Effective release management ensures database stability, predictable upgrade paths, and clear communication of changes. Geode follows industry-standard semantic versioning combined with rigorous testing and transparent release processes to deliver reliable, enterprise-grade graph database releases.

As an ISO/IEC 39075:2024 GQL-compliant graph database, Geode’s release strategy balances innovation with stability, providing regular feature updates while maintaining backward compatibility and production reliability. This guide explains Geode’s versioning strategy, release cycles, and best practices for managing upgrades.

Semantic Versioning

Geode uses semantic versioning (SemVer) for all releases:

MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH[-PRERELEASE][+BUILD]

Examples:
0.1.3          - Stable release
1.0.0           - Major version
1.2.3-beta.1    - Pre-release
1.2.3+20240124  - Build metadata

Version Components:

MAJOR (Breaking Changes):

  • Incompatible API changes
  • Protocol breaking changes
  • Removal of deprecated features
  • Major architectural changes
  • Migration required

MINOR (New Features):

  • New features (backward-compatible)
  • New APIs (backward-compatible)
  • Performance improvements
  • Enhancements to existing features
  • No breaking changes

PATCH (Bug Fixes):

  • Bug fixes (backward-compatible)
  • Security patches
  • Documentation corrections
  • Minor performance tweaks
  • No new features

Current Release: v0.1.3

Release Date: January 24, 2026 Status: Production Ready Support Level: Full Support

Key Features

Enterprise Readiness:

  • 97.4% Test Coverage (1644/1688 tests passing)
  • 100% GQL compliance (see conformance profile)
  • Production-validated with 1,735 CANARY governance markers
  • Full ACID transaction support
  • Row-Level Security (RLS)

Architecture:

  • Memory-mapped I/O with page-level caching
  • Connection pooling
  • Cost-based query optimization

Protocol:

  • QUIC + TLS 1.3 (mandatory)
  • Protobuf wire protocol
  • Default port: 3141
  • Bidirectional streaming support

Client Libraries:

  • Go client v1.0.0 (database/sql driver)
  • Python client v1.0.0 (async/await)
  • Rust client v1.0.0 (tokio-based)
  • Zig client v1.0.0 (vendored QUIC)

Upgrade from v0.1.x

Breaking Changes:

  1. TCP protocol removed (QUIC only)
  2. Default port changed from 8443 to 3141
  3. Legacy JSON line protocol removed (Protobuf wire protocol only)

Migration Steps:

# 1. Backup existing database
geode backup create --output pre-v0.18-backup.tar.gz

# 2. Stop v0.1.x server
geode shutdown

# 3. Install v0.1.3
curl -sSL https://install.geodedb.com | sh

# 4. Update configuration
# Change port from 8443 to 3141
# Remove TCP protocol settings

# 5. Start v0.1.3 server
geode serve --config /etc/geode/config.yaml

# 6. Update client libraries
go get -u geodedb.com/[email protected]
pip install --upgrade geode-client==1.0.0
cargo update geode-client

Release Channels

Geode provides multiple release channels for different use cases:

Stable (Recommended for Production):

  • Fully tested and validated
  • Long-term support
  • Security updates guaranteed
  • Example: v0.1.3

Beta (Early Access):

  • Feature-complete but undergoing final testing
  • Preview upcoming features
  • Not recommended for production
  • Example: v0.1.4-beta.1

Alpha (Experimental):

  • Early development builds
  • APIs may change
  • For testing only
  • Example: v0.1.4-alpha.3

Nightly (Development):

  • Daily builds from main branch
  • Bleeding edge features
  • Unstable, for development only
  • Example: v0.1.4-nightly+20240124

Release Schedule

Major Releases (Annually):

  • January of each year
  • Breaking changes allowed
  • 12-month support window
  • Migration guides provided

Minor Releases (Quarterly):

  • January, April, July, October
  • New features and enhancements
  • Backward-compatible
  • No migration required

Patch Releases (As Needed):

  • Released as bugs are discovered and fixed
  • Typically within 1-2 weeks of bug report
  • Security patches released immediately

Long-Term Support (LTS):

  • Every major version receives LTS status
  • 24 months of security updates
  • 12 months of feature updates
  • Example: v1.0.0 LTS supported until January 2028

Download and Installation

Linux Packages:

# Debian/Ubuntu (APT repository - recommended for automatic updates)
curl -fsSL https://apt.geodedb.com/geode.gpg | \
  sudo gpg --dearmor -o /usr/share/keyrings/geode-archive-keyring.gpg
echo "deb [signed-by=/usr/share/keyrings/geode-archive-keyring.gpg] https://apt.geodedb.com stable main" | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/geode.list
sudo apt update
sudo apt install geode

# RHEL/Fedora
curl -L -o geode.rpm https://gitlab.com/devnw/codepros/geode/geode/-/releases/latest/download/geode-linux-x86_64.rpm
sudo rpm -i geode.rpm

macOS (Homebrew):

# Install via Homebrew (recommended)
brew install geodedb/geode/geode

From Source:

git clone https://github.com/codeprosorg/geode
cd geode
git checkout v0.1.3
make build
./zig-out/bin/geode serve --listen 0.0.0.0:3141

Docker:

# Latest stable release
docker pull geodedb/geode:latest
docker pull geodedb/geode:0.18

# Specific version
docker pull geodedb/geode:0.1.3

# Run container
docker run -p 3141:3141 geodedb/geode:0.1.3

Additional package managers are not currently published; use release artifacts, Docker, or build from source.

