How the roll-up gate works

How the Ontology Change-Impact Tripwire works

This tool grades every change in a schema / ontology release against what it breaks downstream, then rolls the release up to its worst change. It reads 7 changes and rolls them into one verdict — the worst, never the average — then a gate that can only make it worse.

The 7 changes

01C-01 · invoice.state · add_enum_valueeverything still validates and runs, meaning moved · 6 named consumersSILENT BREAK

02C-02 · project.status · add_enum_valuedefault branch added everywhere · nothing downstream reads differentlyADDITIVE

03C-03 · account.tier · add_enum_valuereads ADDITIVE on the answers, but the consumers were never listedSILENT BREAK

04C-04 · supplier.tax_id · add_required_fieldexisting records no longer validate · 9 named consumersBREAKING

05C-05 · employee.manager · widen_cardinalityfix firstmeaning moved, still validates · 12 named consumersSILENT BREAK

06C-06 · Contractor · add_typenew entity type · nothing downstream reads differentlyADDITIVE

07C-07 · order.legacy_code · remove_propertya downstream consumer stops running · 5 named consumersBREAKING

CLEAN RELEASE

every change is additive — nothing downstream reads differently

MIGRATION NEEDED

at least one breaking change, none silent — loud, expensive, safe

SILENT BREAKS PRESENT

any change reads SILENT BREAK — a break that will not announce itself

Silent-break gate · worsen-only

A change that reads ADDITIVE on its three answers but whose consumers were never listed is escalated to SILENT BREAK — 'additive' is a claim about everyone who reads the field, and you can't make it about consumers you can't name. The release then takes its worst change: one silent break reads SILENT BREAKS PRESENT however high the additive share, and the gate can only ever escalate a quiet change, never soften a loud one.

SILENT BREAKS PRESENT

Why: Two of seven changes are additive and two are ordinary breaking changes — loud, expensive, and safe. But three are silent breaks: C-01 and C-05 move a field's meaning while everything still validates and runs, and C-03 reads ADDITIVE on its answers yet nobody could name its consumers, so the gate escalates it. One silent break overrides the 29% additive share, so the release reads SILENT BREAKS PRESENT. 3 of 7 changes are silent breaks · 29% additive — context only · worst-not-average.

Fix firstC-05 — an employee may now have more than one manager: everything still validates and runs, but code reading the first manager silently drops the rest, and twelve named consumers sit behind it. Turn it into a loud break on purpose before it ships; then fix-first moves to C-01.

No single change is the crisis — the clustering is. The roll-up takes the worst, the gate escalates when trouble compounds, and it names the one thing to fix first. Grades the changes you describe, never people. A working aid, not legal or compliance advice, and not an audit or a certification. ADDITIVE means your four answers said so, not that nothing downstream will notice.

RedHub AIthe AI that tells you when to doubt it redhub.ai/systems/ontology-change-impact-tripwire