Zaxy v0.5 to v1.0 Release-Gate Roadmap

Zaxy is moving from a technically strong memory substrate into a stable product: coordinator memory for multi-agent projects.

The v1.0 goal is not to add every possible memory feature. It is to make the existing thesis reliable, legible, and useful enough that external users can adopt Zaxy with confidence:

Zaxy is the leading open-source system for auditable, replayable, and coordinated memory in multi-agent projects.

Current Baseline

This roadmap starts from the current 0.4.x codebase, not from an empty plan. Several capabilities that normally belong in later phases are already present:

The work from v0.5 to v1.0 should therefore be release-gate driven: each release must make a narrower public promise, prove it with docs, examples, tests, and benchmarks, and avoid broad speculative expansion.

v1.0 Success Criteria

Zaxy v1.0 is ready when these statements are true:

Release Principles

v0.5: Public Positioning and First-Run Trust

Theme: Make the product legible and trustworthy from the first command.

Target: 4 weeks.

Implementation status: completed against docs/superpowers/plans/2026-05-30-v0-5-public-positioning-first-run-trust.md; the public positioning, first-run docs, quickstarts, examples, changelog, and static site coverage are in place.

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Gates

Explicit Non-Goals

v0.6: MCP and Native Runtime DX

Theme: Become the best MCP-native memory backend while preparing native runtime integrations.

Target: 4 to 5 weeks after v0.5.

Implementation status: completed with the canonical MCP tool contract snapshot at docs/examples/mcp-tool-contract.json, a matching schema test in tests/test_mcp.py, representative response snapshots at docs/examples/mcp-response-snapshots.json for bootstrap, checkout, graph retrieval, verbatim retrieval, context assembly, feedback, and coordination checkout, and structured MCP error payloads with stable error codes and remediation hints. zaxy hook-status now reports structured memory activation remediations with runnable checkout commands, zaxy doctor surfaces the same missing or stale checkout state as a memory_activation check, and top-level zaxy status now reports memory activation freshness, latest checkout/capture details, token efficiency, and checkout remediation commands. LangGraph checkout middleware now emits the zaxy.native.v0.6 metadata contract with diagnostics, quality, feedback guidance, and fail-closed error payloads, and zaxy doctor --release-smoke now runs examples/langgraph_memory.py as the LangGraph release-validation smoke. The shared non-MCP adapter lifecycle and payload keys are published at docs/examples/native-integration-contract.json. CrewAI checkout middleware shares that same non-MCP native contract while remaining native-preview. The MCP Quickstart now documents one recommended local setup route each for Codex, Claude Code, Claude Desktop, Cursor, and generic MCP clients. Beta readiness now checks docs/examples/first-run-timing-report.json so clean first-run doctor and example timings remain under the five-minute budget. The configured coverage ratchet and pytest coverage gate now enforce the 92% floor.

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Status: published in docs/examples/native-integration-contract.json.

Gates

Status: covered by the first_run_timing check in zaxy doctor --beta-readiness.

Status: enforced by pyproject.toml and scripts/check-coverage.py.

Explicit Non-Goals

v0.7: Coordination Workflows

Theme: Make Coordinate production-useful, not only demonstrable.

Target: 5 to 6 weeks after v0.6.

Ship

Status: built-in templates are available through zaxy coordinate template list, show, and apply; applying a template creates replayable mission, worker, and assignment events.

Status: deterministic source-state conflicts are the default, local lexical semantic conflicts are opt-in through --semantic-conflicts lexical, and hosted HTTP semantic conflict adapters remain opt-in with bounded request payloads and locally validated response IDs.

Status: zaxy coordinate audit-report generates a read-only Markdown or JSON report from mission and worker Eventloom replay with sequence/hash citations for every audited event.

Gates

Status: CoordinationAdapter now covers start, worker creation, assignment, finding report, conflict detection, approval application, checkout, and handoff as JSON-friendly native helper calls.

Status: coordination-real-v1 regenerates from benchmarks/coordination-real-v1/coordination-workload.json through zaxy coordinate benchmark --workload ....

Status: covered by CoordinationManager.audit_report and zaxy coordinate audit-report --json tests.

Explicit Non-Goals

v0.8: Model-Native Integrations and Observability

Theme: Make memory activation work where model calls actually happen, not only through MCP.

