Compatibility Posture

Reference for the Nimi public docs' compatibility and migration posture.

Posture Summary

Property	Value
Posture name	`no_legacy_hard_cut`
Pre-launch	yes
Soft compatibility shims	forbidden
Time-phased layering	forbidden (layering is ontological: core / extended / custom)
Strict-only protocol versioning	yes
Fail-close on contract violation	yes
Retry rescues contract failure	no

Situation	Expected behavior
A page is removed	Preferred over a stale page
A typed contract fails	Surfaces a typed error, not a silent fallback
A retry happens	Only for transport / auth refresh, never to rescue a contract
An older route exists	Either kept as admitted public truth or hard-removed; not preserved as hidden compatibility
A new feature ships	Lands with full contract design, not as an MVP subset to be filled in later

The methodology's forbidden_shortcuts catalog enumerates the patterns public docs and implementation refuse:

Key	Refused pattern
`legacy_alias`	Keeping obsolete semantics alive via soft alias
`compat_shim`	Hiding owner-cut gaps behind temporary compatibility code
`dual_read`	Two parallel truth read paths without explicit admission
`dual_write`	Two parallel truth write paths without explicit admission
`mvp_subset_contract`	Cutting canonical contract truth into a temporary minimum subset
`time_phased_layering`	Replacing semantic layering with time-sliced (v1/v2/v3) layering
`placeholder_success`	Faking success or closure when required truth is missing
`happy_path_only_closure`	Claiming closure when only the happy path is closed
`app_local_shadow_truth`	App-local convenience state becoming hidden canonical truth
`silent_owner_cut_reopen`	Reopening owner-domain truth inside a downstream execution wave

Claim type	Posture
Install commands (curl / npm / pnpm / brew / apt / yarn)	Withheld until admitted distribution evidence under the matching release contract
Download links	Withheld until admitted distribution evidence under the matching release contract
Release status / launch promises	Withheld until admitted release evidence
Concrete provider name / model name	Withheld until admitted catalog evidence under the runtime model-catalog contract
Provider availability matrix	Withheld until admitted catalog evidence under the runtime model-catalog contract
"Available now" / "GA" / "Stable" claims for defined-but-not-shipped surfaces	Forbidden

The complete list of forbidden public docs claims with detection patterns is in Forbidden Claims.

How a defined-but-not-shipped surface graduates to a public surface:

Kernel contract is admitted under the appropriate authority domain (P-PROTO-* / K-* / S-* / D-* / R-*).
Implementation lands under the owner domain.
Catalog evidence (for providers / models) is admitted.
Distribution / release evidence is admitted (for install / download).
Public docs page is updated to reflect availability.

A docs page cannot pre-announce a stage that the contract evolution has not reached.