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Stability and releases

As of Deno 1.0.0, the Deno namespace APIs are stable. That means we will strive to make code working under 1.0.0 continue to work in future versions.

Release schedule, channels and long term support Jump to heading

Deno releases a new stable, minor version (eg. v2.1.0, v2.0.0) on a monthly schedule.

Patch releases including bug fixes for the latest minor version are released as needed - you can expect two or three patch releases before a new minor version is released.

Release channels Jump to heading

Deno offers 4 release channels

  • stable - a semver minor/patch release, as described above. This is the default distribution channel that is recommended for most users.
  • lts - long term support for a particular stable release, recommended for enterprise users who prefer not to upgrade so often. See below for details.
  • rc - a release candidate for the upcoming semver minor release.
  • canary - an unstable release that changes multiple timer per day, allows to try out latest bug fixes and new features that might end up in the stable channel.

Long Term Support (LTS) Jump to heading

Starting with Deno v2.1.0 (to be released in November 2024) Deno will offer a LTS (long-term support) channel.

An LTS channel is a semver minor version that we maintain with only backwards compatible bug fixes.

Deno long term support schedule

A new LTS version is twice per year and supported for 6 months, giving users a month long window to upgrade between LTS relases. A new patch version of an LTS channel will be released at least once per quarter.

LTS eligible backports include security fixes and defect fixes (crashes, wrong answers).

Critical performance improvements may be backported based on severity.

API changes and major new features will not be backported.

Unstable APIs Jump to heading

When introducing new APIs, these are first marked as unstable. This means that the API may change in the future. These APIs are not available to use unless you explicitly pass an unstable flag, like --unstable-kv. Learn more about --unstable-* flags.

There are also some non-runtime features of Deno that are considered unstable, and are locked behind unstable flags. For example, the --unstable-sloppy-imports flag is used to enable importing code without specifying file extensions.

Standard library Jump to heading

The Deno Standard Library (https://jsr.io/@std) is mostly stable. All standard library modules that are version 1.0.0 or higher are considered stable. All other modules (0.x) are considered unstable, and may change in the future.

Using unstable standard library modules is not recommended for production code, but it is a great way to experiment with new features and provide feedback to the Deno team. It is not necessary to use any unstable flags to use unstable standard library modules.