A developer removes a required JSON field from a city licensing API response. What should happen in the test stage before production?
Select an answer to reveal the explanation.
Short Explanation
Yank a required bolt and the assembly-line gauge should scream in the factory, not on the highway. Contract tests on the test stage catch breaking response changes early. Silencing those tests just moves the crash downtown.
Full Explanation
If a developer removes a required JSON field from a city licensing API response, contract tests on the test stage should fail, blocking promotion until the breaking change is addressed or versioned intentionally. Automated contract tests in non-production stages exist to detect breaking API changes before production traffic shifts for mobile and partner clients. A red contract suite is the desired municipal signal, not an inconvenience to silence so the pipeline stays green.
Doing nothing so clients discover missing fields only after production traffic shifts fails by design and externalizes breakage to citizens. Disabling contract tests whenever fields are removed so pipelines stay green fails conceptually by destroying the detector when it is most needed. Updating only production documentation and skipping non-prod verification fails because documentation does not protect runtime clients.
Exam caveat: intentional breaks need API versioning or coordinated client releases—failing tests should drive that plan, not a force-merge with disabled gates. Operational check: reproduce the field removal on test, confirm contract tests fail and block promotion, then either restore the field or publish a versioned contract both teams accept.