Complete AI Training
Sign inGet my AI kit

Your job's AI kit

Get your AI kit

Tell us who you are and what you do. We show you your kit right away and email you the link: skills, prompts, AI agents, MCP servers and courses for your job.

500+ jobs ready, and we make a kit for any other job. No payment needed to look.

Share

AI agent for backend developers

API Breaking Change Check Agent

Release API changes only when known consumers keep working or are warned

Risk managementQuality controlIT and developmentProduct development
See how it worksGet access
API Breaking Change Check Agent: what goes in, what the agent does and what you get

What it does

A developer renames a field in a shared API, and three apps fail the next morning. This agent compares the API specification between versions and finds breaking changes: removed or renamed fields, new required inputs, changed types, tightened validation and new error codes. For each breaking change it searches the code of known consumers for uses of that field or endpoint and counts them. It runs the consumers' contract tests against the new version. It then proposes either a new version number or a compatibility shim and retests with the shim. The API owner approves the release. Edge case: a field is removed but only used by an app that was retired, so the agent confirms with usage logs before it dismisses the finding.

How it works

Follow the arrows from top to bottom. The orange dashed arrow is the loop: when a check fails, the agent goes back and tries again.

Start and resultWhat it doesA check on its own workWaits for your OKGoes back and retries
Yes, continueYes, continueApprovedNoNo 1 STARTS WHEN API spec change proposed 2 USES A TOOL Compare old and new specs 3 DOES List breaking changes by type 4 USES A TOOL Search consumer code and usage logs for eachaffected field or endpoint 5 USES A TOOL Run the consumers' contract tests against the newversion 6 CHECKS THE RESULT Do all consumer tests pass? If not: propose a compatibility shim or a version bumpfor the failing cases. Back to step 3. 7 DOES Apply the proposal in a branch 8 USES A TOOL Rerun the consumer tests with the shim or newversion 9 CHECKS THE RESULT Do the tests now pass with no new differences? If not: revise the shim and test again. Back to step 6. 10 YOU APPROVE API owner approves the release and consumer notice 11 RESULT Change report and notice for consumers
Read the steps as a list
  1. API spec change proposed
  2. Compare old and new specs
  3. List breaking changes by type
  4. Search consumer code and usage logs for each affected field or endpoint
  5. Run the consumers' contract tests against the new version
  6. Do all consumer tests pass?If not: propose a compatibility shim or a version bump for the failing cases. Back to step 3.
  7. Apply the proposal in a branch
  8. Rerun the consumer tests with the shim or new version
  9. Do the tests now pass with no new differences?If not: revise the shim and test again. Back to step 6.
  10. API owner approves the release and consumer noticeThe agent waits here for your OK.
  11. Change report and notice for consumers

How it decides

It marks a change as breaking when an existing valid request or response would fail, and confirms impact by searching consumers and running their contract tests.

  • Treat removed fields, new required inputs and type changes as breaking
  • Confirm retired consumers with usage logs
  • Prefer a compatibility shim for changes affecting 3 or more consumers
  • Require a deprecation notice period of 90 days for removals

Make it yours

Every agent is a starting point. You choose these settings for your own situation.

  • Consumer list
  • Deprecation period (default 90 days)
  • Spec format (OpenAPI, GraphQL)
  • Contract test location
  • Who receives the notice

What keeps you in control

It always asks you first

  • API owner approves the release
  • API owner approves the consumer notice

Hard limits

  • Never merge or release the change itself
  • Never contact consumers without the API owner's approval

It stops when

  • Done: consumers pass or are notified with a transition plan
  • Stop: a consumer cannot be updated in time and the change is held

Set it up

We guide you through the set-up, step by step

Members get the full set-up guide for this agent. No technical skills needed: you copy, paste and upload.

10 minto set it up in your AI
5 AIsChatGPT, Claude, Copilot, Gemini, Grok
  • One set of instructions to paste into your AI, with the clicks for ChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot, Gemini and Grok
  • The agent then walks you through connecting your own data, one source at a time
  • A downloadable copy with the flow chart, the rules and the full guide
Get access to this agent

An example run

What happensA pull request renamed customerId to customer_id. The agent found 2 breaking changes and searched 9 consumers: 4 used the field. The contract tests failed in 3. It proposed a shim accepting both names. After the rerun, the mobile app test still failed because the response also needed the old name, so the check failed. The shim was extended to responses. All passed, and the owner approved a 90-day deprecation.

More agents for backend developers

Coding · Quality control

API Contract Drift Repair Agent

Schema, clients and implementation agree, without surprise breaking changes.

8 steps1 check3 jobs
Quality control · Coding

Database Migration Rehearsal Agent

Migrations rehearsed safely with schema and data intact.

7 steps1 check4 jobs
Coding · Quality control

API Pagination Recovery Agent

Syncs that return every record exactly once.

8 steps1 check3 jobs
Quality control · Product development

Product Supportability Review Agent

Every feature can be diagnosed by support when it fails.

9 steps1 check1 job