Protobuf compatibility in agent-generated changes

Protobuf compatibility requires evaluating schema history, mixed-version deployments, and rollback behavior rather than relying solely on whether a current .proto file compiles. Coding agents should receive clear scope information, including previous schemas, affected services, generated language targets, supported client versions, external consumers, and regeneration commands, while classifying changes by their compatibility risk. The guidance emphasizes never reusing deleted field numbers, reserving removed field names and numbers, treating renames cautiously because they can affect JSON mappings and generated APIs, and avoiding incompatible changes such as switching between singular and repeated fields. Teams should compile old and new schemas with supported toolchains and test serialization in both directions across representative cases, including unknown fields, defaults, enums, nested messages, and JSON boundaries. Generated code should be verified against clean, deterministic regeneration, schema changes should be reviewed separately from generated-file noise, and toolchain upgrades should remain distinct when possible. Rollout planning should document deployment order, the duration of mixed-version support, rollback implications, and CI compatibility testing, while pull requests should provide schema references, test results, target languages, regeneration details, and rollout evidence for service owners.

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