Release Program · 2026–2027

Fernwood: Alpha to GA

The road from a private open-source alpha to a generally available managed cloud, in twelve milestones across four phases.

Program lead
R. Halloran
Started
May 12, 2026
GA target
Feb 17, 2027
Updated
Aug 28, 2026
Milestones complete
4 of 1233% of the program
You are here
Cloud control plane alphaSep 08, 2026
Next stop
General availabilityFeb 17, 2027 · 25 weeks out
  1. May–Jul
    2026

    Phase 1Foundation

  2. May 12, 2026

    Private alpha opens

    Done

    First 40 design partners get repo access and a weekly build channel.

  3. Jun 09, 2026

    Core engine v0.2 · plugin API frozen

    Done

    The extension surface stops moving so the ecosystem can start building.

    • Versioned plugin manifest and capability model
    • Six reference plugins migrated to the frozen API
  4. Jul 14, 2026

    One-command self-host installer

    Done

    Docker Compose and Helm paths, plus the docs site at docs.fernwood.dev.

  5. Aug–Oct
    2026

    Phase 2Beta

  6. Aug 18, 2026

    Public beta ships on GitHub

    Done

    Repo goes public under Apache-2.0; 2,100 stars in the first ten days.

  7. Sep 08, 2026

    Cloud control plane alpha

    You are hereIn progress

    Managed Fernwood behind a waitlist: provisioning, upgrades, and backups run by us.

    • Waitlist live with 600+ signups
    • Single-region provisioner in staging
    • Zero-downtime upgrade path proven on internal fleets
  8. Sep 29, 2026

    Multi-tenant isolation audit

    Upcoming

    External firm pressure-tests tenant boundaries before any shared-plane customer data.

  9. Oct 20, 2026

    Billing and metering pipeline

    At risk

    Usage metering, invoicing, and payment provider integration. Vendor contract still unsigned; two-week slip possible.

    • Per-tenant usage events landing in the ledger
    • Test invoices reconciled against metered truth
  10. Nov–Dec
    2026

    Phase 3Cloud launch

  11. Nov 10, 2026

    Fernwood Cloud early access

    Upcoming

    First 100 paying teams off the waitlist, single region, white-glove onboarding.

  12. Dec 01, 2026

    SOC 2 Type I report delivered

    Upcoming

    Unblocks the mid-market pipeline waiting on a compliance letter.

  13. Dec 15, 2026

    v1.0 release candidate

    Upcoming

    Feature freeze across engine and cloud; only stability and docs work after this point.

    • Upgrade guarantee: alpha-era configs migrate cleanly
    • Docs coverage for every stable API
  14. Jan–Feb
    2027

    Phase 4General availability

  15. Jan 20, 2027

    Pricing and free tier locked

    Upcoming

    Public pricing page, a real free tier for the community, and self-serve checkout.

  16. Feb 17, 2027

    General availability

    Upcoming

    Fernwood Cloud opens to everyone: two regions, 99.9% SLA, launch week with the community.

    • Waitlist retired; signup is self-serve
    • v1.0 final tagged alongside the cloud release

FERNWOOD-GA / milestone timeline v3 / owner R. Halloran / hollow nodes are ahead of us, filled nodes are behind