API v1 Retirement Update: Blackout Tests, OEmbed, & Streaming API edition

Now that application-only authentication is released, we wanted to give you an update on the ongoing gradual retirement of API v1.

Blackout Tests

On March 5, 2013 we held our first blackout test on the retiring API v1 to give you and other developers an opportunity to understand the impact that this aspect of the API’s departure will have on your applications, websites, widgets, and services. The API responded to unauthenticated requests with “HTTP 410 Gone”, as if the final API retirement had already occurred. Hopefully this retirement test wasn’t your first awakening to the ongoing deprecation of API v1!

The next blackout test will be March 20, 2013 from 3:00pm to 4:00pm Pacific. This time, HTTP 410 will be served to both authenticated and unauthenticated API v1 traffic to api.twitter.com and search.twitter.com. If you want to avoid disruption for your users, you should migrate to API v1.1 by this date if you haven’t already done so.

OEmbed

Developers may have observed that unauthenticated requests to /1/statuses/oembed still functioned during the blackout test. Twitter’s support for OEmbed transcends our API versioning scheme and we’ll continue providing this method of Tweet syndication. Over time the URL for our OEmbed service may change; we recommend that developers tolerate HTTP redirects on this method to better future-proof your integrations.

Discontinuing Basic Auth support on the Streaming API

We’re keen to modernize how applications approach using the Streaming API, which still supports basic auth. As a first step, we’ll require all applications to connect to the Streaming API using OAuth 1.0A, which is already required for User Streams and Site Streams.

This migration will follow the API retirement schedule: when API v1 is retired, basic auth support on stream.twitter.com will also cease functioning. To minimize disruption, applications with elevated streaming roles will have additional time to transition. As a reminder, you should now be using the v1.1 versioned paths on all Streaming API requests.

Thank you for your continued feedback and progress in migrating to API v1.1. Be sure to follow @twitterapi for updates on the retirement process and upcoming blackout tests.