Release Management

Overview

Release management governs how Kinana versions are planned, numbered, and documented. As the platform approaches production launch (Q4 2025), this process ensures coordinated delivery across all repositories and multiple sub-applications.

Release Planning

Release Strategy

Current Phase: Pre-production development toward v1.0 launch

Release Cadence (post-production):

• Major Releases (vX.0.0): Annually or for significant platform changes
• Minor Releases (vX.Y.0): Quarterly feature releases
• Patch Releases (vX.Y.Z): As needed for bug fixes and minor improvements

Release Types

Release Planning Process

Quarterly Release Planning

Timing: First sprint planning of each quarter

Participants: Full team + stakeholders

Activities:

1. Feature Review

   • Product Manager presents roadmap priorities
   • Team reviews completed features since last release
   • Stakeholder feedback incorporated

2. Technical Assessment

   • Solution Architect reviews technical debt priorities
   • Infrastructure improvements planned
   • Cross-component dependencies identified

3. Release Scope Definition

   • Features committed to release
   • Technical debt items included
   • Risk assessment for planned changes

4. Release Milestone Creation

   • GitHub milestone created: "Release vX.Y.0"
   • Target date established
   • Issues tagged with milestone

Sprint-Level Release Tracking

• Each sprint contributes toward upcoming release
• Progress tracked via GitHub milestone completion percentage
• Release date adjusted if scope or timeline changes

Version Numbering

Semantic Versioning

Kinana follows Semantic Versioning 2.0.0 (semver.org):

vMAJOR.MINOR.PATCH

• MAJOR: Breaking changes, incompatible API changes, major architecture shifts
• MINOR: New features, backward-compatible functionality additions
• PATCH: Bug fixes, backward-compatible improvements

Version Numbering Examples

Current Version Status

Current Version: v1.0.0 (in development)

v1.0.0 Scope:

• Complete platform functionality across all sub-apps (Shell, Library, Videos, Podcasts, Brokkly)
• Production-ready infrastructure and deployment pipeline
• Core API stability
• Initial user documentation

Post-v1.0 Versioning:

• First production ready release will be v1.0.0
• Subsequent updates follow semantic versioning rules

Component Versioning

With all repositories and microservice architecture:

Approach: Monolithic versioning (single version number for entire platform)

Rationale:

• Simpler for users and stakeholders
• Ensures compatibility across components
• Reduces version management complexity

Implementation:

• All repositories tagged with same version at release time
• Individual component versioning tracked internally (Docker image tags)
• Platform version communicated externally

Pre-Release Versions

For testing and staging:

• Alpha: vX.Y.Z-alpha.N (internal testing)
• Beta: vX.Y.Z-beta.N (broader testing, optional)
• Release Candidate: vX.Y.Z-rc.N (final validation)

Example: v1.1.0-rc.1 → release candidate 1 for v1.1.0

Release Notes

Purpose

Release notes document changes, improvements, and fixes for each version. They serve:

• Users: Understand new features and changes
• Developers: Track technical changes and API updates
• Support: Reference for troubleshooting
• Compliance: Audit trail for IP governance

Release Notes Structure

# Kinana vX.Y.Z

**Release Date**: YYYY-MM-DD  
**Release Type**: Major/Minor/Patch

## Overview

Brief summary of release highlights (2-3 sentences)

## 🎯 New Features

- **[Component]**: Description of new feature
- **[Component]**: Description of new feature

## ⚡ Enhancements

- **[Component]**: Improvement description
- **[Component]**: Improvement description

## 🐛 Bug Fixes

- **[Component]**: Fix description (Issue #XXX)
- **[Component]**: Fix description (Issue #XXX)

## 🔧 Technical Changes

- Infrastructure updates
- Dependency upgrades
- Performance improvements

## ⚠️ Breaking Changes (if Major release)

- Description of breaking change
- Migration instructions

## 📚 Documentation Updates

- Updated user guides
- New API documentation

## 🔒 Security Updates (if applicable)

- Security fixes (with appropriate detail level)

