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12.3Drift Categories and Severity
| Drift Type | Severity | Example | Impact |
|---|---|---|---|
| Missing required field | HIGH | id documented as required but absent |
Consumer deserialization failure |
| Type mismatch | HIGH | price documented as number, actual is string |
Type errors in consumers |
| Undocumented field | LOW | _internal_id in response but not in schema |
May leak internal data |
| New enum value | MEDIUM | status returns "archived" but schema only lists "active|inactive" |
Consumer switch/case falls through |
| Changed field name | HIGH | user_name renamed to username |
All consumers break |
| Deprecated field removed | MEDIUM | legacy_id removed without notice |
Older consumers break |
| Nullable field undocumented | MEDIUM | description returns null but schema says required |
Null pointer in consumers |