Revised3

Revised3 is the third revision of the Revised specification, a data description and configuration language used to express modular software architectures and device configurations. It standardizes metadata about components, interfaces, dependencies, and runtime behavior to enable automated tooling, validation, and deployment across diverse platforms.

Developed by the Revised Consortium with input from industry and open-source communities, Revised3 was released in 2023 as an evolution of Revised2. It emphasizes backward compatibility where feasible, while introducing clearer grammar, more precise typing, and improved performance and security characteristics. The transition period includes deprecation notices and migration guides.

Key features include a stronger, optionally statically typed schema system; enhanced data types such as constrained maps, tuples, and enumerations; modular imports and extension points; explicit deprecation and versioning annotations; and tightened evaluation rules to limit side effects. The specification also provides improved error messages and diagnostic tooling for developers.

Tooling comprises official parsers, validators, and code generators across multiple languages, with reference implementations in Rust, Python, and JavaScript. Integrated with build systems and continuous integration pipelines, Revised3 aims to enable early configuration validation and reproducible deployments, from edge devices to cloud environments.

Adoption has grown in embedded systems, IoT, and cloud-native configurations, where its emphasis on portability and automatic validation is valued. Some critics note added complexity and migration effort for users of Revised2, particularly where configurations relied on deprecated features.

Future work focuses on broader ecosystem alignment and ongoing deprecation guidance to ease transitions, with ongoing discussions about extending schemas for security policies and lifecycle management.