Understanding the Next.js release cycle

[MattIPv4]

Summary

Hiya,

I was wondering if there are any docs/info available on Next.js' release cycle, if there is a consistent methodology followed?

I ask because the last 15.x release was 15.0.3 almost exactly a month ago at this point, with 42 canary versions released so far for 15.0.4. This seems like a long lag between patch versions?

Additional information

No response

Example

No response

[icyJoseph]

I think they had been waiting for React 19 to become stable.

The docs talk about a regular cadence when releasing: https://github.com/vercel/next.js/blob/canary/contributing/repository/release-channels-publishing.md

[alexbuznik-stark]

Ok, but how often Canary stuff goes into stable?

E.g. I'm interested in #72095 to be in stable, it went into this canary release, when it gets to stable?
It's been merged in mid-December.

[2208Prathamesh]

🔗 Understanding the Next.js release cycle (#73558)

Hi 👋

The Next.js release cycle works in 3 steps:

1. Canary – experimental builds that ship super fast (like 15.0.4-canary.x).
2. Release Candidate (RC) – once things stabilize, they push an RC (e.g. 15.0.4-rc).
3. Stable – after testing + fixes, it becomes the final stable release.

Basically:

• Canary = try things out quickly.
• RC = polish + test.
• Stable = production safe.

Example: For v15, they shipped a bunch of canary versions → then moved to RC → finally tagged stable. This way we get new features quickly but also stability before prod.

Docs also mention this in their contributing guide, but that’s the high-level idea.