Prerelease Versions

Prerelease versions provide access to design system changes before they are considered stable for production use. These versions enable testing, early feedback, and gradual adoption while clearly communicating their non-final status. Proper management of prerelease versions supports both design system development and consumer needs.

What Are Prerelease Versions

Prerelease versions are package versions published before stable release. Semantic versioning supports prerelease identifiers appended to version numbers, such as 2.0.0-alpha.1, 2.0.0-beta.3, or 2.0.0-rc.1. These identifiers indicate the version is not yet stable.

Package managers handle prerelease versions specially. Installing without explicit tags typically excludes prereleases, protecting consumers from accidentally using unstable code. Explicit requests like npm install package@2.0.0-beta.3 or npm install package@next access prereleases intentionally.

How Prerelease Versions Work

Prerelease management involves consistent versioning, appropriate publishing, and clear communication. Each element helps consumers work with prereleases effectively.

Version numbering follows conventions that convey maturity. The base version (before the hyphen) indicates the intended stable version. The prerelease identifier (after the hyphen) indicates the stage and iteration. Sequential numbering (alpha.1, alpha.2, alpha.3) tracks progression within stages.

Publishing workflows make prereleases available appropriately. Publishing to separate npm tags like next, alpha, or beta keeps prereleases accessible without affecting latest. Automated pipelines can publish prereleases from specific branches or triggers.

Communication informs consumers about prerelease availability and status. Changelogs include prerelease versions. Announcements highlight significant prereleases. Documentation explains how to access and use prereleases safely.

Key Considerations

• Use consistent prerelease identifier conventions
• Publish to separate tags to avoid affecting default installations
• Document how consumers can access prereleases
• Communicate prerelease stability expectations clearly
• Track prerelease usage to gauge readiness for stable release

Common Questions

What prerelease identifiers should design systems use?

Common conventions use alpha, beta, and rc (release candidate) as progressive stages. Alpha indicates early development with potential instability. Beta indicates feature-complete but testing. RC indicates near-final versions pending last validation.

Some teams use additional identifiers. Canary indicates automated builds from main branch. Next indicates the latest prerelease regardless of stage. Dev or snapshot indicates development builds not intended for broad use.

Consistency matters more than specific choices. Whatever identifiers the team chooses should be used consistently and documented clearly. Consumers learn to understand the team’s conventions over time.

Numbering within stages tracks iterations. Alpha.1 through alpha.5 might represent five alpha releases before progressing to beta.1. Sequential numbering helps consumers track which prerelease they have and whether newer ones exist.

How should consumers use prerelease versions?

Prerelease versions are appropriate for testing, evaluation, and early adoption by consumers who accept instability risk. They are generally inappropriate for production applications requiring stability.

Testing upcoming changes before they hit stable helps consumers prepare. Trying prereleases in development or staging environments reveals migration needs and potential issues.

Providing feedback during prerelease improves the eventual stable release. Reporting bugs, API usability issues, or missing features during prerelease is more valuable than after stable release.

Pinning prerelease versions exactly prevents unexpected changes. Since prereleases may evolve rapidly, using exact versions rather than ranges provides stability within the inherently unstable prerelease context.

Summary

Prerelease versions enable early access to design system changes while communicating non-final status. Consistent versioning, appropriate publishing, and clear communication help consumers work with prereleases effectively. Prereleases support testing and feedback collection while protecting consumers from unintended instability.