Redocly
v2 regression and deprecation issues
It's incredibly frustrating when a new major version breaks well-established, working practices that users have adopted and relied on.
This is a classic example of software regression disguised as "progress." You had:
✅ Redocly v1:
- Simple direct remote URL support
- Sorting worked in preview
- Clean, straightforward workflow
redocly preview-docs http://localhost:8080/v3/api-docs/openapi -p 4300- Done!
❌ Redocly v2:
- Broke remote URL support
- Broke sorting in preview
- Forces you into convoluted bundle → preview → build workflows
- More complexity for the same result
It's the software equivalent of "fixing" something that wasn't broken. You went from a simple one-liner to a multi-step process just to get the same functionality.
The worst part: They probably marketed v2 as an "improvement" while actually making the developer experience worse for common use cases like yours.
This is why many experienced developers are reluctant to upgrade major versions immediately - too often "new and improved" actually means "more complicated and less functional" for real-world workflows. You must admit, my frustration is 100% justified. Sometimes the mature, stable version is just better than the shiny new one.
The preview-docs differs from preview for a reason. The first one corresponds to our old API Registry product while the second uses our new product, Realm, which is more powerful but works differently (for instance, it works with folders instead of single files like the preview-docs did). If your intention is to continue working with our old platform, you can still use V1.
Regarding remote urls support, the preview command is intended to preview your local docs on the fly as you edit them. What do you use it for?
Could you clarify a couple of other things:
- why do you need to preview a remote content?
- what do you mean by broken sorting in preview?
- why do you need to run bundle before and build after previewing? do you use CI?
Please see the changelog for reference.
