PokeAPI / PokeAPI/pokeapi

Change evolution chain IDs so there aren't "empty" IDs in between valid ones

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#742 1 comment 0 reactions 0 assignees View on GitHub

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Dominant language
Python
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Description

Evolution chain IDs range from 1 to 476. Despite that, the following evolution chain IDs return a 404 error when you try to access them: 210, 222, 225, 226, 227, 231, 238, 251

As far as I can tell, there aren't any good reasons to leave these IDs blank, and it makes evolution chains unnecessarily annoying to work with. If someone (reasonably) assumes that there is a valid chain for each ID from 1 to 476, the empty IDs are liable to cause some annoying bugs until they figure it out. It's just very unintuitive.

I propose higher IDs be shifted down to fill in the gaps. It would break legacy code that relies on the current setup, but in a future version or something it should be considered. It would be far cleaner.

Contributor guide

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First steps

  1. Read the whole issue, then the project's contributing guide.
  2. Comment on the issue to say you are picking it up — it saves two people doing the same work.
  3. Fork the repository and make your change on a branch.
  4. Open a pull request that references the issue number.

Research direction

Start at the evolution-chain API endpoint and inspect how IDs are assigned and how the listed gaps are exposed. Review the compatibility impact of shifting higher IDs, including existing consumers, before deciding whether this belongs in a future version. Done means the migration approach and expected handling for IDs 1–476 are clearly established.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
api, backend
Issue type
Feature
Difficulty
5/5
Estimated time
Over a week
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
25/100

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