Forward compatibility lets consumers using an older schema read data written with a newer schema. It supports updating producers first while consumers catch up later. section 13.1.2
Adding a product field
Adding category to a product schema can remain forward-compatible: older consumers ignore the new field and continue processing records. However, consumers expecting category cannot read older records unless the field is optional or has a default such as null. section 13.1.2
Use forward compatibility when:
- Producers and consumers are developed by different teams and data remains available only briefly. section 13.1.2
- Plan for the trade-off: older consumers can read new data, but newer consumers may not read historical data. section 13.1.2
{
"id": "123", #1
"name": "Coffee Pad", #1
"price": "10", #1
"stock": 1010, #1
"origin": null, #2
"category": "utils" #3
}
A product record showing a newly added category field. section 13.1.2
