imtiazrayhan Retire an interface through measured migration, not a deletion date alone.
Workflow
- Define the retiring surface. Identify endpoints, methods, fields, event versions, SDK methods, agent tools, error codes, authentication modes, and undocumented behaviors consumers may rely on.
- Inventory consumers. Combine gateway logs, client identifiers, tracing, repository search, SDK telemetry, support records, partner contracts, and owner interviews. State blind spots and the observation window.
- Verify the replacement. Map every required behavior, performance property, permission, error, and operational dependency to the replacement. Record gaps and migration prerequisites.
- Set policy and timeline. Apply versioning commitments, contractual notice, client release cadence, and rare usage cycles. Define announcement, warning, migration, freeze, disablement, and deletion milestones with owners.
- Make deprecation observable. Add safe usage metrics, per-consumer attribution where allowed, structured warnings, response headers or schema directives, dashboards, and alerts for unexpected traffic changes.
- Support migration. Provide side-by-side examples, SDK or codemod support, test environments, compatibility checks, and escalation paths. Avoid telling consumers only that the old interface will disappear.
- Define exit criteria. Require replacement parity, acknowledged high-risk consumers, traffic below a justified threshold for a representative window, passing contract tests, rollback readiness, and accountable approval.
- Disable reversibly before deletion. Prefer a controlled reject, feature flag, route switch, or scoped block with monitoring. Observe the result before removing code, data, documentation, and operational dependencies.
[!WARNING] Telemetry cannot prove absence when client identification, regions, long-running jobs, or rare workflows are missing. Document the coverage boundary before interpreting zero traffic.
Output
Produce a consumer matrix, replacement gap analysis, milestone timeline, communication plan, telemetry design, migration aids, exit checklist, reversible shutdown procedure, rollback trigger, and final cleanup list.