Blog: Evolving the Node.js Release Schedule by UlisesGascon · Pull Request #8631 · nodejs/nodejs.org

UlisesGascon · 2026-02-15T16:10:28Z

Preview url: https://nodejs-org-git-fork-ulisesgascon-release-announcement-openjs.vercel.app/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule

PUBLICATION DATE: April 2nd

Objective

~~This is an initial draft of the blog post, intended to collect feedback and iterate until we have a clear plan for communicating the release schedule change.~~

Explain to the users that we are planning a change in the Release Schedule starting on Node@27 and provide context on how the schedule works in general lines and the motivation for this change.

Context

We have been discussing this topic for a while in nodejs/Release#1113, nodejs/Release#953 and at the Collaboration Summit Chesapeake 2025.

The goal of this post is to communicate the change clearly to users as part of the messaging around Node 26.x, since the new plan will take effect starting with Node 27.x. We decided to write this blog post during our last Release WG meeting.

- Add "About the Alpha Channel" section explaining: - Target audience (library authors, CI pipelines) - Expectations (no security patches, API may change) - Rationale (feedback loop + V8 updates) - ABI stability noted as TBD - Simplify schedule phases: Alpha → Current → LTS (29 months) - Remove Active LTS / Maintenance distinction - Add Ubuntu release cycle comparison for familiarity - Clean up v26/v27 timelines (remove Maintenance milestone)

- Add comprehensive 10-year schedule table (v27-v36) with Alpha, Release, LTS, and End of Life dates - Clarify that Alpha channel uses only nightly builds (no formal alpha releases, reducing releaser workload) - Link to nodejs.org/download/nightly for early testing - Reorder Timeline section: v26 → v27 → 10-year table

vercel · 2026-02-15T16:10:35Z

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github-actions · 2026-02-15T16:10:39Z

👋 Codeowner Review Request

The following codeowners have been identified for the changed files:

Team reviewers: @nodejs/releasers @nodejs/nodejs-website

Please review the changes when you have a chance. Thank you! 🙏

codecov · 2026-02-15T16:12:14Z

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 75.12%. Comparing base (abe2187) to head (2d5173a).
⚠️ Report is 1 commits behind head on main.
✅ All tests successful. No failed tests found.

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             main    #8631      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   75.10%   75.12%   +0.02%     
==========================================
  Files         104      104              
  Lines        9162     9167       +5     
  Branches      315      315              
==========================================
+ Hits         6881     6887       +6     
+ Misses       2279     2278       -1     
  Partials        2        2

☔ View full report in Codecov by Sentry.
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apps/site/pages/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule.md

gurgunday

lgtm

apps/site/pages/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule.md

RafaelGSS

Despite those changes, I think we need to mention that it's up to the release team to define what the rules will be to ship semver-major commits in alpha versions.

apps/site/pages/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule.md

Tried to implement some of the feedback Signed-off-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>

apps/site/pages/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule.md

Co-authored-by: Mike McCready <66998419+MikeMcC399@users.noreply.github.com> Signed-off-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>

apps/site/pages/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule.md

Co-authored-by: Filip Skokan <panva.ip@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Ulises Gascón <ulisesgascongonzalez@gmail.com>

UlisesGascon · 2026-02-26T20:04:53Z

Updated publication date to April 2nd

apps/site/pages/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule.md

- Fix Alpha duration from 5 to 6 months (Oct-Mar) - Correct LTS duration from 29 to 30 months - Update total support from 35 to 36 months - Update all EOL dates from March to April - Add alpha versioning format example (27.0.0-alpha.1) - Clarify version number alignment wording - Clarify "from first Current release" for total support - Fix grammar: "to not be" → "not to be" - Fix grammar: "may be not included" → "may not be included" - Improve readability by breaking long lines Co-authored-by: Richard Lau <5445507+richardlau@users.noreply.github.com> Co-authored-by: Nick Schonning <1297909+nschonni@users.noreply.github.com>

RafaelGSS · 2026-03-05T15:18:25Z

@UlisesGascon any reason to not land that this week or early next week?

avivkeller · 2026-03-05T15:29:42Z

(FYI Without a rebase Vercel will continue to fail, however, since building locally works, you can force merge this, though I'd recommend rebasing and using the Queue)

apps/site/pages/en/blog/announcements/evolving-the-nodejs-release-schedule.md

Signed-off-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>

…ase-schedule.md Signed-off-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>

UlisesGascon added 6 commits February 12, 2026 19:14

feat(blog): create post evolving the Node.js Release Schedule

548adaf

docs: use proper terminology

3c1aa4e

docs: clarify Alpha channel vs nightly builds in release schedule post

295317e

docs: add image to support the new schedule

1d1c970

UlisesGascon mentioned this pull request Feb 15, 2026

Evolving the Node.js Release Schedule UlisesGascon/nodejs.org#1

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Tried to implement some of the feedback Signed-off-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>

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Session Proposal: Node.js New Release Schedule openjs-foundation/summit#479

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docs: improve readability

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Co-authored-by: Filip Skokan <panva.ip@gmail.com> Signed-off-by: Ulises Gascón <ulisesgascongonzalez@gmail.com>

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richardlau added the release-agenda Agenda items for the next Release Working Group meeting. label Feb 27, 2026

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Node.js Release WorkGroup Meeting 2026-03-05 nodejs/Release#1141

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Proposal - Shift Node.js to Annual Major Releases and Shorten LTS Duration nodejs/Release#1113

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shadowspawn mentioned this pull request Mar 5, 2026

Revise labels for new Node.js Release Schedule tj/n#847

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…ase-schedule.md Signed-off-by: Antoine du Hamel <duhamelantoine1995@gmail.com>

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Proposal - change the prerelease phase name to something else nodejs/Release#1142

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Merged via the queue into nodejs:main with commit 6ff5898 Mar 10, 2026
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