But does that cover the API and if devs break something during a release? That's where I see the problem often. New API gets released that breaks something but the broken thing doesn't get fixed quickly.
Yes, the SLA does cover the API - these fall under the main product.
The status dashboard (https://www.google.com/appsstatus#hl=en&v=status) lists what's covered or not covered - table at the top is all covered services (e.g. GMail, Google Drives/Docs/Sheets/Slides, Google+, Google Groups, Hangouts, Calendar etc.)
The table at the bottom lists things that aren't covered (e.g. Blogger, Google Voice, Google Analytics, Google Realtime API) by the SLA.
I believe you can find the list of covered/non-covered service on the support site as well (https://support.google.com/).
And what do you mean by devs break something during the release?
Do you mean if we introduce a bug in the code, and it affects the availability of the API? Yes, that is covered as well.
You mention you've seen this before - I can't promise anything, but if you're hitting any issues here, or roadblocks, and you're a GSuite customer (i.e. you are paying us some kind of money, even if it's $5 a month), I can certainly try looking into it for you - ping me your details and I can reach out.
