[Upgrade to Bubble Version 25] Giving all external API calls a default user agent if they don't already have one set

Announcements
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Hello everyone,

We just released a new Bubble version that gives all external API calls a User-Agent field. This field will let the receiver of the API call know that the call originated from Bubble. All API calls without a custom User-Agent field going forward will now have a “User-Agent”: “Bubble” field attached as a header.

The primary reason we’re making this change relates to partnerships. As we ramp up our partnernship efforts, partners being able to identify API calls coming from Bubble apps is a helpful datapoint for them and us. It helps partners get a sense for demand for a Bubble integration. This also helps us smooth out any unfortunate incidents around spam, as the partner can identify these requests originating from Bubble and give us a heads up. We of course wanted to do this in a way that would not break users apps, so decided to release this as a separate Bubble version for niche cases.

Some more FAQs for this change:

  • Which types of API calls does this affect? This affects all calls handled by Bubble servers, including API connector and plugin calls. This should exclude most fetch calls in server-side actions in plugins.
  • Will developers be able to overwrite the new User-Agent field? Yes, you’ll be able to overwrite this using the Headers section.
  • Will API calls with custom User-Agent fields change in behavior? No, these calls will function exactly the same as before.
  • Will I be able to remove the User-Agent object entirely? No, but you can set your User-Agent to an empty string as a header.

Please let us know if you have any questions, and happy Bubbling!

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Hello!
Can you clarify on the “most” word? Which fetch calls would default to this?

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Hey Vini, thanks for the follow-up. I can confirm that fetch calls in V3 and V4 of the plugin API will not be affected. From my understanding, no fetch calls from versions V0-V2 should default to this either, but I cannot give you a full confirmation.

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Will developers be able to overwrite the new User-Agent field? Yes, you’ll be able to overwrite this using the Headers section.

Just wondering, if the User-Agent can be overwritten, how will this change help avoid the spam issue?

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Will developers be able to overwrite the new User-Agent field? Yes, you’ll be able to overwrite this using the Headers section.

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Truly malicious users can certainly overwrite this User-Agent, but we’re assuming most spammers will not find this necessary. Having a User-Agent included doesn’t hurt the spammer; it instead helps the recipient of the spam address the right source (i.e. alerting Bubble instead of blocking our IP address).

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