diff --git a/dune-project b/dune-project
index 42ce0db75..5557cd264 100644
--- a/dune-project
+++ b/dune-project
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
 (lang dune 2.3)
 (name learn-ocaml)
-(version 0.12)
+(version 0.13.0)
 (allow_approximate_merlin)
diff --git a/learn-ocaml-client.opam b/learn-ocaml-client.opam
index 19db6a0c9..450b183d2 100644
--- a/learn-ocaml-client.opam
+++ b/learn-ocaml-client.opam
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 opam-version: "2.0"
 name: "learn-ocaml-client"
-version: "0.12"
+version: "0.13.0"
 authors: [
   "Benjamin Canou (OCamlPro)"
   "Çağdaş Bozman (OCamlPro)"
diff --git a/learn-ocaml-client.opam.locked b/learn-ocaml-client.opam.locked
index c900f21ed..addad45fe 100644
--- a/learn-ocaml-client.opam.locked
+++ b/learn-ocaml-client.opam.locked
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 opam-version: "2.0"
 name: "learn-ocaml-client"
-version: "0.12"
+version: "0.13.0"
 synopsis: "The learn-ocaml client"
 description: """\
 This contains the binaries to interact with the learn-ocaml
diff --git a/learn-ocaml.opam b/learn-ocaml.opam
index 4e3173000..27aad57af 100644
--- a/learn-ocaml.opam
+++ b/learn-ocaml.opam
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 opam-version: "2.0"
 name: "learn-ocaml"
-version: "0.12"
+version: "0.13.0"
 authors: [
   "Benjamin Canou (OCamlPro)"
   "Çağdaş Bozman (OCamlPro)"
diff --git a/learn-ocaml.opam.locked b/learn-ocaml.opam.locked
index 3426831e9..d26b1c174 100644
--- a/learn-ocaml.opam.locked
+++ b/learn-ocaml.opam.locked
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 opam-version: "2.0"
 name: "learn-ocaml"
-version: "0.12"
+version: "0.13.0"
 authors: [
   "Benjamin Canou (OCamlPro)"
   "Çağdaş Bozman (OCamlPro)"
diff --git a/src/main/learnocaml_client.ml b/src/main/learnocaml_client.ml
index 49c88c284..1b83dfa5c 100644
--- a/src/main/learnocaml_client.ml
+++ b/src/main/learnocaml_client.ml
@@ -502,15 +502,37 @@ let upload_report server token ex solution report =
         (Token.to_string token)
   | e -> Lwt.fail e
 
+  (** [is_supported cached_version req] checks if the request is server-compat.
+      (and if the client Learnocaml_version.v >= the server_version)
+
+      [is_supported (Some version) req] = Ok version, if it's compatible,
+      [is_supported (Some version) req] = Error message, if it's not,
+      [is_supported None req] = let v = GET Version in Ok v, if it's compatible,
+      [is_supported None req] = let v = GET Version in Error m, if it's not;
+
+      and [is_supported None Version] will also do a GET Version request *)
+  let is_supported_server
+    : type resp.
+      Api.Compat.t option -> Uri.t -> resp Api.request -> (Api.Compat.t, string) result Lwt.t
+    = fun server_version server req ->
+        (match server_version with
+        | Some server_version -> Lwt.return server_version
+        | None ->
+           fetch server (Api.Version ()) >|= fun (server_version, _todo) ->
+           Api.Compat.v server_version) >|= fun server_version ->
+        match Api.is_supported ~server:server_version req with
+      | Ok () -> Ok server_version
+      | Error msg -> Error msg
+
 let check_server_version ?(allow_static=false) server =
   Lwt.catch (fun () ->
-      fetch server (Api.Version ()) >|= fun (server_version,_) ->
-      if server_version <> Api.version then
-        (Printf.eprintf "API version mismatch: client v.%s and server v.%s\n"
-           Api.version server_version;
-         exit 1)
-      else
-        true)
+      is_supported_server
+        None (* if need be: Implement some server_version cache *)
+        server
+        (Api.Version ()) (* TODO: pass more precise requests *)
+      >|= function
+      | Ok _server_version -> true
+      | Error msg -> Printf.eprintf "%s\n" msg; exit 1)
   @@ fun e ->
      if not allow_static then
        begin
diff --git a/src/state/learnocaml_api.ml b/src/state/learnocaml_api.ml
index 63043e4c3..a0dbd1f81 100644
--- a/src/state/learnocaml_api.ml
+++ b/src/state/learnocaml_api.ml
@@ -10,6 +10,87 @@ open Learnocaml_data
 
