Release Plan
Last Updated 2025-12-01
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 project aims to make a new major release once a year to align with the Node.js schedule. As they reach their end-of-life, a new major release will be made that updates the default Node.js version and drop support for older versions.
The active Node-RED stream will get regular minor releases (for example 5.0 -> 5.1) containing new features as well as maintenance releases (for example 5.0.1 -> 5.0.2) as and when they are needed.
When a new major version is released, the previous version enters maintenance mode for a period of time. During this time it will only receive bug fixes and security updates.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5.x. | 2026-01 | Â | Â |
| 4.x | 2024-04-30. | 2026-01 | 2026-06-30 |
| 3.x | 2022-07-14 | 2024-04-30. | 2025-06-30 |
| 2.x | 2021-07-22 | 2022-07-14 | 2023-06-30 |
| 1.x | 2019-09-30 | 2021-04-30 | 2022-06-30 |
Dates are subject to change
References:
