Compatibility Policy

Majestic maintains compatibility guarantees across identity, API, and playback layers.

Identity Compatibility

• Edition identity never changes once established.
• Fingerprint algorithm is versioned. Old fingerprints remain valid for lookup.
• Hash inputs must remain stable across rescans.

API Compatibility

• Response shapes are versioned. Clients and server share the same contract version.
• Additive optional fields allowed in minor versions.
• Breaking changes require major version bump and coordination with clients.

Playback Compatibility

• Playback prediction is computed at scan time. Compatibility is deterministic per device profile.
• Unknown device → 400. No implicit fallback to generic profile.
• Structured incompatibility payload enables actionable client guidance.

Failure Philosophy

• Identity operations fail closed: do not persist uncertain identity.
• Streaming fails with structured errors; no silent fallback to wrong file.
• Prewarm failures are logged; client receives 202 or retries; playback path remains independent.

Constraints

• No breaking changes to edition identity or fingerprint algorithm without migration.
• New clients must use API contracts; no ad-hoc response shapes.
• Transcoding logic stays in build tools; streaming path remains thin.