|
| 1 | +--- |
| 2 | +title: Announcing the aep-2026 Release |
| 3 | +date: 2025-12-08 |
| 4 | +authors: |
| 5 | + - name: Marsh Gardiner |
| 6 | + - name: Yusuke Tsutsumi |
| 7 | + - name: Alex Stephen |
| 8 | +--- |
| 9 | + |
| 10 | +import { Image } from 'astro:assets'; |
| 11 | +import aep300Image from './aep_300_image.png'; |
| 12 | + |
| 13 | +# The Coordination Challenge |
| 14 | + |
| 15 | +Building software is a team sport, but keeping everyone on the same page is |
| 16 | +hard. When every team has to invent their own API patterns — deciding how |
| 17 | +pagination works, or how to format errors — we end up with a lot of wasted |
| 18 | +effort and systems that don't quite fit together. This isn't just about having |
| 19 | +"standards". It's about ensuring that users and tools don't have to |
| 20 | +continuously relearn the same standards. |
| 21 | + |
| 22 | +# A Shared Standard and Tools |
| 23 | + |
| 24 | +The aep-2026 edition is our answer to that friction. It is an opinionated API |
| 25 | +design specification, providing well-defined requirements around common REST |
| 26 | +concepts like CRUD standard methods, pagination, filtering, and more. By |
| 27 | +agreeing on these common patterns, we make it easier for services to talk to |
| 28 | +each other, clients to be built, and for developers to move between projects |
| 29 | +without needing to learn idiosyncratic conventions. |
| 30 | + |
| 31 | +<Image |
| 32 | + src={aep300Image} |
| 33 | + alt="Screenshot of the AEP-300 rule describing edition-based versioning" |
| 34 | +/> |
| 35 | + |
| 36 | +AEP (API Enhancement Proposals) is an open-source, "anti-bike shedding" kit. It |
| 37 | +answers the routine questions so we can all focus on the interesting ones. It’s |
| 38 | +about a shared foundation that lifts everyone up and lets everyone build on the |
| 39 | +same tooling platform. |
| 40 | + |
| 41 | +# Stability for Builders |
| 42 | + |
| 43 | +To build lasting tools, you need a solid foundation. You can't build tooling on |
| 44 | +top of a spec that changes regularly. The aep-2026 edition is a major milestone |
| 45 | +because we are introducing a stable version of the specification and |
| 46 | +establishing a release cadence with [AEP-300](https://aep.dev/300/). This |
| 47 | +decouples stability for consumers and evolving our best practices: |
| 48 | + |
| 49 | +- **For Builders:** Invest in linters, libraries, and other |
| 50 | + [tools](https://aep.dev/tooling-and-ecosystem/#tools) today knowing they will |
| 51 | + keep working for years. |
| 52 | +- **For the Future:** We can keep discussing new improvements for the next |
| 53 | + edition (AEP-2028) without breaking the tools you rely on right now. |
| 54 | + |
| 55 | +The tooling is guaranteed to be compatible for the three most |
| 56 | +[recent editions of AEPs](https://aep.dev/300/#first-party-clients-and-tooling), |
| 57 | +effectively a **6 year stability cycle** based on our current 2-year cadence. |
| 58 | + |
| 59 | +# The Tooling Ecosystem |
| 60 | + |
| 61 | +Because the standard is now stable, we can share a set of tools that help |
| 62 | +everyone do less grunt work. The 2026 edition launches with a compatible |
| 63 | +ecosystem ready for you to use: |
| 64 | + |
| 65 | +- **Infrastructure:** A |
| 66 | + [Terraform Provider](https://github.com/aep-dev/terraform-provider-aep) to |
| 67 | + handle the deployment details. |
| 68 | +- **Integration:** An [MCP Server](https://github.com/aep-dev/aep-mcp-server) |
| 69 | + to let AI agents understand your APIs out of the box. |
| 70 | +- **Exploration:** An [Interactive Web UI](http://ui.aep.dev) to make daily |
| 71 | + development smoother. |
| 72 | +- **Speed:** A [CLI](https://github.com/aep-dev/aepcli) to quickly call an |
| 73 | + AEP-compatible service. |
| 74 | + |
| 75 | +# Next Steps |
| 76 | + |
| 77 | +Come see what we’ve built. Whether you use the whole platform or just grab a |
| 78 | +few good ideas, you are welcome here. |
| 79 | + |
| 80 | +- **Explore:** Check out the |
| 81 | + [Tools Page](https://aep.dev/tooling-and-ecosystem/#tools) to see what's |
| 82 | + available or visit the [aep.dev](http://aep.dev) site to review the numbered |
| 83 | + rules. |
| 84 | +- **Join:** Drop into a |
| 85 | + [weekly Friday meeting](https://github.com/aep-dev/aeps/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#learn-and-connect) |
| 86 | + or hop into our #aep |
| 87 | + [Slack channel](https://github.com/aep-dev/aeps/tree/main?tab=readme-ov-file#learn-and-connect) |
| 88 | + in the CNCF Slack to ask questions or say hello. |
| 89 | + |
| 90 | +# Contributors |
| 91 | + |
| 92 | +This release is the result of years of work and feedback from the community. |
| 93 | +Special thanks to Richard Frankel, Marsh Gardiner, Yusuke Tsutsumi, Alex |
| 94 | +Stephen, and Mike Kistler for their stewardship as maintainers on this release. |
| 95 | +We are also grateful to the growing community of contributors, including David |
| 96 | +Gagne, Olivier Canos, Oscar Söderlund, and others! |
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