{
  "id": 12159044,
  "title": "What I Learned Building Backend Features Used Across Multiple Clients",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/05/what-i-learned-building-backend-features-used-across-multiple-clients",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-05T13:33:33.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/gabriela_colombo_437a7a2d/what-i-learned-building-backend-features-used-across-multiple-clients-3dfn"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": null,
  "summary": "In this article, the author reflects on their experience building backend features used across multiple clients and shares insights gained from this process. The author emphasizes that backend changes rarely occur in isolation, as the same API can be consumed by various clients such as web, mobile apps, and internal servers. This interconnectedness means that a backend change can be technically correct but still break the product if not well-planned. The author stresses the importance of considering the broader API contract, not just the endpoint, request body, or response. They provide an example where an API returning a single role has to accommodate clients that still expect a single role while transitioning to support multiple roles. The author also highlights the significance of backward compatibility during feature development, suggesting the introduction of new data as optional first and migrating existing records before making it mandatory. This approach is illustrated through a case study of a feature that introduced mandatory speaker roles, where the author transitioned from an optional new role capability to a mandatory one by first introducing the new role information without requiring it for existing data, then migrating existing records to default roles, and finally making the new requirement mandatory.",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}