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Azure Developer CLI feature versioning and release strategy

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Azure Developer CLI (azd) features are introduced and supported using a phased approach. Features begin in the alpha stage and then advance to beta and stable after meeting various criteria. This article describes the definitions, expectations and advancement requirements for each phase. See a full list of each feature /command supported by azd and its current stage on GitHub

Alpha Features

All features start as alpha features (e.g., experimental). In this phase, the goal is to receive sufficient usage to get meaningful feedback around the feature's design, functionality and user experience. Alpha features can be enabled and managed using the azd config command.

Important

Alpha features are only recommended for non-business-critical scenarios with caution as there is a small chance of incompatible changes in subsequent releases leading up to stable.

Definition

  • These features are under active development.
  • Features are hidden behind a feature flag, which interested users must explicitly opt into.
  • There are no guarantees about the long-term stability or support of experimental features.
  • No commitment that the feature is something the product team plans to advance to preview or stable stage (it's an experiment).

How to opt into alpha features

  1. To list available experimental features, run:

    azd config list-alpha

  2. To enable a specific experimental feature, e.g. resourceGroupDeployments to support infrastructure deployments at resource group scope, run:

    azd config set alpha.resourceGroupDeployments on

  3. To disable the resourceGroupDeployments feature, run:

    azd config set alpha.resourceGroupDeployments off

    For more information, visit the azure-dev GitHub repository.

Advancement criteria (how to reach beta)

  • The feature has been properly spec'd and approved by the product team.
  • The product team has formally signed off on advancing the feature to next phase.
  • The feature is documented and help text is available in the product.
  • Confirmation that the UX is successful via sufficient user feedback.

Beta Features

The goal of this phase is to improve the feature experience and advance beyond proof of concept.

Important

Beta features are only recommended for non-business-critical scenarios with caution as there is a small chance of incompatible changes in subsequent releases leading up to stable.

Definition

  • Unlike alpha features, a user doesn't need to take explicit action to use a beta feature.
  • Reduced number of breaking changes across releases for beta features as functionality matures updates are made based on customer feedback.
  • Breaking changes are documented with explanations regarding how to digest these breaks.
  • Beta commands are denoted as such (Beta) in azd product help.

Advancement criteria (how to reach stable)

  • The Product team has formally reviewed and signed off on feature advancement to next phase.
  • The feature is functionally complete and stable.
  • Feature has been thoroughly manually tested and has sufficient unit and integration tests to catch regressions and bugs.
  • Any remaining bugs are acceptable and nonblocking for users (e.g., UX improvements).
  • The product team has received signals that the UX is successful via sufficient user feedback.
  • The product team believes that the feature is truly adding value to the end-to-end UX.

Stable Features

Definition

  • The product team stand behind these features.
  • Breaking changes in these areas are unexpected.
  • The product team ensures that any breaking changes are rolled out in a way that minimizes impact.
  • Use in business-critical scenarios.

Request help

For information on how to file a bug, request help, or propose a new feature for the Azure Developer CLI, please visit the troubleshooting and support page.