Design Serialization Schema

Create well-versioned serialization schemas that evolve gracefully without breaking consumers.

When to Use

• Defining a new API contract or data interchange format
• Adding fields to an existing schema without breaking consumers
• Migrating between schema versions
• Choosing between schema systems (JSON Schema, Protobuf, Avro)
• Documenting data validation rules for automated enforcement

Inputs

• Required: Data model (entity relationships, field types, constraints)
• Required: Compatibility requirements (who consumes this data, how long must old formats be readable)
• Optional: Existing schema to evolve
• Optional: Performance requirements (validation speed, schema registry integration)
• Optional: Target serialization format (JSON, binary, columnar)