Read Thoroughly: API 2.0 is coming; be prepared

[Duleepa Wijayawardhana]

API 2.0 is coming; be prepared

As you all know, one of the biggest weaknesses of the current Empire Avenue API has been that we used Basic Auth (passing in a username/password) for every API call request. This was the easiest and most expedient way for us to get the API up in time but it leaves the consumer in a not-so-great situation as you are now required to store a password etc.

Also, we were never able to fully integrate a permissions solution. 

What happens to 1.0? We are now preparing Empire Avenue API 2.0, so first to alleviate any fears:

- API version 1.0 will remain as is

- We will give you 365 days from the release of API Version 2.0 to transition from 1.0 to 2.0.

- Within 6 months of the release of Version 2.0 we will reduce by 50% the number of calls/hour on Version 1.0, further reductions will happen over time to reduce reliance on version 1.0.

Now the good stuff:

Empire Avenue API 2.0, will be a logical extension of the version 1.0 calls. Almost all the calls will function the same, so you don't need to rewrite how you handle data from us, however there will be some changes

- oAuth 2.0 Support: We will move to a full oAuth 2.0 model, you will get a token after the user authorizes. We will use the same model as Twitter in this that the token will be persistent.

- User-based Permissions: The user will be able to authorize your application to handle four use cases. As of writing this email the permissions will be the following, though feel free to discuss as this is currently not completely finalized:

Access Market Data (read_market_data)

Scope: Access all market related data only (portfolio, shareholders)

Access Profile and Data (read_profile)

Scope: Access profile information, messages, shout outs, your stream

Update Profile and Data (write_profile)

Scope: Update profile, send messages, post shout outs, manage lists

Buy and Sell (buy_sell)

Scope: Buy and Sell on your behalf

- As you can see from the above list, once API 2.0 is posted we will be able to expand the API calls which we were hesitant to do under version 1.0. Initially the calls will be mirrored from version 1.0

- Increased access to the API: With API 2.0 we will increase the limit/hour of calls to the API by your user account.

Now the bad stuff:

The only call that will not transition from API 1.0 to 2.0 is the trading shares calls. We're doing this as no application used it and we want to reduce the complexity on the code side at this time. It's also incredibly confusing.

Release Timeline

We're working diligently on a number of fronts and we want to release API 2.0 to you in June. But as with all things, it will be released when it is ready. We just want you to be prepared for the changes that are coming so you are not surprised. We may contact a few of you to be beta testers of the new API 2.0 before it is widely released.

About Whitelisting and Firehose Availability

This has been a request by various people. This will be available in future functionality, for now, due to server load issues, we won't be enabling it.