 let version = Learnocaml_version.v
 
+module type COMPAT = sig
+  (** List-based versions endowed with a lexicographic order. *)
+  type t
+
+  val to_string : t -> string
+
+  (** Supported formats: [Compat.v "str"] where "str" is
+      either "n", "-n" (a signed integer), or "n.str".
+      However, [Compat.v "0.14.rc1"] or so is not supported for now. *)
+  val v : string -> t
+
+  (** Note that trailing zeros are ignored, i.e. (v "1") and (v "1.0")
+      are equal compats. But (v "1") is higher than (v "1.-1"), itself
+      higher than (v "1.-2"), and so on. *)
+  val le : t -> t -> bool
+
+  val eq : t -> t -> bool
+
+  val lt : t -> t -> bool
+
+  type pred =
+    | Since of t | Upto of t | And of pred * pred
+
+  val compat : pred -> t -> bool
+end
+
+module Compat: COMPAT = struct
+
+  (** List-based versions endowed with a lexicographic order. *)
+  type t = int list
+
+  let to_string = function
+    | [] -> failwith "Compat.to_string"
+    | n :: l ->
+       List.fold_left (fun r e -> r ^ "." ^ string_of_int e) (string_of_int n) l
+
+  (** Supported formats: [Compat.v "str"] where "str" is nonempty and
+      either "n", "-n" (a signed integer), or "n.str".
+      However, [Compat.v "0.14.rc1"] or so is not supported for now. *)
+  let v = function
+    | "" -> failwith "Compat.of_string"
+    | s -> String.split_on_char '.' s |> List.map int_of_string
+
+  (** Note that trailing zeros are ignored, i.e. (v "1") and (v "1.0")
+      are equal versions. But (v "1") is higher than (v "1.-1"), itself
+      higher than (v "1.-2"), and so on. *)
+  let rec le v1 v2 = match v1, v2 with
+    | [], [] -> true
+    | [], 0 :: l2 ->  le [] l2
+    | [], n2 :: _ -> 0 < n2
+    | 0 :: l1, [] -> le l1 []
+    | n1 :: _, [] -> n1 < 0
+    | n1 :: l1, n2 :: l2 -> n1 < n2 || (n1 = n2 && le l1 l2)
+
+  let eq v1 v2 = le v1 v2 && le v2 v1
+
+  let lt v1 v2 = not (le v2 v1)
+
+  type pred =
+    | Since of t (** >= v0 *)
+    | Upto of t  (** < v1 *)
+    | And of pred * pred
+
+  let rec compat pred v =
+    match pred with
+    | Since v0 -> le v0 v
+    | Upto v1 -> lt v v1
+    | And (pred1, pred2) -> compat pred1 v && compat pred2 v
+
+end
+
+(* Tests
+assert Compat.(le (v "0.12") (v "0.13.0"));;
+assert Compat.(le (v "0.13.0") (v "0.13.1"));;
+assert Compat.(le (v "0.13.1") (v "0.14.0"));;
+assert Compat.(le (v "0.14.0") (v "1.0.0"));;
+assert Compat.(le (v "1.1.1") (v "1.1.1"));;
+assert Compat.(le (v "0.2") (v "0.10"));;
+assert Compat.(le (v "1.9.5") (v "1.10.0"));;
+ *)
+
 type _ request =
   | Static:
       string list -> string request
@@ -69,6 +150,48 @@ type _ request =
   | Invalid_request:
       string -> string request
 
