Deprecations

Every A8 version carries a lifecycle status. It says whether the version serves, whether its interface can change and when it retires. This page defines each status, states the notice a retirement gets and lists every version with its status.

§1Lifecycle statuses

A status shows as a badge beside a page title or a sidebar entry, with one sentence on what it means for you. A8 is in preview: a pinned version holds what it learned, and a new version can change how a request is read.

A horizon belongs to the version that fitted it, so it shares that version’s status and retires with it. See Model identifiers.

§2Notice

We announce a deprecation at least TBD (notice period) before the retirement date. Each announcement appears in three places on the same day:

• Release notes, as a Deprecation entry
• The history on this page
• GET /models, on every entry of the deprecated version

From the announcement to the retirement date, the version answers as it did, pinned horizons included.

§3Versions

§4History

Each deprecation is an entry here, newest first. An entry is a heading with its date and title, one sentence that names the version, its retirement date and its replacement, and a table:

### 2027-01-15: a8-1 deprecated

On 2027-01-15 we deprecated `a8-1`. It retires on 2027-07-15. Use `a8-2`.

| Retirement date | Model | Replacement |
| --- | --- | --- |
| 2027-07-15 | `a8-1` | `a8-2` |

The dates in this template are examples. The history starts with the first deprecation.

§5Watching for a retirement

GET /models carries each version’s lifecycle on every one of its entries, so a script reads the same status this page shows:

curl https://api.u22a8.ai/eval/v1/models \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $U22A8_API_KEY"

import os

from openai import OpenAI

client = OpenAI(
    base_url="https://api.u22a8.ai/eval/v1",
    api_key=os.environ["U22A8_API_KEY"],
)

for model in client.models.list():
    extra = model.model_extra or {}
    if extra.get("shutdown_date"):
        print(model.id, "retires on", extra["shutdown_date"])

import OpenAI from "openai";

const client = new OpenAI({
  baseURL: "https://api.u22a8.ai/eval/v1",
  apiKey: process.env.U22A8_API_KEY,
});

for await (const model of client.models.list()) {
  const { shutdown_date } = model as typeof model & {
    shutdown_date: string | null;
  };
  if (shutdown_date) console.log(model.id, "retires on", shutdown_date);
}

// annotated, trimmed: one entry of the list
{
  "id": "a8-1-1@20260715t140322z",
  "object": "model",
  "status": "ready",
  "active": true,
  "lifecycle": "preview", // a status from Table 1, lowercase
  "shutdown_date": null // an ISO date once the version is deprecated
}

See Horizons for status and active, the fields that say which horizon is in service.