Versioning

CodeCharter follows Semantic Versioning. This applies to the CLI, the VS Code extension, the GitHub Action, and the analysis schema.

Version structure

Three numbers MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH, optionally with a pre-release suffix such as -edge.3.

What we guarantee per level

Patch

• Bug fixes or purely internal improvements only.
• No schema changes — a .ccr file that runs on X.Y.0 also runs on X.Y.5.
• No output format breakage; the JSON schema stays the same.
• Built-in rule packages unchanged in logic. Severity and description may be refined.

Patches are drop-in replacements.

Minor

• New features added additively: new built-in rule packages, new schema properties, new CLI options.
• No breaking changes to existing contracts. Existing .ccr files and CLI invocations continue to work.
• New built-in rules may produce new findings.

Major

• Breaking changes permitted: schema properties may be removed, output formats may change structurally, built-in rules may be removed.
• Major upgrades are a deliberate step accompanied by a migration guide.

Version pinning in CI

# Conservative: pin exactly
- uses: bochmann-software/codeguard@v1
  with:
    version: 1.0.6
    api-key: ${{ secrets.CODECHARTER_API_KEY }}

# Liberal: pin to major, use latest within that major
- uses: bochmann-software/codeguard@v1
  with:
    api-key: ${{ secrets.CODECHARTER_API_KEY }}

Recommendation for most teams: pin to the major version and use the default version. This gets you automatic bug fixes and features without breaking changes.

Version detection

codecharter --version
# CodeCharter 1.0.6

The JSON output includes the version in the version field:

{
  "version": "1.0.6",
  "findings": [...]
}

Schema versioning

The analysis schema (properties on TypeModel, MethodModel, and other models) follows the same SemVer contract:

• Patch: no schema changes.
• Minor: new properties added additively.
• Major: existing properties may be removed.

Current state

You can see the current distribution version in the portal under Downloads. The supported versions per channel are listed under Channels.