Release Plan
Updated: 2022-08-04
This plan is a guide for how the project plans to schedule upcoming releases, taking into account the release schedule of the underlying Node.js runtime.
The active Node-RED stream (3.x) will get a new minor version release (for example, 3.1 -> 3.2) every three months. Maintenance releases (for example 3.1.0 -> 3.1.1) will continue to happen as and when they are needed.
At the end of April 2023, when Node 14.x reaches its end-of-life, we will publish Node-RED 4.x that will drop support for Node 14.
The 3.x stream will then enter maintenance mode. It will only receive bug fixes and security updates. New features could get back-ported from 4.x if there was a very good reason to do so as well as people available to do the work.
The 4.x stream will continue in active development with a minor release every three months or so for a year, when the next major release is made.
This proposal means:
- We have a regular cycle of releases - getting new features into the hands of users.
- We have a schedule to help us prioritise and plan backlog items.
- We can provide longer-term stable releases with a well-known end of life.
- We have a plan that enables us to make potentially breaking changes once a year.
| Release | Initial | Maintenance Start | End-of-life |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1.x | 2019-09-30 | 2021-04-30 | 2022-06-30 |
| 2.x | 2021-07-22 | 2022-07-14 | 2023-06-30 |
| 3.x | 2022-07-14 | 2023-04-30 * | 2024-06-30 |
| 4.x | 2023-04-30 * | 2024-04-30 * | 2025-06-30 |
* Dates are subject to change
References:
