Core Service versioning

Whether you are using the Core Service.REST or the older WCF Core Service, your API clients connect to the API through a specific contract version. To support backward compatibility, new releases of Tridion Sites return data that an old client can handle gracefully.

Introduced functionality

In most cases, only the latest Core Service API versions will support new functionality added in the release of Tridion Sites) that introduced that version. Of course, if you want to make use of new functionality offered by a new release (new parameters, new methods, and so on), you must modify and recompile your existing code, and explicitly connect to the new end points.

Older endpoints

Every Tridion Sites release aims to ensure these endpoints are backward compatible with existing clients (the service contract is maintained) so that if you upgrade Tridion Sites, you can leave your code unchanged. Existing calls to the Core Service interface will generally continue to work because the existing service contract is still supported.

When you are using older endpoints (contract versions), the current API makes every effort not to change the structure of the data that gets returned; however, there may be instances where the structure does change. The API handles such changes in the following ways:

  • Existing properties will keep same type in the new release.
  • New properties are always optional and any that are not known at all in an older contract version will be removed.
  • New subclasses will be downgraded to the nearest base class that exists in the release to which your interface call belongs.
  • New enumeration (enum) members that are not known in an older contract version will be replaced by UnknownByClient (known in all contract versions) to indicate data that the client does not understand.

Core Service.REST support

Tridion Sites 9.6 is the first release to support Core Service.REST, and thus Tridion Sites 9.6 supports a single API contract version, V1.0.

WCF Core Service support

The following table describes the versions of WCF Core Service that each version of Tridion Sites supports.

Product versionIntroduced contract versionSupported contract versions
Tridion Sites 102022012013, 201501, 201603, 201701, 202101, 202201
Tridion Sites 9.62021012013, 201501, 201603, 201701, 202101
SDL Tridion Sites 9.5none2013, 201501, 201603, 201701
SDL Tridion Sites 92017012013, 201501, 201603, 201701
SDL Web 8.52016032013, 201501, 201603
SDL Web 8 Cumulative Update 12015012013, 201501
SDL Tridion 2013 SP1 HR120132013