and request size limit.
• 'Availability' is renamed 'Performance and Availability' with details about expected performance and timeouts.
• Updated the security section to reference the rate limit.

1.1.0 - 2023-06-23

• Moved the errors page to the top-level navigation and added a required errors section.
• Added API expectations that were on developer.va.gov and not covered elsewhere in the standards:
  • SLAs for sandbox and production are listed on a new availability page within the general guidelines.
  • Updated the architecture requirements to include that APIs must be stateless, cache compatible, and able to work as part of a layered system.

1.0.0 - 2023-04-01

• Added a monitoring section.
• Added an example OAS doc to general-guidelines/documentation.

• Changed style to match VA Design System via material-va-lighthouse plugin.

0.1.0 - 2022-09-28

• Initial release.