horizon-airdef/docs/api/stability.md

API stability and versioning

The rules every Horizon API follows (the APIs): how each one is versioned, what the stability levels promise, how something is deprecated and removed, and the tests that keep old mods, scripts and tools working.

Versions

• Each API has its own version, separate from the game's release (v0.2.14, versioning.md) and from Minecraft's. A game release says which API versions it serves.
• Semantic versioning, MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH. A line is what stays compatible: 0.1, 0.2, … before 1.0, then 1, 2, ….
  • Before 1.0: an addition makes the next patch (0.1.0 → 0.1.1); a breaking change starts the next line (0.2.0).
  • From 1.0: an addition makes the next minor (1.0 → 1.1); a breaking change starts the next major (2.0).
• Where the version lives:

API	The version	A user names the line they need
Mods	the WIT package (horizon:mods@0.1.0)	api = "0.1" in horizon-mod.toml
Agent control	the control protocol's version (planned: a hello reply and MCP serverInfo)	horizon-ctl --api 1 (planned)
Server control API	the path (/api/v1/)	the path
server.toml	the file's keys; a key is never renamed in place	nothing: old files keep loading
Launcher commands	the command names and their --json output	nothing
Data formats	a version or schema field in the file	the reader rejects versions newer than it knows

What counts as a breaking change

Breaking: removing or renaming anything; changing a type, a default, a unit or a meaning; making something optional required; refusing input that was accepted; a new case in a WIT enum or variant the game sends to mods (an older component cannot decode it); a JSON field that changes type.

Not breaking: a new function, interface, capability, command, endpoint, tool or server.toml key; a new optional argument or JSON field (readers must ignore fields they don't know); a new WIT case the mod sends (the game decodes every case it ever served); faster, or fixing behaviour to what the reference already says.

Stability levels

Every part of an API has one level, shown in its reference and its surface page.

	Experimental	Preview	Stable
Who may use it	opt-in only (a flag or a manifest field naming it); never in a release default	anyone; marked "preview" where players see it (a mod's row on the Mods page)	anyone
May change	in any release, without notice	only at a new line, after a deprecation	only at a new major, after a deprecation
Deprecation window	none	at least 30 days, with one release line serving old and new	at least 180 days, with the old major served beside the new one
Needs	a design note	a generated reference, a guide section, an example, compatibility tests	the same, plus one line of real use without a break

• Promotion. Experimental → preview when it has what the table asks. Preview → stable when real users (a published mod, a host's script, an agent's tool) used it for a whole line and nothing broke. The maintainers' orchestrator proposes the promotion with the evidence (the compatibility tests, the complete docs, that line of use) and Ludovic approves it.
• Horizon-only by design. An API is stable only for what Horizon itself does; a vanilla concept it exposes (a block id, a command, a server.properties key) changes when vanilla changes it, with a version port (version-ports.md), and the changelog says so.

Deprecation and removal

1. The pull request that deprecates marks it where it is defined (a /// Deprecated: use X; goes in 0.3. doc comment, WIT's @deprecated, a deprecated field in a tool's schema) and adds the replacement in the same release.
2. The reference shows it as deprecated, and the surface page's changelog says what replaces it and when it goes.
3. Using it logs one warning per mod, session or client, naming the replacement; it keeps working.
4. It is removed only after the window, and only at the next line (preview) or major (stable).
5. A line or major that is no longer served is refused with a clear message (needs API 0.1; this Horizon serves 0.3 and 0.4), never loaded half-way.

Compatibility tests

Every preview and stable API has tests that run old users against the current code, in CI:

API	The test
Mods	a test mod per served line, built from source against that line's WIT and SDK, loaded by today's runtime with expected output (crates/horizon-mods/tests/); a line is served as long as its test mod passes
Agent control	a transcript per protocol version: commands and the reply keys each must have
Server	api::ROUTES against route() (generated reference); a server.toml from each release line parses to the same settings; golden replies per endpoint
Launcher	the generated reference; golden --json output per command
Data formats	a sample file of every version a reader accepts, read by today's reader

The generated references are the API's own diff: a pull request that changes an API changes its reference, and the reviewer applies the rules above to that diff.

Changelog

Each surface page ends with a changelog: one line per change, newest first, with the API version and the pull request. Deprecations and breaking changes are in bold. The release notes of the game release that ships a change link it.

Today

Part	Level	Version
Mod API: log, game, chat, hud, storage, events	preview	0.1.0
Content mods (registries: data-driven blocks and items)	preview	manifest api = "0.2"
Server mods (events, world, server commands)	not started	manifest api = "0.3", experimental first
Script mods (Lua run by an interpreter mod, mods.md)	not started
cargo horizon-mod (new, build, run), horizon-mod-sdk	preview	0.1.0
Shader API	not started
horizon-ctl commands and MCP tools	preview	none yet (unversioned)
The game's own control-socket commands outside horizon-ctl's table (test hooks)	experimental
horizon-server commands, server.toml	stable	horizon-server --version
Server control API	stable	/api/v1
horizon-launcher commands and MCP tools	preview	none yet (unversioned)
Benchmark report	stable	"version": 1
Telemetry batch and consent	stable	"schema": 1, consent 2
horizon-graphics.txt, horizon-extras.txt, horizon-mods.txt	preview	none
SHA256SUMS and SHA256SUMS.sig	stable