Breaking refactor policy (maintainer)

“Breaking” means a consumer can no longer safely interpret artifacts or rely on the contract.

Examples of breaking changes

• removing or renaming required final_result.json fields
• changing trace semantics without bumping trace_schema_version
• altering failure taxonomy values (enums) without migration
• changing replayability classification rules

Process

1. Declare the break explicitly.
2. Update spec pages.
3. Bump the relevant version(s).
4. Provide an upgrade/migration path when feasible.