Family Tree API Officially Released - Dates for Shutting Down NFS API Announced

The following was announced on the FamilySearch Developer's List this morning. My comments follow after the announcement.

FamilySearch is pleased to announce the official release of the FamilySearch API.  Thank you to all who participated during the beta and pilot phases. This release will replace the familytree/v2 API (targeting new.familysearch.org) for all tree reads and writes.  With the release of the latest FamilySearch API the following dates are also announced:

June 30 – Write capability for the familytree/v2  API will be turned off.  Partners can no longer use this API to write to the tree.  This functionality is replaced with the release of the latest FamilySearch API.

The collaboration toolkit (a feature of the FamilySearch API), which includes sources, discussions, and the change log, has moved from beta to pilot.  With the collaboration toolkit in pilot, partners should feel confident the code is stable and start implementing the features.

Sept 15 – All partners who write to the FamilySearch Family Tree will need to implement the features of the collaboration toolkit by Sept 15 in order to maintain their certification.  They will be able to re-certify after the collaborative features are added.

End of year – Partners will be able to continue to use the read functionality of the familytree/v2 API until the end of the year.

This means if you are using a 3rd Party Product that still works with NFS then you will no longer be able to send information between NFS and your program come June 30th. (3 May 2013 combine/separate was turned off in the NFS API.) This is putting the pinch on some developers that have not already become certified to Tree Share with Family Tree.  They now have a deadline to do so.

You can see the status of the 3rd Party Products and their certification by going to https://familysearch.org/products . Look for the check mark to the left of their name to determine which programs work directly with Family Tree. On the right also check that they have Tree Share certification. Meaning they are products that will allow you to read and write to the Family Tree. They need both icons. All reference to 3rd Party Products that were previously certified on the NFS API will end September 15^th.

After the ability to write to NFS is turned off you will still be able to read data in NFS until the end of the year. All technical support for 3rd Party Products reading NFS data will end June 30^th.  All reference to 3rd Party Products that were certified on the NFS API will end September 15^th.

My understanding from this timeline is that all data from NFS should be moved over to Family Tree before the end of the year or possibly sooner. Once that happens the connection from NFS to FT will be severed. Which would allow us to merge the duplicates in FT that we were prevented from doing so because they were IOUS in NFS. That will be a happy day for many of us. The transfer of all unrestricted deceased data from NFS to FT has been completed.

See ya tomorrow, for tomorrow is always another genealogy day!

Update 6/04/2013: I received clarification from Gordon Clarke, FamilySearch API Program Manager, on the shutting down of NFS API and Certification.  The changes are marked in red.

“Now that the FamilySearch Family Tree API is finalized and all unrestricted deceased data has been transferred from new.Familysearch.org (NFS) to FamilySearch.org Family Tree (FT) all certification of 3rd Party Products reading or writing to NFS has ended. Members of FamilySearch developer network have been asked to stop any development using familytree/v2 API.  

All technical support for 3rd Party Products writing or reading NFS data will end June 30^th. 

All reference to 3rd Party Products that were previously certified on the NFS API will end September 15^th.”