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API Changelog Template for Product Teams
Free API changelog template for product and developer relations teams. Document breaking changes, new endpoints, deprecations, and versioning with...
Updated 2026-03-05
API Changelog
| # | Audience | Topic / Update | Cadence | Channel | Owner | Status | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | |||||||
| 2 | |||||||
| 3 | |||||||
| 4 | |||||||
| 5 |
#1
#2
#3
#4
#5
Edit the values above to try it with your own data. Your changes are saved locally.
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Frequently Asked Questions
How often should we publish API changelogs?+
Match your release cadence. If you deploy continuously, batch changes into weekly entries. If you release on a fixed schedule (biweekly sprints, monthly releases), publish one entry per release. Breaking changes and security fixes always deserve their own standalone entry, regardless of cadence.
Should the API changelog be separate from product release notes?+
Yes. Product release notes are for end users and focus on features and benefits. API changelogs are for developers and focus on endpoints, schemas, and breaking changes. A developer integrating your API does not care about your new onboarding flow. A customer using your UI does not care about your webhook event filtering. Publish both, link between them.
Who should write the API changelog?+
The platform PM or developer relations lead owns the content. Engineering provides the raw change list. The PM rewrites it with developer-facing context: why the change was made, who is affected, and what to do. Do not auto-generate changelogs from commit messages. Auto-generated entries are unreadable for anyone outside your team.
How do we notify developers about breaking changes?+
Three channels, minimum. Post the changelog entry on your developer docs site. Send an email to all registered API consumers (everyone who has an API key). Post a banner in your developer dashboard. For high-impact changes, also post in your developer community (Discord, Slack, forum). The [Stakeholder Management Handbook](/stakeholder-guide) covers communication planning across multiple audiences.
Should we version our changelog or use dates?+
Use both. Each entry should have a version number (for referencing) and a date (for chronological ordering). If your API uses semantic versioning, use the API version. If you use date-based versioning (e.g., `2026-03-05`), use the release date as the version identifier. ---
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