breaking-change-decision

name	Breaking Change Decision
description	Structured decision process between Non-Breaking and Breaking paths without relaxing quality gates.

Breaking Change Decision Skill

Purpose

Run a structured, future-proof decision process between Non-Breaking and Breaking paths without relaxing quality gates.

Use when

• A task may affect public contracts, APIs, schemas, or behavioral compatibility
• Root-cause fixes suggest architectural reshaping

Checklist

• Explicitly classify impact: Non-Breaking vs Breaking.
• Present both paths with:
  • pros/cons
  • risk level
  • migration steps
• State explicitly: quality gates are unchanged for both paths.
• Require green unit/integration/E2E/non-regression tests in both cases.
• If Breaking is selected, include migration and compatibility notes before execution.

Short examples

• Non-Breaking path: adapter layer preserving old contract while introducing new internals.
• Breaking path: remove deprecated endpoint + provide migration map + test updates.

Anti-patterns

• Assuming breaking path without explicit selection
• Treating breaking changes as exempt from test gates
• Missing migration guidance