Blog: Evolving the Node.js Release Schedule#8631
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UlisesGascon wants to merge 24 commits intonodejs:mainfrom
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Blog: Evolving the Node.js Release Schedule#8631UlisesGascon wants to merge 24 commits intonodejs:mainfrom
UlisesGascon wants to merge 24 commits intonodejs:mainfrom
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- Add "About the Alpha Channel" section explaining: - Target audience (library authors, CI pipelines) - Expectations (no security patches, API may change) - Rationale (feedback loop + V8 updates) - ABI stability noted as TBD - Simplify schedule phases: Alpha → Current → LTS (29 months) - Remove Active LTS / Maintenance distinction - Add Ubuntu release cycle comparison for familiarity - Clean up v26/v27 timelines (remove Maintenance milestone)
- Add comprehensive 10-year schedule table (v27-v36) with Alpha, Release, LTS, and End of Life dates - Clarify that Alpha channel uses only nightly builds (no formal alpha releases, reducing releaser workload) - Link to nodejs.org/download/nightly for early testing - Reorder Timeline section: v26 → v27 → 10-year table
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👋 Codeowner Review RequestThe following codeowners have been identified for the changed files: Team reviewers: @nodejs/releasers @nodejs/nodejs-website Please review the changes when you have a chance. Thank you! 🙏 |
Codecov Report✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests. Additional details and impacted files@@ Coverage Diff @@
## main #8631 +/- ##
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+ Coverage 75.01% 75.07% +0.05%
==========================================
Files 103 104 +1
Lines 9068 9166 +98
Branches 315 316 +1
==========================================
+ Hits 6802 6881 +79
- Misses 2264 2283 +19
Partials 2 2 ☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry. |
UlisesGascon
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Feb 15, 2026
| @@ -0,0 +1,114 @@ | |||
| --- | |||
| date: '2026-04-01T00:00:00.000Z' | |||
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This is just a placeholder, no idea when makes sense to publish it.
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Let's align it with Kylie and Robin. We should create an official tweet using Node.js account along with it.
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Despite those changes, I think we need to mention that it's up to the release team to define what the rules will be to ship semver-major commits in alpha versions.
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Co-authored-by: Mike McCready <66998419+MikeMcC399@users.noreply.github.com> Signed-off-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>
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| - **One major release per year** (April), with LTS promotion in October | ||
| - **Every release becomes LTS**. No more odd/even distinction. | ||
| - **Alpha channel replaces odd-numbered releases** for early testing (for librairies) | ||
| - **Version numbers align with years**: 27.0.0 in 2027, 28.0.0 in 2028 |
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It's a nice coincidence, but not sure this is worth stating here; it's not a stated objective or an explicit commitment of the new release plan.
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Co-authored-by: Filip Skokan <panva.ip@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Ulises Gascón <ulisesgascongonzalez@gmail.com>
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Co-authored-by: Matt Cowley <me@mattcowley.co.uk> Co-authored-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>
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Updated publication date to April 2nd |
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- Fix Alpha duration from 5 to 6 months (Oct-Mar) - Correct LTS duration from 29 to 30 months - Update total support from 35 to 36 months - Update all EOL dates from March to April - Add alpha versioning format example (27.0.0-alpha.1) - Clarify version number alignment wording - Clarify "from first Current release" for total support - Fix grammar: "to not be" → "not to be" - Fix grammar: "may be not included" → "may not be included" - Improve readability by breaking long lines Co-authored-by: Richard Lau <5445507+richardlau@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Nick Schonning <1297909+nschonni@users.noreply.github.com>
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Preview url: https://nodejs-org-git-fork-ulisesgascon-release-announcement-openjs.vercel.app/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule
PUBLICATION DATE: April 2nd
Objective
This is an initial draft of the blog post, intended to collect feedback and iterate until we have a clear plan for communicating the release schedule change.Explain to the users that we are planning a change in the Release Schedule starting on Node@27 and provide context on how the schedule works in general lines and the motivation for this change.
Context
We have been discussing this topic for a while in nodejs/Release#1113, nodejs/Release#953 and at the Collaboration Summit Chesapeake 2025.
The goal of this post is to communicate the change clearly to users as part of the messaging around Node 26.x, since the new plan will take effect starting with Node 27.x. We decided to write this blog post during our last Release WG meeting.