API Branches

In the ever-evolving world of application development, efficiency and agility are key. Xano's API Branches feature offers a game-changing solution that empowers you to streamline your development workflow, enabling you to test, develop, and deploy new features without disrupting your live production environment. Let's dive into this exciting new feature and learn how you can leverage it to optimize your development process.

What are API Branches?

API Branches are a versioning system that allows you to create separate copies of your business logic, including API endpoints, background tasks (cron jobs), add-ons, and custom functions. By creating a new branch, you can experiment, test, and develop new features without affecting your live version. It's like having multiple sandboxes within your Xano workspace, each containing its own isolated environment for development and testing.

Benefits of API Branches

1. Seamless Testing and Development: With API Branches, you can freely test and develop new features without worrying about impacting your live application. This ensures a smooth and uninterrupted experience for your users while you iterate and refine your code.
2. Collaboration and Code Reviews: API Branches enable seamless collaboration among team members. Developers can work on separate branches, review each other's code, and merge changes back into the main branch when ready.
3. Versioning and Rollbacks: Easily maintain multiple versions of your API, allowing for quick rollbacks if needed. This provides a safety net, ensuring you can revert to a previous stable version if issues arise with a new deployment.
4. Simplified Environments Management: While Xano's Data Source Environments feature handles data separation, API Branches focus exclusively on managing your business logic, providing a streamlined solution for versioning and deploying your APIs, functions, add-ons, and tasks.

Getting Started with API Branches

To create a new API Branch in your Xano workspace, follow these steps:

1. In the left navigation bar, click on the "Branch" dropdown (e.g., "V1").
2. Click the "Add Branch" button in the right panel.
3. Provide a name for your new branch (e.g., "V2") and select the source branch from which you want to create a copy.
4. Click "Create Branch."

You're now in the editing mode for your new branch. Any changes you make to your API endpoints, functions, add-ons, or tasks will be isolated to this branch, leaving your live version untouched.

Working with API Branches

While editing a non-live branch, you'll notice a few key differences:

1. Branch Indicator: The branch you're currently editing will be highlighted in yellow in the left navigation bar.
2. Documentation Links: The documentation links (e.g., base URL, Swagger documentation) will reference the branch you're currently editing. To access the live documentation, switch back to your live branch or remove the branch name from the URL.
3. Background Tasks: Only background tasks (cron jobs) on your live branch will execute. This prevents conflicts and ensures your live data remains unaffected while you test on a separate branch.

Once you've completed your testing and development on a non-live branch, you can easily switch to that branch as your new live version with a single click.

Conclusion

Xano's API Branches feature revolutionizes the way you develop and deploy backend services for your web and mobile applications. By providing a streamlined solution for versioning and testing your business logic, API Branches empower you to iterate quickly, collaborate effectively, and deploy with confidence. Whether you're a no-code enthusiast, a citizen developer, a traditional developer, or part of a startup or small business, API Branches can supercharge your development workflow and help you bring your ideas to life faster than ever before.