Edition registry

Each entry lists the components added by that edition, which also permits every component from earlier editions in the same family. See Using editions for configuration and Versioning design for the compatibility rules.

Frozen core editions

The origin of every edition below is vortex. Each minimum refers to the shared version of the Vortex Rust crates, including the vortex crate.

core2025.05.0

Minimum Vortex Rust crate version: 0.36.0.

• array: fastlanes.bitpacked, fastlanes.for, vortex.alp, vortex.alprd, vortex.bool, vortex.bytebool, vortex.chunked, vortex.constant, vortex.datetimeparts, vortex.decimal, vortex.decimal_byte_parts, vortex.dict, vortex.ext, vortex.fsst, vortex.list, vortex.null, vortex.primitive, vortex.runend, vortex.sparse, vortex.struct, vortex.varbin, vortex.varbinview, vortex.zigzag

• layout: vortex.chunked, vortex.dict, vortex.flat, vortex.stats, vortex.struct

• dtype: vortex.date, vortex.time, vortex.timestamp

core2025.06.0

Minimum Vortex Rust crate version: 0.40.0.

• array: vortex.pco, vortex.sequence, vortex.zstd

core2025.10.0

Minimum Vortex Rust crate version: 0.54.0.

• array: fastlanes.rle, vortex.fixed_size_list, vortex.listview, vortex.masked

core2026.08.0

Minimum Vortex Rust crate version: 0.84.0.

• layout: vortex.zoned

• aggregate: vortex.bounded_max, vortex.bounded_min, vortex.max, vortex.min, vortex.nan_count, vortex.null_count

core2026.08.1

Minimum Vortex Rust crate version: 0.84.0.

• array: vortex.onpair

core2026.08.2

Minimum Vortex Rust crate version: 0.85.0.

• array: vortex.map

core2026.08.3

Minimum Vortex Rust crate version: 0.85.0.

• array: vortex.parquet.variant, vortex.variant

• dtype: vortex.uuid

Draft editions

Draft editions have no recorded minimum version of their origin project’s code. Until a draft freezes, its members can change or be removed. Except for UNSTABLE, Vortex-maintained draft formats are expected to remain compatible unless a defect blocks promotion into core, while independent plugin projects state their own policy.

unstable

UNSTABLE is a draft edition that never freezes. It holds formats whose contracts are still changing, so its members and their wire contracts can change under the same IDs. Plugins can add members through ordinary edition inclusions.

preview2026.08.0

This edition currently adds no components.

tensor2026.04.0

• array: vortex.tensor.cosine_similarity, vortex.tensor.inner_product, vortex.tensor.l2_norm, vortex.tensor.l2_normalize

• dtype: vortex.tensor.fixed_shape_tensor, vortex.tensor.vector

zstd2026.02.0

• array: vortex.zstd_buffers

spatial2026.08.0

• dtype: vortex.st.box, vortex.st.linestring, vortex.st.multilinestring, vortex.st.multipoint, vortex.st.multipolygon, vortex.st.point, vortex.st.polygon, vortex.st.wkb

• aggregate: vortex.st.aabb

json2026.08.0

• dtype: vortex.json

Component checks

The writer checks the formats it actually serializes against the selected editions. The checks cover four kinds of component:

Kind	Writing rule
Arrays	Check the serializer’s returned wire ID and every serialized child recursively.
Layouts	Check every serialized layout ID. The writing strategy must use permitted layouts.
Extension dtypes	Check all extension dtypes in the schema, including nested ones, before writing bytes.
Aggregate functions	Check every function stored in a zone map against the edition and its format contract.

A forbidden zone-map aggregate causes the write to fail. Silently omitting it would change which filters can use the configured zone map to skip rows. By contrast, the writer omits an aggregate that does not apply to a column’s data type, so there is no serialized component to check.

For example, core2026.08.0 declares min, max, bounded_min, bounded_max, nan_count, and null_count. Zone maps do not store sums, so the edition does not declare sum. File-level statistics, however, do store sums, in a fixed legacy field governed by the enclosing format’s contract.

Aggregate serialization support alone does not permit an aggregate in persisted zone maps. Its ID must belong to a selected edition, including UNSTABLE for experimental formats. The all_* aggregates are in-memory pruning predicates and do not need entries. Legacy file statistics also do not need entries.

Format testing and promotion

A format with a changing contract belongs in UNSTABLE. Its inclusion can be added, changed, or removed without a new edition or wire ID. Applications writing these formats need readers with matching implementations.

Once the contract is settled, move its inclusion from UNSTABLE to another edition. A format intended for core enters preview for broader opt-in use, then a later core edition for default use. Optional modules use their own families. The format can keep its ID, but earlier experimental files acquire no compatibility guarantee.

A frozen contract cannot change. A reader-visible correction to a frozen format requires a new wire ID and a later edition.

Freezing an edition

A draft edition other than UNSTABLE can freeze when its origin publishes the code that first supports all its members. For core, this is a Vortex Rust crate release. Independent plugins use their own versions.

Until the release version is known, the declaration uses min_library_version: None. Once it is known, the field records the first release that supports all members, usually while the next release is in development. Recording the version documents the freeze, but the guarantee applies from that release even if the declaration is updated later.

A frozen edition’s membership, origin, and minimum version stay fixed. Deprecating a format can stop writers from choosing it, but readers must retain support because existing files can contain it.

Maintaining edition records

Default declarations live in vortex-edition/src/declarations/. Optional modules keep declarations with their implementation code. The exported TOML records are under vortex/editions/, grouped by family.

1. Register a changing format in UNSTABLE. Third-party plugins use ordinary edition inclusions.

2. Once its contract is settled, move its inclusion from UNSTABLE to a draft edition. Formats intended for core pass through preview; optional modules use their own families. Revisions to frozen members require a new ID and a later edition.

3. When an edition freezes, record the first release of its origin that supports every permitted component, including inherited members.

4. Regenerate the records:

   cargo run -p xtask -- generate-editions
   

CI’s check-editions command rejects changes to frozen records, including renames, unfreezing, and deletion, so changes to permitted wire formats require a later edition. The command also rejects a new edition that does not follow its family’s chronology. Draft records, including UNSTABLE, can change or be deleted.