Isolate stabilization work for a release, allowing final testing and bug fixes without destabilizing main development lines.

Refer to the practice of isolating release‑candidate work in version control.

When a project prepares a release candidate and needs a separate line for final testing and bug fixes.

Used in software engineering, DevOps, and release management discussions about version‑control branching strategies.

noun + noun + noun

[release] [candidate] [branch]

[release] can be replaced with other release types (e.g., 'beta', 'alpha'); [candidate] can be replaced with 'release' or omitted; [branch] is fixed as the VCS concept.

• create
• checkout
• merge
• delete
• push
• release candidate
• release branch
• hotfix

• release branch
• beta branch
• alpha branch
• dev branch

Confusing a release‑candidate branch with a long‑lived development branch; merging unfinished features into an RC branch.

develop branch (ongoing integration), main/master branch (stable release), feature branch (feature work)

Avoid using an RC branch for ongoing feature work; doing so destabilizes the release candidate.

• release branch
• feature branch
• hotfix branch
• develop branch

Implies a code freeze state where only critical bug fixes are allowed.

Signals that the code is undergoing final validation before release.

Think of a 'release candidate' as a pre‑release checkpoint on a dedicated branch.

Common in Git‑based workflows; often protected with branch protection rules.

Release management / release engineering practices