> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.elementlabs.net/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Releases and versions

> What a version number tells you, how release channels work, and how documentation lines up.

Every product and the SDK are published as numbered releases. The number tells you what changed and
whether you can update without further work.

## Reading a version number

A version has three parts, for example `1.4.2`:

| Part        | Changes when                                                 | What it means for you                                                                      |
| ----------- | ------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| First: `1`  | Something changed in a way that is not backwards compatible. | Read the release notes before updating. Configuration keys may have moved or been removed. |
| Second: `4` | A feature was added, without breaking what already worked.   | Your existing configuration keeps working. New settings may be available.                  |
| Third: `2`  | A fix was made, with no change in behaviour you asked for.   | Update freely.                                                                             |

A version can carry a suffix such as `0.1.0-alpha.3`. That is a **pre-release**: published for
testing ahead of the version it leads to. A pre-release always sorts before the plain version, so
`0.1.0-alpha.3` is older than `0.1.0`.

Products below version `1.0.0` are still establishing their shape. Treat a change in the second part
of the number the way you would treat the first part above.

## Products and the SDK move independently

A product accepts a range of SDK versions rather than one exact version. Updating the SDK inside
that range needs no product update, and a product that requires a newer SDK says so and refuses to
start against an older one. See [SDK version requirements](/sdk/compatibility).

The practical order is: update the SDK first, then products.

## Release channels

Releases are published on two channels:

| Channel   | Contains                                                       |
| --------- | -------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Stable    | Releases intended for production servers.                      |
| Candidate | Pre-releases, published for testing before they become stable. |

At start, your server compares each installed Element Labs resource against the catalogue of
published releases and reports anything that is behind:

```text theme={null}
[WARN ] [VersionCheck] element_map is outdated: v0.1.0-alpha.1 installed, v0.1.0-alpha.3 available.
```

Which channel you are compared against follows your installed version by default: a pre-release is
compared against candidates, a normal release against stable ones. You can fix the channel, or
silence the notice entirely, with the `el:versionChannel` setting. See [Server
settings](/sdk/server-settings).

The notice is informational. Nothing updates itself, and nothing stops working because a newer
release exists.

## Documentation matches the release

The pages under a product's tab describe the version that is published, not work in progress. When
you are reading a product page, you are reading the documentation for the release you can download.

## Related

* [SDK version requirements](/sdk/compatibility)
* [Update a product or the SDK](/getting-started/updating)
* [Server settings](/sdk/server-settings)