Why These Phases?
CircleCI uses a phased rollout approach to give customers early access to new functionality while ensuring features are stable, scalable, and well-supported before widespread adoption. Depending on where a feature is in its lifecycle, customers can expect different levels of stability, support, and pricing.
Phase Overview
| Phase | Who Can Use It | Risk Tolerance |
|---|---|---|
| Preview | CircleCI-invited users only | High |
| Beta | Any customer via self-serve opt-in | Medium |
| GA (General Availability) | All customers (within plan restrictions) | Low |
Phase 1: Preview
What Is Preview?
Preview gives invited customers the opportunity to experience new functionality early — before it's broadly available. Preview features are functionally ready for core use cases but should be expected to have sharp edges, missing UI flows, and evolving workflows. The product is subject to change.
There are two types of Preview:
| Type | Availability |
|---|---|
| Closed Feature Preview | CircleCI-selected customers only (typically 6–40 customers) |
| Open Feature Preview | All customers meeting specified criteria for the feature |
The primary benefit of Preview is the opportunity to provide direct feedback to the product team as the feature is being shaped. Preview users are true collaborators and design partners.
What to Expect as a Preview Customer
- Direct access to the CircleCI product team
- Manual or semi-manual onboarding (self-serve is not guaranteed)
- Bugs and missing features should be expected
- The feature may not reach GA
- Free to use during the Preview phase; pricing will be communicated before GA
Support During Preview
Preview features receive white-glove support directly from Product Management and Engineering, with TSM involvement for Scale customers.
We do not offer SLA-level response times for Preview features. Our internal goal is a 24-hour response time. This ensures the support team has adequate time to gather information on the new feature and properly assist with troubleshooting.
Bug reports and defects identified during Preview are escalated to the Product team but are not treated as breaking events and do not carry a targeted resolution SLA.
Phase 2: Beta
What Is Beta?
Beta is a broader, self-serve availability phase. Beta features are stable and ready for use, but are still being refined. Customers can opt in without approval, documentation is publicly available, and known issues are documented.
What to Expect as a Beta Customer
- Self-service activation (via feature flag, settings toggle, or documented configuration)
- Public documentation available on docs.circleci.com, marked with a "Beta" label
- SLOs are measured but not guaranteed
- Some rough edges may still be present
- Preview pricing may apply; any changes at GA will be communicated clearly
Support During Beta
Beta features are supported through standard support channels (Zendesk, Discuss). Standard response SLAs for your plan apply. Known issues are documented publicly, and all responses will include the disclaimer: "This feature is in Beta."
Phase 3: General Availability (GA)
What Is GA?
GA means the feature is production-ready and available to all customers within their plan restrictions. Full SLA commitments apply, pricing is finalized, and long-term support is guaranteed. No special opt-in or disclaimers are required.
What to Expect at GA
- Production-ready with full SLA commitments
- Final pricing in effect and documented on the pricing page
- No "preview" or "beta" disclaimers
- Long-term support and maintenance guaranteed
Platform-Focused Feature Previews
For platform-focused features such as Runner or Server, previews may be conducted with a product that is usable but not always fully feature-ready. These previews provide an opportunity for users to voice feedback early in the product development process. Preview users are truly collaborators and design partners, and their feedback is used as direct input into how the product is shaped.
Release Candidates
Release Candidate (RC) versions are internally-available versions that are ready for testing and should not be used in production environments. Release Candidates are not considered supported and are not handled by Support Engineering.
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