Release Cadence

Channels, eligibility rules, and promotion criteria.

Release Cadence

Channels

• alpha: early validation, no stability guarantees
• beta: feature-complete validation window
• rc: release-candidate validation for blockers only
• stable: production channel with versioning policy guarantees
• LTS: long-term support line after stability criteria are met

Cadence model

• patch: corrections, regressions, security fixes as needed
• minor: scheduled batches after additive validation
• major: intentional breaking changes with migration guidance

Commit message release rules

• semantic-release evaluates commit message types, not changed files
• docs: commits are configured to publish a patch release
• use docs: for documentation changes that should ship to consumers
• do not use chore: for releasable documentation updates
• chore: remains non-releasing unless another configured rule says otherwise

Stable promotion

Required:

• green CI
• green package smoke
• release qualification checklist
• changelog updated
• upgrade docs for behavioral changes

LTS promotion

• stable reliability across releases
• API/CLI compatibility rules enforced
• coverage target reached
• support policy and consumer docs complete from install through operations

Emergency release

• security/critical regressions can bypass cadence
• still require versioning compliance, changelog, and upgrade note where needed