Release Testing Process

Before any release, Geode undergoes comprehensive testing:

Test Suite:

  1. Unit tests (1,688 tests, 97.4% passing)
  2. Integration tests (cross-client validation)
  3. GQL compliance tests (see conformance profile)
  4. Performance benchmarks
  5. Concurrency stress tests
  6. Memory leak detection
  7. Security scanning

Validation Criteria:

  • All unit tests passing
  • Zero critical bugs
  • Performance benchmarks within 5% of baseline
  • Security scan clean
  • Documentation complete
  • Migration guide reviewed

Support Policy

Current Versions:

  • v0.1.x: Full support (new features, bug fixes, security)
  • v0.1.x: Maintenance mode (bug fixes, security only)
  • v0.1.x: End of life (no updates)

Support Levels:

Full Support:

  • Latest major version
  • New features and enhancements
  • Bug fixes and security patches
  • Duration: 12 months from release

Maintenance Mode:

  • Previous major version
  • Critical bug fixes only
  • Security patches
  • Duration: 12 months after full support

End of Life (EOL):

  • No updates or patches
  • Upgrade to supported version recommended

Release Notes Format

Each release includes detailed release notes:

# Geode v0.1.3

**Release Date**: January 24, 2026
**Status**: Production Ready

## Highlights
- 100% GQL compliance
- QUIC protocol upgrade
- Row-Level Security

## Added
- Feature 1: Description
- Feature 2: Description

## Changed
- Change 1: Description and rationale
- Change 2: Migration steps if needed

## Fixed
- Bug 1: Description
- Bug 2: Impact and resolution

## Security
- CVE-2024-XXXX: Description and severity

## Performance
- Improvement 1: Benchmark results
- Improvement 2: Impact measurement

## Deprecated
- Feature: Timeline for removal

## Breaking Changes
- Change: Migration guide link

Roadmap and Future Releases

v0.1.4 (Planned: April 2026):

  • Enhanced vector search capabilities
  • Graph algorithms library
  • Query result caching
  • Additional client language support

v0.2.0 (Planned: July 2026):

  • Distributed query execution
  • Sharding and partitioning
  • Advanced analytics functions
  • Time-travel queries

v1.0.0 (Planned: January 2027):

  • First LTS major version
  • API stability guarantee
  • Enterprise support packages
  • Certification program

Upgrade Best Practices

Pre-Upgrade Checklist:

  1. Review release notes and breaking changes
  2. Check compatibility matrix for client libraries
  3. Backup database and configuration
  4. Test upgrade in staging environment
  5. Plan maintenance window
  6. Prepare rollback plan

Upgrade Execution:

  1. Announce maintenance window to users
  2. Create backup immediately before upgrade
  3. Stop application traffic
  4. Perform database upgrade
  5. Verify server startup and health checks
  6. Run smoke tests
  7. Resume application traffic
  8. Monitor metrics and logs

Post-Upgrade Validation:

  1. Verify all services started correctly
  2. Run integration test suite
  3. Check query performance benchmarks
  4. Review error logs
  5. Validate client connections
  6. Monitor resource utilization

Rollback Procedures

If upgrade fails, execute rollback:

# 1. Stop failed v0.1.3 server
geode shutdown

# 2. Restore v0.1.x binary
sudo dpkg -i geode-0.1.2.deb

# 3. Restore database from backup
geode restore --input pre-v0.18-backup.tar.gz

# 4. Restore configuration
cp /etc/geode/config.yaml.backup /etc/geode/config.yaml

# 5. Start v0.1.x server
geode serve

# 6. Verify functionality
geode status
geode query "MATCH (n) RETURN COUNT(n);"
  • Version Changelog and Release History
  • Version Management
  • Migration Guides
  • Upgrade Procedures
  • Compatibility Matrix
  • Support Policy
  • Security Advisories

Further Reading

  • Semantic Versioning Specification
  • Release Management Best Practices
  • Database Upgrade Strategies
  • Zero-Downtime Deployment
  • Continuous Delivery for Databases
  • Version Compatibility Testing
  • Production Deployment Guide

Related Articles