+let supported_versions
+  : type resp. resp request -> Compat.pred
+  = function
+  | Static _
+  | Version _
+  | Nonce _
+  | Create_token (_, _, _)
+  | Create_teacher_token _
+  | Fetch_save _
+  | Archive_zip _
+  | Update_save (_, _)
+  | Git (_, _)
+  | Students_list _
+  | Set_students_list (_, _)
+  | Students_csv (_, _, _)
+  | Exercise_index _
+  | Exercise (_, _)
+  | Lesson_index _
+  | Lesson _
+  | Tutorial_index _
+  | Tutorial _
+  | Playground_index _
+  | Playground _
+  | Exercise_status_index _
+  | Exercise_status (_, _)
+  | Set_exercise_status (_, _)
+  | Partition (_, _, _, _)
+  | Invalid_request _ -> Compat.(Since (v "0.12"))
+
+let is_supported
+  : type resp. ?current:Compat.t -> server:Compat.t -> resp request ->
+         (unit, string) result =
+  fun ?(current = Compat.v Learnocaml_version.v) ~server request ->
+  let supp = supported_versions request in
+  if Compat.(compat (Since server) current) (* server <= current *)
+     && Compat.compat supp current (* request supported by current codebase *)
+     && Compat.compat supp server (* request supported by server *)
+  then Ok () else
+    Error (Printf.sprintf
+             {|API request not supported by server v.%s using client v.%s|}
+             (* NOTE: we may want to add some string_of_request call as well *)
+             (Compat.to_string server) (Compat.to_string current))
 
 type http_request = {
   meth: [ `GET | `POST of string];
diff --git a/src/state/learnocaml_api.mli b/src/state/learnocaml_api.mli
index 2d977d3d0..36972ef6a 100644
--- a/src/state/learnocaml_api.mli
+++ b/src/state/learnocaml_api.mli
@@ -23,6 +23,60 @@ open Learnocaml_data
 
 val version: string
 
+module type COMPAT = sig
+  (** List-based versions endowed with a lexicographic order. *)
+  type t
+
+  val to_string : t -> string
+
+  (** Supported formats: [Compat.v "str"] where "str" is
+      either "n", "-n" (a signed integer), or "n.str".
+      However, [Compat.v "0.14.rc1"] or so is not supported for now. *)
+  val v : string -> t
+
+  (** Note that trailing zeros are ignored, i.e. (v "1") and (v "1.0")
+      are equal versions. But (v "1") is higher than (v "1.-1"), itself
+      higher than (v "1.-2"), and so on. *)
+  val le : t -> t -> bool
+
+  val eq : t -> t -> bool
+
+  val lt : t -> t -> bool
+
+  type pred =
+    | Since of t | Upto of t | And of pred * pred
+
+  val compat : pred -> t -> bool
+end
+
+module Compat: COMPAT
+
+(** Note about backward-compatibility:
+
+The architecture of learn-ocaml merges the (client, server) components
+in the same codebase, so it's easier to update both of them in one go.
+
+But this tight coupling meant that a learn-ocaml-client version would
+only be compatible with a single server version, hence a frequent but
+annoying error "API version mismatch: client v._ and server v._".
+
+So since learn-ocaml 0.13, a given client_version will try to be
+compatible with as much server_version's as possible (>= 0.12 &
+<= client_version).
+
+To this aim, each [request] constructor is annotated with a version
+constraint of type [Compat.t], see [supported_versions].
+
+Regarding the inevitable extensions of the API:
+
+- make sure one only adds constructors to this [request] type,
+- and that their semantics does not change
+  (or at least in a backward-compatible way;
+   see PR https://github.com/ocaml-sf/learn-ocaml/pull/397
+   for a counter-example)
+- but if a given entrypoint would need to be removed,
+  rather add a Compat.Upto (*<*) constraint.
+ *)
 type _ request =
   | Static:
       string list -> string request
@@ -90,6 +144,14 @@ type _ request =
     (** Only for server-side handling: bound to requests not matching any case
         above *)
 
+val supported_versions: 'a request -> Compat.pred
+
+(** [is supported client server req] = Ok () if
+    [server <= client && current "supports" req && server "supports" client] *)
+val is_supported:
+  ?current:Compat.t -> server:Compat.t ->
+  'resp request -> (unit, string) result
+
 type http_request = {
   meth: [ `GET | `POST of string];
   path: string list;