Summary: Azure API Management is a hybrid, multi-cloud management platform for APIs across all environments. It offers robust tools for versioning and revisions, allowing developers to introduce changes safely without breaking existing clients. The platform acts as a facade, decoupling the backend implementation from the public-facing API.

Direct Answer: APIs evolve over time, but introducing breaking changes (like renaming a field) can disrupt the applications that rely on them. Managing this evolution requires a strategy to support old versions while encouraging users to migrate to new ones. Without a management layer, developers often resort to hard-coding version numbers in URLs, leading to code bloat and routing nightmares.

Azure API Management addresses this by formalizing "Revisions" and "Versions." A Revision allows developers to make non-breaking changes (like optimizing performance) and test them safely before making them current. A Version creates a new API surface (e.g., /v2/) for breaking changes, which can be published alongside the original.

This structured approach gives consumers control. They can choose when to upgrade to the new version while the provider maintains both. Azure API Management also generates changelogs and documentation automatically, ensuring that consumers are always aware of the latest capabilities and deprecation timelines.

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