Schema Evolution¶

Managing schema changes over time.

Principles¶

Backward Compatibility¶

• Never remove required fields
• Add new fields as optional
• Deprecate before removing

Forward Compatibility¶

• Ignore unknown fields
• Validate against schema version

Evolution Process¶

1. Propose change
2. Review impact
3. Update schema
4. Increment version
5. Document migration
6. Deprecate old patterns

Deprecation Policy¶

Fields marked deprecated: - Remain for 2 major versions - Documentation updated - Migration path provided

Related Documentation¶

• Versioning
• Schema Overview