API versioning with namespace routing

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                  Rails.application.routes.draw do
  namespace :api do
    namespace :v1 do
      resources :users, only: [:index, :show, :create, :update]
      resources :posts do
        resources :comments, only: [:index, :create]
      end
    end

    namespace :v2 do
      resources :users, only: [:index, :show, :create, :update]
      resources :posts do
        resources :comments
      end
    end
  end
end

                  module Api
  module V1
    class BaseController < ApplicationController
      skip_before_action :verify_authenticity_token
      before_action :set_default_format

      private

      def set_default_format
        request.format = :json
      end
    end
  end
end

API versioning is critical for maintaining backward compatibility while evolving your endpoints. I use Rails namespace routing to organize versions cleanly within the app/controllers structure. Each version lives in its own module like Api::V1 or Api::V2, which makes it straightforward to override specific endpoints in newer versions while inheriting shared behavior from base controllers. The key advantage is that I can deprecate old versions systematically by removing entire namespaces. I typically include the version in the URL path rather than headers because it's more explicit and easier to test with standard HTTP tools like curl. This pattern also integrates well with API documentation generators that expect conventional RESTful routes.

Alex Kumar

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API versioning with namespace routing

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