# Is Discourse always in "beta"?

**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-discourse-always-in-beta/198215
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [July 26, 2021, 3:11pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-discourse-always-in-beta/198215 "2021-07-26T15:11:10Z")
**Posts on this page:** 1
**Showing post:** 3

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### Author: ![awesomerobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/meta/user_avatar/meta.discourse.org/awesomerobot/32/142900_2.png) [@awesomerobot](https://meta.discourse.org/u/awesomerobot)
#### Post date: [July 26, 2021, 3:55pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-discourse-always-in-beta/198215/3 "2021-07-26T15:55:50Z")

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There’s a good explanation of the branches we use here:

> [@Updates always come before release notes](https://meta.discourse.org/t/updates-always-come-before-release-notes/88919/7):
>
> **Main:**  
> When a new commit is added to [Discourse](https://github.com/discourse/discourse) it is on the main branch. Main is the absolute latest (most current) branch of Discourse, and we do not recommend anyone run their site tracking the main branch.
> 
> **Tests-passed:**  
> When a new commit is pushed the to the main branch, our build server automatically runs all our tests against the latest code. Once they all pass the commit is added to our `tests-passed` branch. This is the branch all Discourse sites run by default.
> 
> **Beta:**  
> Every few weeks we push the current commits on `tests-passed` to `beta` . We use beta as a “milestone” to push out a collection of commits we want more sites to be running and test. We also push a beta if we have an important security fix we want sites to receive. When a beta is pushed all sites running on `tests-passed` or `beta` receive the “new update available” email. Sites running `tests-passed` will update to the current `tests-passed` commits (including any new commits pushed after the beta), while those on `beta` will not.
> 
> **Stable:**  
> Every 4-6 months we release a new `stable` build. ~2 weeks before pushing stable we release our last beta. We then watch our logs closely to try and catch any lingering bugs that exist, and avoid adding any new features/risky changes. Once we’re satisfied with the state of the current beta, we push to stable.

So Discourse is in a perpetual beta state, meaning that we’re always working on new features and refinement. In our case beta does not mean unstable; we host sites with millions of monthly pageviews on our tests-passed and beta versions.

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_[View the full topic](https://meta.discourse.org/t/is-discourse-always-in-beta/198215)._