The Product lifecycle
When you manage your Product versions, you move them through a series of lifecycle
states. From initially staging a Product version to a Catalog, through to publishing to make the
Product version available to your application developers, and to eventual retiring and archiving.
The syndication feature in IBM® API
Connect means that Product lifecycle states
can also be managed within Spaces
in the associated Catalog.
Product lifecycle state diagram
The following diagram shows the possible lifecycle states for a Product version, and the Product management operations that move a Product version from one lifecycle state to another. For example, the Retire operation moves a Product version from the Published to the Retired state.
![Lifecycle state diagram for Products](diagram_product_lifecycle.jpg)
![[V5.0.5 or later]](../buildfiles/icon_v505.jpg)
- Retired to Staged.
- Deprecated to Published.
- Approval for Product lifecycle state changes in a Catalog is disabled by default. You must explicitly enable the Product lifecycle state changes that you want to enforce.
Product lifecycle approvals can be configured only at the Catalog level. This feature is not available at the Space level.
![[V5.0.5 or later]](../buildfiles/icon_v505.jpg)
Draft
The draft state for a Product or API is when a Product or API definition is not deployed and is not associated with any Catalog.
Staged
When you stage a Product, a copy of the Product version is deployed to the target Catalog. Staged is the initial state when you publish a Product. When a Product is in the staged state, it is not yet visible to, or subscribable by, any developers. Staging of Product versions is usually carried out in the API Designer. For more information about staging a Product, see Staging a Product.
Published
When you publish a Product, a fixed copy of the Product version is deployed to the target Catalog. The Product version is visible to, and subscribable by, the targeted developers or communities. When a Product is published in a Catalog, the visibility and subscription settings can be changed for the published version of that Product. Any further changes require a new version of the Product to be staged and published before they take effect. For more information about publishing a Product, see Publishing a Product.
Deprecated
When you deprecate a Product, the Product version is visible only to developers whose applications are currently subscribed. No new subscriptions to the Plans in the Product are possible. For more information about deprecating Products, see Deprecating a Product.
Retired
When you retire a Product, the Product version can neither be viewed nor can its Plans be subscribed to, and all of the associated APIs are taken offline. For more information about retiring Products, see Retiring a Product.
Archived
When you archive a Product, the Product version can neither be viewed nor can its Plans be subscribed to, and all of the associated APIs are taken offline. The Product version is not displayed by default in the Products tab of the Catalog in API Manager. For more information about archiving Products, see Archiving a Product.