Planning Center Services internal apps and some of the web-app's new pages have moved to version 2 of our API, so we are starting the process of deprecating the original API v1.

Summary

This message is important for those who have received and used a Planning Center v1 API key: if you have an application in production using the original PCO API, please transition to the new version by Feb 11, 2019. If you have an installable app you cannot update for your users for free, please email us with an explanation.

History

In 2009 Planning Center made the first version of our API available. At that point, there was only one web application, simply named Planning Center Online. As we developed additional applications, the company was renamed Planning Center, and the original application was renamed (Planning Center) Services.

On the backend, the main people database was extracted to a new application and database, Planning Center People. We built a more modern, versionable API framework and started to use it with some of our apps. In February 2017 we released Services 3.0 for iOS and Android built completely from our new Services v2 and People APIs. In February 2018 we released Music Stand v4 for iOS and Android also rebuilt with these APIs. In addition, we’ve been slowly rebuilding the main Services web interface also using these new APIs.

Benefits

The v2 API brings with it the following benefits:

  • Receive data often more than 2x as fast using smaller, more focused endpoints
  • Many additional endpoints (and counting)
  • Improved naming of endpoints to match what they are named in the app
  • Consistency of data format
  • File uploading

Action Steps

  • Web apps need to be transitioned by Feb 11, 2019
  • Installable apps should get new versions on APIv2 as soon as possible. If you need to retain access for older versions, please email your request to support@planning.center.

For technical questions, please create a GitHub issue on our Developers page. For any non-technical questions, contact our support team.