Ed-Fi ODS/API and Ed-Fi API v8 FAQ
The Ed-Fi Alliance is actively developing Ed-Fi API v8 (formerly the Ed-Fi Data Management Service) to enhance data integration and management capabilities for educational agencies. Designed to be robust and flexible, Ed-Fi API v8 will address the evolving needs of the Ed-Fi community. The Ed-Fi Alliance plans to fully replace the current ODS/API Platform with Ed-Fi API v8 by the 2029-2030 school year. In the meantime, the Alliance remains committed to supporting the ODS/API Platform through the 2028-2029 school year.
Roadmap
Q: What does the future look like for the legacy ODS/API Platform?
The Ed-Fi Alliance plans to continue support for the ODS/API Platform through school year 2028-2029. In the table below, the label "patch" means that the Ed-Fi Alliance will periodically release updates covering vulnerabilities, urgent bugs, and dependency updates. The label "active" means that the Alliance may add additional features.
| Application | '24-'25 | '25-'26 | '26-'27 | '27-'28 | '28-'29 | '29-'30 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ODS/API 5.4 | patch | |||||
| ODS/API 6.2 | patch | |||||
| ODS/API 7.3 | patch | |||||
| Ed-Fi API v8.x | testing | active | ||||
As shown in the table above:
- ODS/API 5.4, released in summer 2024, will be supported for the school year 2024-2025. The 5.x series was first released in 2020, for the 2021-2022 school year. It implements Data Standard 3 (current: 3.3).
- ODS/API 6.2, released in February 2024, implements Data Standard 4.0. No further feature enhancements are planned. It will be supported in production at least through the 2025-2026 school year.
- ODS/API 7.3.x will continue to receive annual feature enhancements (and bug fixes) for the next several years, including an update to .NET 10 in 2026. This version supports Data Standard versions 4 and 5, and will support Data Standard version 6. It will be fully supported at least through school year 2028-2029.
Q: When will Ed-Fi API v8 be available?
Goal timeline:
- Release 8.0 Q2 of 2026, available for pilot / parallel usage in school year 2026-2027.
- Release 8.1 Q4 of 2026, available for parallel / production usage in school year 2027-2028.
The release 8.0 will be fully compatible with the must have requirements described in the Ed-Fi API Design and Implementation Guidelines, 4.0 and will expand further into the should have and optional requirements and features. State Education Agencies (SEA) frequently have more detailed technical requirements for client authorization and for access to raw data for warehousing and reporting. The SEA-oriented release 8.1 should be available for production use in the 2027-2028 school year.
The 8.0 release will not have complete parity with the optional features in the ODS/API Platform (see note below). The Ed-Fi API Technical Workgroup and/or Technical Advisory Group (TAG) will help guide prioritization of features.
An example of an ODS/API feature that is not planned for Ed-Fi API v8:
link elements in the xyzReference sections when retrieving a
resource with a GET request. See
Deprecation of Links
for more information.
Technical Integrations
Q: Will integrations built for the ODS/API continue to work with the new system?
Ed-Fi API v8 will be a fully compatible implementation of the Ed-Fi API specification. Client applications that interact with the REST API will continue to work.
The backend data store in Ed-Fi API v8 differs from the ODS/API, but it remains ODS-like and relational. To support existing reporting, analytics, and downstream integrations, the platform is evolving toward a relational data model similar to the ODS, exposing data in a familiar, tabular form. This approach allows agencies to continue using SQL-based reporting patterns. We recognize that many current Ed-Fi implementations depend on database-level integrations for critical analytics and reporting. The Alliance is committed to working with the community to create clear migration paths that allow agencies to leverage their existing data integrations. The platform also introduces new integration capabilities such as streaming events via Kafka for real-time data flows.
The base URLs will be different in Ed-Fi API v8 compared to the ODS/API. The differences between the two can easily be bridged if needed by changing client code to query the root endpoint (Discovery API), or with special redirection rules in an API Gateway application sitting in front of Ed-Fi API v8.
Q: Will integrations built for the Admin API continue to work with the new system?
Yes — if referring to the Management API
specification.
No — if referring to the specific software application called "Admin API".
Ed-Fi API v8 will have a different database system than the
ODS/API, including restructuring of the data currently housed in the
EdFi_Admin and EdFi_Security databases. The project will introduce a new
application, called the Configuration Service, which implements the Ed-Fi
Management API specification. The plan is to implement the
Management API specification (version 3), so that applications and scripts
developed on this specification can interact seamlessly either with the platform
of today or of tomorrow.
Process
Q: How can I / my team prepare for the upgrade?
Start by identifying all direct ODS, Admin, and Security database integrations in your environment:
- ETLs that extract from a metadata catalog and load into the ODS.
- Replace with direct calls to the Ed-Fi API.
- ETLs that extract from the ODS and load into a data warehouse.
- Plan to continue SQL-based reporting or transition to direct calls to the Ed-Fi API, using Change Queries.
- Data Validation procedures that run directly on ODS.
- Replace with validation off of a data mart of data warehouse.
- Client credential management directly in the Admin database.
- Deploy Admin API and replace with calls to its implementation of the Ed-Fi Management API, which will be implemented in the Configuration Service in Ed-Fi API v8.
While some database‑level access patterns may continue to work in Ed-Fi API v8, whenever possible, use the REST API to load or extract data. Doing so both prepares you for Ed-Fi API v8 and helps you ensure data integrity and security.
You can work with your Ed-Fi liaison to build a plan for transitioning ahead of the 2028-2029 school year.
Q: How can I / my team get involved?
The Ed-Fi Alliance is running a technical workgroup that will meet regularly to help with prioritization, review, and testing of the software.
Anyone wishing to contribute at the level of design or application code level is invited to review the Project Tanager design repository to understand current and upcoming work. Please see How to Contribute for more information.
Technical Design
Q: How does Ed-Fi API v8 enforce data integrity?
All data storage designs in Ed-Fi API v8 will be based on ACID-level transactions, ensuring that data operations are processed reliably and maintain data integrity. All data will be stored in a relational database (PostgreSQL or Microsoft SQL Server), and referential integrity is enforced through the use of foreign keys, ensuring the data model remains consistent with the Ed-Fi Data Standard.
Q: Can I run the system without Kafka?
Yes. Kafka is used for an optional streaming feature in Ed-Fi API v8. If you do not have streaming use cases, you can run the system without Kafka.
Core functionality (API operations, data storage, integrity enforcement) does not depend on Kafka. You can add Kafka later if you decide to implement real-time data flows.
Q: When will Microsoft SQL Server be supported?
Ed-Fi API v8 supports PostgreSQL as the primary data store. Microsoft SQL Server is being added as an alternative data store in parallel with the 8.0 release (2026). Any remaining gaps will be addressed in the 8.1 release.
This approach allows agencies to continue using their existing SQL Server infrastructure to run Ed-Fi API v8.