> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://docs.unitlab.ai/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://docs.unitlab.ai/documentation/releases/releases-overview.md).

# Releases overview

A release is a deliberate frozen delivery of approved data and annotations. It records what was included, how it was encoded, how it was split, which source files were bundled, and which project context produced it.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Use this area when:** approved project work must become a reproducible training, evaluation, analytics, or audit input.
{% endhint %}

### How this area fits into production

```mermaid
flowchart LR
  A["Approved project work"]
  B["Release scope"]
  C["Format + splits"]
  D["Processing"]
  E["Inspect + download"]
  F["Downstream validation"]
  A --> B
  B --> C
  C --> D
  D --> E
  E --> F
```

![Unitlab Releases overview](https://292810646-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FGjVLUz4wthGkGlRKM6rM%2Fuploads%2F9VKDEzTnJLl3oTFNKrSw%2Freleases-overview.png?alt=media\&token=9459389d-f245-46cd-b624-9e2bdcda0810)

*The release list is the delivery ledger: name, version, project, status, and ownership should make each handoff understandable before opening it.*

### What this area controls

### What a release contains

A release is a versioned annotation snapshot with:

* visibility such as Private or Public;
* modality;
* version number;
* creation date;
* item counts;
* data preview;
* annotation preview;
* Clone Release;
* Overview, Data, and Settings tabs;
* item type, data ID, preview, ground truth, and metadata.

A release can contain video, document, and audio items together. Metadata is represented as structured content: video metadata can include frame, video, and audio facts, while document metadata includes PDF and page information.

### Start with the right page

| Decision           | Production guidance                                 |
| ------------------ | --------------------------------------------------- |
| Plan a handoff     | Define release scope and acceptance first.          |
| Create delivery    | Choose format, splits, and source inclusion.        |
| Inspect the result | Review Overview, Data, and Settings.                |
| Move downstream    | Download and validate in the target consumer.       |
| Reproduce later    | Retain versioned provenance and stable identifiers. |

### Operating boundary

* A dataset version freezes source membership; a release freezes delivered project output.
* Release creation is asynchronous until processing reaches a terminal state.
* The release is not accepted until the downstream consumer validates it.

### A production-ready handoff

The release has a named owner, explicit scope, source and schema provenance, format and split contract, processing result, downstream acceptance, and retained stable ID.