---
title: "Release strategy"
description: "What you need to know about backwards compatibility"
icon: "code-branch"
---

Understanding the Gogs release strategy helps you plan upgrades safely and avoid breaking changes.

## Semantic versioning

Starting with version **0.12.0**, Gogs follows [semantic versioning](https://semver.org/). Version numbers use the format `MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH`:

| Version   | Type          | Description                                               |
|-----------|---------------|-----------------------------------------------------------|
| `0.12.0`  | Minor release | Introduces new features or breaking changes within `0.x`  |
| `0.12.1`  | Patch release | First bug-fix release for the `0.12` series               |
| `0.12`    | Release series| Refers collectively to `0.12.0`, `0.12.1`, `0.12.2`, etc.|

Each minor release has its own **release branch** with the prefix `release/`. For example, `release/0.12` is the branch for version 0.12.0 and all of its patch releases (`0.12.1`, `0.12.2`, and so on).

## Backwards compatibility

### Upgrading from versions before 0.12

<Warning>
  If you are running any version of Gogs **below 0.12**, you must first upgrade to **0.12** before upgrading further. This version includes essential database migrations that later versions depend on.
</Warning>

### Upgrading from 0.12 and later

Gogs maintains backwards compatibility across **one minor version** at a time. Patch release numbers are disregarded when determining compatibility.

**Supported upgrade paths:**

| From      | To        | Supported |
|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| `0.12.0`  | `0.13.0`  | Yes       |
| `0.12.1`  | `0.13.4`  | Yes       |
| `0.12.4`  | `0.14.0`  | **No** -- skips a minor version |

<Info>
  Always upgrade **one minor version at a time**. For example, to go from `0.12` to `0.14`, first upgrade to `0.13`, verify everything works, and then upgrade to `0.14`.
</Info>

## Source build update frequency

<Tip>
  If you run Gogs from a source build rather than an official binary, update **at least once per week**. This prevents you from falling behind and potentially missing incremental database migrations that cannot be applied out of order.
</Tip>