Schema Evolution Compatibility Analyzer for Versioned Categories

[KolaSailaja]

Problem Statement

As the Context registry evolves, category schemas will inevitably change over time. New versions may introduce additional fields, rename existing ones, change field types, deprecate properties, or remove fields entirely.

Currently, there is no standardized mechanism to evaluate whether a new schema version is backward compatible with previous versions.

Without compatibility analysis:

• Existing applications may silently break after upgrading.
• Developers cannot easily determine whether changes are breaking or safe.
• Migration planning becomes difficult.
• Versioned schemas become harder to maintain as the registry grows.

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Proposed Solution

Introduce a Schema Evolution Compatibility Analyzer capable of comparing two schema versions and classifying compatibility.

The analyzer should inspect:

• Added fields
• Removed fields
• Renamed fields
• Type changes
• Required → Optional transitions
• Optional → Required transitions
• Deprecated fields
• Sensitivity rule modifications
• Enum value changes

The analyzer should generate a structured compatibility report.

Example:

travel.v1
↓

travel.v2

Compatibility: PARTIALLY COMPATIBLE

✔ Added optional field: preferredAirline

⚠ Changed field type:
budget
number → string

❌ Removed required field:
travelMode

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Expected Output

The analyzer should classify changes as:

• Compatible
• Partially Compatible
• Breaking

Each detected change should include:

• Severity
• Description
• Suggested migration action

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Benefits

• Easier schema evolution
• Safer upgrades
• Better version management
• Reduced integration failures
• Improved developer experience

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Possible Implementation

• Create a schema comparison utility.
• Traverse both schema definitions recursively.
• Compare metadata, field types, sensitivity rules, validators, and required fields.
• Generate structured compatibility results.
• Export results as JSON for tooling.

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Acceptance Criteria

• Compare any two schema versions.
• Detect field additions/removals.
• Detect type changes.
• Detect required/optional transitions.
• Detect sensitivity rule changes.
• Produce compatibility classification.
• Include unit tests covering multiple migration scenarios.

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