---
title: "Stability and releases"
description: "Guide to Deno's stability guarantees and release process. Covering release channels, long-term support (LTS), unstable features, versioning policy, and how Deno maintains backward compatibility."
oldUrl:
  - /runtime/manual/runtime/stability/
  - /runtime/fundamentals/stability/
---

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

Deno releases a new stable, minor version (eg. v2.1.0, v2.0.0) on a 12 week
schedule.

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

### Release channels

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 times per day, allows to
  try out latest bug fixes and new features that might end up in the `stable`
  channel.

### Long Term Support (LTS)

:::warning

LTS support will be discontinued after April 30, 2026; there will be no LTS
releases or maintenance beyond that date.

:::

Deno offers an LTS (long-term support) channel. This is a minor semver version
that we maintain with only backwards-compatible bug fixes.

| LTS release version | LTS maintenance start | LTS maintenance end |
| ------------------- | --------------------- | ------------------- |
| v2.1                | Feb 1st, 2025         | Apr 30th, 2025      |
| v2.2                | May 1st, 2025         | Oct 31st, 2025      |
| v2.5                | Nov 1st, 2025         | Apr 30th, 2026      |

LTS backports include:

- Security patches
- Critical bug fixes (e.g., crashes, incorrect computations)
- **Critical** performance improvements _may_ be backported based on severity.

**API changes and major new features will not be backported.**

## Unstable APIs

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](/runtime/reference/cli/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 `import`ing code without
specifying file extensions.

## Standard library

The Deno Standard Library ([jsr.io/@std](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.