Release stages

Tailscale’s features can go through multiple release stages: Alpha, Beta, and General Availability (GA). Use of these features is subject to our Terms of Service.

Release stages

Alpha

The feature is available for testing. Alpha releases may be public or private. The feature may have changing requirements and scope, and needs feedback. Alpha releases are not necessarily feature-complete, may not work on all platforms, may not have full functionality in the UI, CLI, or API, and may not be documented. Alpha releases have no technical support obligations.

Beta

The feature is publicly available for testing environments. The feature needs refinement and broader testing to know it meets users’ needs. Beta releases are documented, including any known gaps in functionality or platform support. Beta releases have no technical support obligations.

General availability (GA)

The feature is publicly available, and ready for production use. Technical support obligations apply to GA features.

Comparison matrix

Alpha Beta GA
Availability May be public or private Public Public
Breaking changes Yes Yes, but with some warning No
Known issues Major Minor Bugs
Platform support May only work on one platform Works on all supported platforms by default. Any limitations are documented with the intent they will be addressed in a future update. Works on all intended platforms
UI/CLI/API support May have limited UX May have limited UX Works in all intended UX
Documentation Not publicly, or very limited Yes, but may be incomplete Yes
Terms of Service Covered under existing Terms of Service Covered under existing Terms of Service Covered under existing Terms of Service
On by default No May be for new tailnets May be for new and existing tailnets

Experimental

Sometimes we publish experimental projects that aren’t even at an alpha stage yet. These experiments are not official features, might not be fully functional, and don’t have any technical support.

We like to develop in the open in order to get feedback, and so will often do these experiments in public repositories. They will typically be in a standalone repository, separated from the main Tailscale client code, or disabled by a feature flag.