Feature Stages
Every DocAI Fabric feature is at one of four stages. The stage tells you how far you can rely on it in production.
| Stage | What it means | Support | Can it change? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Preview | Ready to use and gathering feedback. It may cover only the main scenarios. | Best effort. Not covered by the SLA or by warranties (Terms 5.5). | Yes: behaviour, settings and the API may change, or the feature may be withdrawn. Changes are announced. |
| Generally available | Supported for production use. | Full support and the SLA. | Only through deprecation, with notice. |
| Deprecated | Still works, but has a retirement date and, where one exists, a replacement. | Full support until it is retired. | Nothing new is added. |
| Retired | Removed. | None. |
Most features are generally available, and nothing marks them. A feature in Preview has a Preview badge next to its name in the app and says so at the top of its guide page. A deprecated one has a Deprecated badge, whose tooltip gives its retirement date, and its guide page gives the date and the replacement.
Preview
Preview features are open to every organization. Use them, and tell us what works and what does not: feedback from Preview decides what changes before the feature is generally available.
Before you build a production process on a Preview feature, keep in mind that it can change, and read the known limitations on its guide page. A feature leaves Preview once it has run in production for at least four weeks without a serious open issue, has its guide page and is available in every language of the interface.
Deprecation and retirement
A feature is retired only after notice:
- At least 90 days for a feature of the application or a workflow step.
- At least 180 days for any part of the public API: an endpoint, a parameter or a field.
The notice gives the retirement date and the replacement. For the API, the API Deprecation Policy says what counts as public, and how the notice reaches you and your integrations.
A Preview feature can be withdrawn without this notice, which is part of what Preview means. The withdrawal is still announced.
Where changes are announced
Features that became generally available and notable new previews are announced in What's new, fixed vulnerabilities in the security advisories, and a deprecation on the feature's guide page. How to follow each, and who in your organization should: Updates and Security Advisories.