This guide explains the different types of Discourse releases and how different channels are used for updates.
Required user level: All users
Release channels
Discourse has four primary release channels, each serving a different purpose: main, latest, release, and esr.
The default channel used when installing a production version of Discourse is latest.
Since November 2025, Discourse uses a date-based versioning scheme: YYYY.MM.PATCH (e.g., v2026.2.0). On the latest branch, versions include a -latest suffix (e.g., v2026.3.0-latest).
To see the current state of each release channel, check out:
main
On GitHub: https://github.com/discourse/discourse/tree/main
This channel represents the latest development version of Discourse. It contains the most recent features and improvements but may not be thoroughly tested and can be unstable, so it is not recommended for production environments. Developers and early adopters typically use this channel.
latest
On GitHub: https://github.com/discourse/discourse/tree/latest
Previously known as “tests-passed”, this channel includes features and improvements from the main channel that have undergone a certain level of testing. It has the best balance between stability and access to the latest improvements. We commit new changes almost daily, and they are available in this channel.
release
Approximately once a month, a release is cut from latest into its own branch (e.g., release/2026.2). Each release receives critical security fixes for two full release cycles after it is created.
On GitHub, each release has its own branch: https://github.com/discourse/discourse/tree/release/2026.2
The tag release always points to the most recent release.
For backward compatibility, the
betatag still exists but is frozen and no longer actively updated.
esr
ESR stands for Extended Support Release. Approximately every 6 months, one of the monthly releases is designated as an ESR. ESR versions receive critical security fixes for a longer period — they remain supported for 2 releases after the next ESR is declared.
On GitHub: https://github.com/discourse/discourse/tree/esr
The tag esr always points to the latest ESR release. For backward compatibility, the stable branch and tag are aliased to esr.
The ESR channel is not necessarily more “stable” than latest. It’s more about the idea that the bugs are known, and it serves as a checkpoint for a specific set of features and improvements. With latest, there may be new bugs introduced, then fixed a few commits later.
Last edited by @Moin 2026-03-30T08:59:33Z
Last checked by @hugh 2024-07-30T10:13:40Z
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