Target: 5 to 6 weeks after v0.7.

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Gates

Explicit Non-Goals

v0.9: Hardening and API Freeze Candidate

Theme: Prepare for a stable 1.0 contract.

Target: 4 to 5 weeks after v0.8.

Ship

Status: projection rebuild failure recovery is covered by test_reproject_command_closes_pggraph_backend_after_projection_failure; corrupted projection artifacts are handled through integrity-first replay, reset/rebuild, and rollback paths; missing hooks and stale checkout are covered by hook-status activation and capture tests; degraded backends are surfaced through fallback metrics including zaxy_degraded_operations_total and documented alerting guidance.

Status: CONTRIBUTING.md, GitHub issue templates, and docs/benchmark-contributions.md now document the production-code bar, release checks, issue evidence, and reproducible benchmark contribution requirements.

Status: docs/examples/v1-schema-freeze.json now binds the v1 freeze candidate surfaces, and docs/agent-events.md defines schema.migration.proposed and schema.migration.applied for non-additive stable or beta contract changes.

Gates

Status: current evidence for these v0.9 gates is recorded in docs/v09-gate-audit.md.

Explicit Non-Goals

v1.0: Stable Coordinator Memory Release

Theme: Stable, documented, benchmarked, and positioned release.

Target: 2 to 3 weeks after v0.9.

Ship

Status: collection packet and report template are published in docs/external-validation.md; outside-user evidence is optional for v1.0.

Gates

Cross-Cutting Workstreams

Benchmarks

Run and publish benchmark evidence regularly. Zaxy benchmark claims should show the workload, input fingerprint, baseline, metrics, latency, citation coverage, token tradeoffs, and limitations.

Priority benchmark lanes:

Documentation and Content

Every release needs docs and public communication. Content should focus on auditable coordination, replayable memory, MCP-native adoption, LangGraph, and real examples.

Recommended content sequence:

Testing and CI

The v1.0 quality bar is coverage at or above 92%, with stable tests for public contracts. The release process should continue to include ruff, mypy, pytest, coverage ratchet, docs validation, release smoke, and benchmark guardrails.

Community and External Validation

External validation is optional post-release evidence, not a v1.0 release blocker. Start with one or two users who can run the first-run path and one example when available. Capture where they get stuck, and turn that into docs, doctor checks, or CLI improvements.

Competitive Awareness

Track Mem0, Zep, Letta, MemPalace, Agent Memory, ActiveGraph, and the MCP ecosystem. Avoid fake apples-to-apples claims. Keep competitor comparisons tied to reproducible adapter contracts, public disclosures, or clearly labeled limitations.

v1.1: Accepted-State Recovery and Benchmark Guardrails

Theme: Make Zaxy's accepted-state memory thesis falsifiable under stale, distracting, incomplete, and no-safe-answer histories.

Implementation status: in progress on the 1.1.0 release line.

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Gates

--require-git-tracked-inputs`

--workload reports/benchmarks/state-recovery-v1/state-recovery-workload.json`

Explicit Non-Goals

Primary Risks

Risk Mitigation
Scope creep Treat auditable coordination, MCP, LangGraph, native model-call activation, and DX as the only v1.0 pillars.
Low external feedback Keep v0.5 first-run validation and v0.7 Coordinate example feedback as optional post-release evidence, while local release gates prove the documented paths.
Benchmark credibility Require tracked inputs, fingerprints, baselines, methodology, and limitation notes.
Breaking changes Inventory public surfaces in v0.9 and document every migration.
Backend distraction Keep embedded Kuzu as default unless another backend beats the same gates without sidecar friction or quality loss.
Native integration fragmentation Force MCP and direct integrations through the same Memory Bootstrap, Memory Checkout, capture, and feedback contracts.

Minimum Viable v1.0

If timeline or feedback pressure requires a narrower release, preserve only these pillars:

  1. Polished positioning and docs.
  2. Excellent MCP experience.
  3. First-class LangGraph path.
  4. Production-useful Coordinate workflow.
  5. One outside-MCP model integration.
  6. Transparent benchmark evidence.
  7. Stable public API and data model contracts.

Everything else can move past v1.0.

Related references: README.md, site/index.html, Coordinate roadmap, and benchmarks.