We have created a new public jussi endpoint for third party applications to use. Jussi is our custom built caching layer, for use with steemd and other various services (such as SBDS). The jussi endpoint is available now at https://api.steemit.com. Condenser (the front-end application for steemit.com) is already using api.steemit.com today. We encourage all third party developers to begin using the new endpoint right away. We are planning to deprecate the steemd.steemit.com endpoint in favor of api.steemit.com in the near future.
What does this mean for third party developers?
For our public steemd endpoint using api.steemit.com, apps will need to speak to it through http/jsonrpc instead of websockets. The libraries we maintain will soon be updated to default to api.steemit.com instead of steemd.steemit.com, which will cover a lot of apps that don't set an endpoint and just use the default.
JSONRPC has been chosen to be used for all of our infrastructure for a variety of reasons; the two biggest being the ability to more easily load balance and manage connections, and the ease of use for new developers - as JSONRPC is much more common than websockets.
Is it going to be difficult to update my steem apps?
In most cases it will be extremely easy to make this change. The four most popular steem libraries (steem-js, steem-python, radiator, and dsteem) that the majority of steem apps are built with already support http/jsonrpc. Other libraries may as well. All you'll need to do is update the endpoint/url to https://api.steemit.com from the older wss://steemd.steemit.com. If you have a custom written app that doesn't use one of the popular libraries you will need to change your transport method to http/jsonrpc from websockets.
How long do I have?
The timeframe for deprecating steemd.steemit.com is not determined yet, but you should start implementing this change as soon as possible if you are using our public nodes for your STEEM apps. We will announce a final date before the endpoint is taken away.