Looker API 4.0 Generally Available

We are excited to announce that Looker API 4.0 is generally available in Looker 22.4. The generally available API 4.0 (API 4.0 GA) has multiple breaking and additive changes and promotes multiple endpoints from Beta to Stable. Check out our API reference for detailed API 4.0 specs. We updated our Looker-supported and Community-supported SDKs to support Looker API 4.0 GA endpoints. For more information, see API and SDK support policies and API Versioning. The rest of this article outlines the breaking changes, mitigations, and features you can look forward to when migrating to API 4.0 GA.

Who should read this?

This document is for you if you use the Looker API through Looker-supported SDKs, Community-supported SDKs, or the API itself. Read the following section that maps to the Looker API version you use.

Pre-GA API 4.0 Users

If you use API 4.0, read this section. It covers the breaking changes and available mitigations when you migrate to API 4.0 GA.

API 4.0 GA includes changing all entity ID fields from numeric integer type to string type. For example, GET /groups/{group_id} endpoint returns id as type string instead of type int64.

Please read through the following table for impact and mitigations specific to your API 4.0 endpoint usage:

Usage Potential Impact1 Prevention
Looker mobile apps Outdated installations of Looker mobile apps stop working Have users update to the latest version of the Looker mobile app(s)
Looker Supported2 SDKs
TypeScript SDK (4.0 API) No impact No action needed
Python SDK (4.0 API) No impact No action needed
Ruby SDK (4.0 API) No impact No action needed
Community Supported2 SDKs
Swift SDK Runtime exceptions Update SDK to v22.0+; then resolve resulting type errors, if any
Kotlin SDK No impact No action needed
LookR SDK No impact No action needed
C# SDK No impact No action needed
Go SDK Runtime exceptions Update SDK to v22.0+; then resolve resulting type errors, if any
Other
Using 4.0 API without an SDK (or with externally provided libraries) Possible runtime errors, depending on language's type sensitivity Review code for dependencies on the type of any ID fields and add support for string-type ID fields. Also review this additional guidance.

1: Assuming common usage patterns that may include the use of Looker's ID fields, but not unusual usage patterns such as applying numeric operations to IDs.

2: Looker API & SDK support. Community-supported libraries are not officially supported by Looker.

API 3.1 Users

If you use API 3.1, read this section. It covers the additional features and changes that API 4.0 makes available to you. Keep in mind, all our Looker-supported and Community-supported SDKs mainly support API 4.0. See SDK and API support policies for more information.

Additional API 4.0 GA Features

For convenience, we list the most notable and useful additive API 4.0 changes for you:

API 4.0 GA Deprecation Changes

API 4.0 GA replaces several deprecated API 3.1 endpoints with improved features. The following endpoints are affected:

API 3.0 Users

API 3.0 is deprecated, and it is recommended you migrate to API 4.0.

Wrap-Up

You can look forward to new features and additive changes to be added to API 4.0 and you can always find the latest changes in our API reference. For more information, see API and SDK support policies and API Versioning. We know that breaking changes are not ideal. Unless an extreme issue arises, we will not make any breaking changes to our generally available API 4.0. We hope our generally available Looker API 4.0 helps you develop more productively and easily on the Looker platform.