> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.speckle.systems/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
# Speckle's data model is changing: what developers need to know
> What changes for SDK, API, and Automate consumers, and what to do about it
**This page is for developers building on Speckle** — SDK consumers, GraphQL/REST API users,
Speckle Automate developers, notebook users, and anyone reading or writing Speckle object data
directly. If you only use Speckle through desktop connectors or the web app, see [Data model
migration for workspaces](/workspaces/data-model-migration) instead.
For a compact Current versus v2026.9 table, see [Compare Current and v2026.9](/next/whats-new).
## What's changing
Speckle is introducing a new underlying data model that significantly improves scalability, storage efficiency, and performance. It replaces today's tree-and-Proxy object graph with two things working together: a columnar property store for fast querying and aggregation, and an explicit relational layer describing how elements relate to one another — containment, connectivity, systems, materials — richer than today's Proxies.
This is a foundational change, not a cosmetic one. It's what lets Speckle handle dramatically larger models, and the relational layer specifically is what lets newer features — including Speckle Intelligence — answer questions about how things connect and contain each other, not just look up properties on individual objects.
## What isn't changing
Your desktop and web workflows aren't going anywhere. Publish and view through supported connectors exactly as you do today — just faster, once your project has migrated.
## Why this change
* **Scale.** The current object graph becomes slow and memory-intensive as models grow larger. The new format is built to hold much larger models without that penalty.
* **Performance.** Faster extraction, loading, and querying — for you and for anything built on top of the data.
* **A real analytical model.** Speckle's data becomes something you can query and aggregate directly, rather than something you have to walk and reconstruct object by object.
* **AI support.** Speckle Intelligence queries both properties and relations directly, which is what lets it answer topology questions — what's connected to what, what's contained in what — rather than just looking up a single object's properties.
## Who's affected
For almost everyone, nothing breaks. Existing connectors, SDKs, and integrations — including Power BI — continue to work with your published data exactly as they do today. Nothing forces the move, and there's nothing to do.
The one area to watch is data that reaches Speckle without going through a connector: **ACC sync** and **drag-and-drop file uploads**. That data auto-migrates to the new format by default. If something downstream — a custom integration, a script, an API consumer — expects the old format and breaks as a result, you can ask us to switch your workspace to **compatibility mode**, which keeps writing in the old format while you update.
Compatibility mode is a bridge, not a fix. It's available until **1 November 2026** — anything
relying on it needs to be migrated off before then.
Everyone else — desktop connector users, SDK/API consumers, custom analytics, and ETL — can carry on as normal.
Speckle Automate functions are worth calling out specifically, since what a function needs to do depends on which connector produced the version it's processing, not on the function's own code:
* **Version published by an old connector:** your function keeps working exactly as it does today. Nothing to change.
* **Version published by a connector that only writes the new bundle format:** your function's SDK dependency needs a version bump before it can read that version. No code change required — just an updated SDK build.
## Self-hosted servers
Running your own Speckle server? It keeps doing exactly what it does today. There's no requirement to upgrade immediately — existing workflows keep working against the current generation of self-hosted servers.
If you're running Speckle's open-source core, you already own your connector distribution — that's the standard for a healthy self-hosted stack, not something Speckle auto-updates for you. If your current connector and server versions work together, pin both, and keep any of your own downstream users on that same combination.
There's no fixed date yet for this data model reaching the open-source core specifically —
consistent with Speckle's general policy of releasing new major versions to open source once
they're proven stable, rather than on a fixed date.
## Migration guidance
Old connectors, old SDKs, and your existing published data aren't on a deprecation clock — they continue working exactly as they do now. ACC sync and drag-and-drop uploads auto-migrate to the new format after the migration; if that breaks something downstream, ask us to switch your workspace into compatibility mode to keep writing the old format while you update.
If you maintain internal tooling that reads Speckle data more directly than the standard SDK/API surface — something that assumes the shape of the old object model rather than going through supported accessors — and it breaks against the new format, pin your server and connector to **v2026.8**: the last version before this migration converts data to the new model. That buys you time to update the tool without anything breaking in the meantime.
## What you should do
Update from **1 September 2026**, no later than **1 November 2026**, when compatibility mode for
ACC sync and drag-and-drop goes away. Old connectors keep working either way — updating just
means getting there without the bumps, and getting the performance gains sooner.
If your workflow depends on ACC sync or drag-and-drop uploads, and something downstream consumes
that data directly (a script, a custom Power BI query, an API integration), ask us to switch
your workspace into compatibility mode before **1 November 2026**.
If a function processes a version published by a connector that only writes the new bundle
format, bump its SDK dependency. No code change needed — versions from old connectors need
nothing done at all.
If you self-host, pin your current connector-and-server combination rather than updating
further, and keep any of your own downstream users on that same combination. See [Self-hosted
servers](#self-hosted-servers) above.
## FAQ
No. Existing connectors, SDKs, and integrations — including Power BI — continue working with
your published data exactly as they do today. This migration doesn't put them on a clock.
It remains valid and readable. The migration affects how new data is handled going forward, not
what already exists in your projects.
It depends on which connector published the version your function is processing, not on your
function's own code. A version from an old connector works with your function exactly as it does
today. A version from a connector that only writes the new bundle format needs your function's
SDK dependency bumped — no code change, just an updated SDK build.
If you maintain a production integration that reads Speckle data more directly than the standard
SDK/API surface, pin to **v2026.8** in the meantime — see [Migration
guidance](#migration-guidance) — and reach out via
[speckle.community/help](https://speckle.community/help) or your Customer Success Advisor so we
can walk through your specific setup.
## Questions
Still unclear? Chat with us in-app, post in [speckle.community/help](https://speckle.community/help), or reach out to your Customer Success Advisor.