## Known Issues

- Any known limitations in this release

## Upgrade Instructions

- Steps to upgrade from previous version
- Database migration notes (if applicable)

---

**Full Changelog**: [Link to detailed GitHub comparison]

Release Notes Process

1. Continuous Documentation

Throughout sprint:

• Developers note significant changes in PR descriptions
• QA/PM tracks completed issues
• User-facing changes flagged for release notes

2. Release Notes Compilation

Before release:

1. QA/PM creates initial draft from completed GitHub issues
2. Solution Architect adds technical changes and breaking changes
3. Product Manager refines user-facing descriptions
4. Team reviews for completeness

3. Release Notes Review

• Full team review for accuracy
• Technical terminology checked for user accessibility
• Breaking changes clearly documented with examples

4. Release Notes Publication

• Published in GitHub repository: RELEASE_NOTES.md
• Shared with stakeholders
• Posted to user documentation site (when available)
• Archived for historical reference

Release Workflow

Pre-Release Checklist

Before each release:

Code Freeze:

• [ ] All planned features merged to dev
• [ ] Code freeze announced to team
• [ ] Final testing in staging environment

Quality Validation:

• [ ] QA sign-off on core workflows
• [ ] Performance benchmarks met
• [ ] Security scan completed (if applicable)

Documentation:

• [ ] Release notes drafted and reviewed
• [ ] User documentation updated if required
• [ ] API documentation current (if changes)
• [ ] Known issues documented

Infrastructure:

• [ ] Production deployment plan reviewed
• [ ] Monitoring alerts configured
• [ ] Backup verification completed

Stakeholder Communication:

• [ ] Release notes shared with stakeholders
• [ ] User communication prepared (if external users)
• [ ] Support team briefed (if applicable)

Release Execution

1. Version Tagging

   git tag -a vX.Y.Z -m "Release version X.Y.Z"
   git push origin vX.Y.Z
   

2. Deployment

   • Deploy to production following approved change request
   • Monitor during deployment
   • Validate critical workflows post-deployment

3. Release Announcement

   • GitHub release created with release notes
   • Stakeholders notified
   • Users informed (post-production)

4. Post-Release Monitoring

   • Monitor error rates and performance
   • Watch for user-reported issues
   • Quick-fix any critical issues discovered

Hotfix Process

For critical production issues:

1. Hotfix Branch

   • Branch from production tag: hotfix/vX.Y.Z+1
   • Minimal fix implementation

2. Expedited Review

   • Solution Architect review only
   • QA validation in staging

3. Emergency Release

   • Patch version incremented (vX.Y.Z → vX.Y.Z+1)
   • Deploy following emergency change process
   • Retrospective review at next CAB

4. Documentation

   • Hotfix release notes published
   • Root cause documented
   • Prevention measures identified

Release Coordination Across Components

Multi-Repository Release Management

With all Kinana repositories:

Approach: Coordinated tagging across all repositories at release time

Process:

1. All component repositories tagged with same version
2. Container images built with version tag
3. Kubernetes manifests updated to reference version tag
4. Central release tracking in primary repository

Dependencies:

• Component version compatibility tracked in architecture documentation
• Breaking changes in one component trigger version bump assessment
• Staging environment used to validate cross-component compatibility

Component-Level Changes

Individual component updates between releases:

• Tracked via commit history
• Included in next platform release notes
• Docker images tagged with build numbers for staging deployment

Archive and Compliance

Release Archive

All releases maintained in:

• GitHub Tags: Immutable version references
• Container Registry: Versioned Docker images
• Documentation: Release notes repository
• Backups: Configuration snapshots per release

Audit Requirements

For IP governance compliance:

• Release notes serve as change log
• Git tags provide version traceability
• GitHub Issues link features to implementation
• Architecture decisions documented in repositories

Future Enhancements

As Kinana matures, release management may evolve to include:

• Automated release notes generation from commit messages
• Canary deployments for gradual rollout
• Feature flags for progressive feature delivery
• User-facing release notification system

Last Updated: November 2025
Version: 1.0
Status: Active for v1.0.0 preparation