Release Management

Track releases across microservices to build a release matrix and know exactly what versions are running in each environment.

The Pattern

1. Each service records its version - When a service is deployed, the pipeline records a release event with the service name, version, and target environment
2. Query the release matrix - Ask “what versions are in production?” to get the latest version of each service deployed to production
3. Track release history - Query “show me all releases of api-service” to see the full deployment history of a specific service

Example Event

curl -X POST https://api.opstrails.dev/api/v1/events \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "specversion": "1.0",
    "type": "release",
    "source": "//github.com/acme/api-service",
    "time": "NOW",
    "subject": "production",
    "version": "2.1.0",
    "data": {
      "description": "Released API service v2.1.0"
    }
  }'

Querying with AI

• “What versions are currently in production?”
• “When was the last release of the frontend service?”
• “Show me all releases from last week”
• “Which services were released today?”

Best Practices

• Use semantic versioning - Consistent version formats make it easy to track and compare releases
• Distinguish release from deployment - Use type: release for version releases and type: deployment for individual deploy actions
• Include all services - Track releases for every microservice so the matrix is complete
• Combine with deployment tracking - Use the Deployment Tracking pattern to capture individual deploy actions alongside version releases
• Track data pipelines too - The Data Pipeline Monitoring pattern extends the same approach to ETL jobs and migrations