Release
ELI5 — The Vibe Check
A release is an official versioned snapshot of your software that you hand to the world. It's different from just deploying — a release has a name (like v2.1.0), a changelog, and is an intentional milestone. Think of it as the difference between putting a rough cut online vs. officially publishing an album.
Real Talk
A release is a versioned, named snapshot of software made available to users. Releases are tagged in version control, have associated changelogs, and typically bundle multiple changes together. Platforms like GitHub Releases combine git tags with release notes and downloadable artifacts.
Show Me The Code
# Create a git tag for a release
git tag -a v2.1.0 -m "Release version 2.1.0"
git push origin v2.1.0
When You'll Hear This
"We cut a release every two weeks." / "Check the release notes for v3.0 — there are breaking changes."
Related Terms
Breaking Change
A Breaking Change is a modification to your API or library that will BREAK existing code that uses it.
Changelog
A Changelog is a file (usually CHANGELOG.md) that records what changed in each version of your software.
Deploy
Deploying is taking your code from your computer and making it live on the internet for real users. Before: only you can see it.
Release Candidate
A Release Candidate (RC) is a version of your software that's basically done and you think is ready — but you're doing one final check before officially ca...
Semantic Versioning (SemVer)
Semantic versioning uses three numbers — MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH — where each number means something. PATCH (1.0.1) = bug fix. MINOR (1.1.