A Prerelease Tag Cannot Qualify a Product

Scope: Engineering or methodology note based on a September 17, 2026 snapshot. Source-level behavior is not a public availability or universal compatibility claim. Any scenarios are illustrative, not customer outcomes.

A version tag is useful. It identifies a set of source files and gives engineers a shared reference point. It does not, by itself, tell a prospective user which product journeys work on a supported machine.

That distinction is particularly important in a monorepo. A single source snapshot can contain active products, frozen research surfaces, reusable engines, and work that has not yet passed an installed-product gate. One version string should not flatten those differences.

Three different questions

The first question is whether a behavior exists in source. The second is whether the intended installed artifact can perform that behavior under its supported conditions. The third is whether the product is being offered to external users with a clear scope and support path.

Those questions may have different answers at the same time. A unit-level producer can be present while its product integration remains blocked. A local source walkthrough can succeed without demonstrating the distributed artifact. A selected design-partner program can exist without general availability.

Why this affects our language

Our September engineering snapshot calls KodeCapture an installed-product candidate, not a public alpha. The website describes an early-access, design-partner route. Those statements should be read together: there is a way to discuss a fit, not a blanket promise that anyone can install a broadly qualified capture product today.

KodeProof is an even clearer example. Source-level protocol work exists, but development is frozen and its default test participation is paused. We will not borrow a green result from another product to imply that KodeProof has been newly qualified.

The announcement we want to earn

A useful product announcement should name the artifact, supported host, exercised journey, relevant limits, and a route for reproducing or reviewing the result. When any of those are still under construction, the announcement should say so.

For the current Kalu snapshot, macOS is the supported host. A compatible JavaScript runtime version is not a promise of Linux or Windows product support. Nor does a browser automation dependency’s own platform coverage automatically transfer to Kalu.

We can still talk enthusiastically about implementation progress. The enthusiasm becomes more credible when the label is accurate. A source prerelease is a milestone in the work. Product qualification is another milestone, and we intend to keep it visible rather than hide it inside a version number.