GraphOS Router Release Lifecycle

As Apollo continues to develop GraphOS Router, we want to explain how we manage the lifecycle of each router release, so you know when the versions you use are supported or retired, and when features can be introduced, maintained, or sunset.

We release Apollo GraphOS Router using semantic versioning , with major releases announced at most once a year. Each line of a major release goes through the stages of the router release lifecycle, starting from Preview and ending with End-Of-Life.

The diagram below shows the timelines with the lifecycle stages of our currently live major releases:

This timeline is subject to change.

Release Lifecycle

Developer Preview

Each new major version of the Apollo GraphOS Router enters a Developer Preview phase lasting 3-6 months. During this phase, we want the developer community to take advantage of new features, adapt their own projects to any backwards-incompatible changes, and give us feedback on the new release. Once the Developer Preview phase is complete, we move the release to the Active status. We expect to introduce new Developer Preview lines at most once a year.

Active

From the time a release enters Active phase, we support it for 30 months before eventually moving it to End-of-Life (EOL). While in Active phase, the release is under active development and you can expect regular updates, including new features, bug fixes, and security patches. Once a router release line reaches Active status, we will not make any breaking changes to its APIs or documented public interfaces.

While a release is Active, we ship backwards-compatible minor releases monthly, and we release bug and security fixes as patches on the latest minor version as needed. Active lines are fully supported by our paid support plans according to the Apollo Technical Support policy.

Maintenance

After 12 months, we move an Active release to Maintenance status. This typically happens in parallel with the release of a new Active line: one release transitions from Active to Maintenance, while another transitions from Developer Preview to Active. Although a Maintenance line is no longer under active feature development, it continues to receive bug fixes, security patches, and support through our paid support plans. We provide bug fixes and security patches on the latest minor release in each Maintenance line.

End-of-Life (EOL)

After 18 months, we transition the Maintenance line to End-of-Life status (EOL). Once a release is EOL, we stop providing patches, security updates, or support for the release, and so we discourage the use of EOL releases in production.

To learn more about the lifecycle of new features released across the GraphOS platform, go to Apollo Feature Launch Stages .

Supported major GraphOS Router releases

Compatible operating systems and versions

GraphOS Router is compatible with the following operating systems and software versions (with noted clarifications). We provide official router binaries on the Releases page. Router binaries may work on other operating systems and versions, but we only target the following set:

Containers and custom builds of the router

Officially supported pre-compiled router binaries are provided on our Releases page .

Custom builds of the router (i.e., not provided pre-compiled by Apollo) are supported on a reasonable-effort basis. For support requests on custom builds, Apollo Technical Support may suggest you remove custom Rust code, build using Rust v1.76.0 , and use a compatible operating system from the list above.

We provide official Docker containers with pre-compiled binary releases of the router included for your convenience. While the pre-compiled router binary included in the container images is fully supported, the non-router components of the container distribution are covered under the Long-Term Support terms of the base operating system (Debian LTS program ).

We provide these Docker containers as is, and any ongoing maintenance of the non-router components of downloaded containers is outside the scope of our support.

Other containers or base images may be supported on a reasonable-effort basis.