How do releases work?

A Release is a special sort of story that represents a related block of stories. Releases may be tied to production code pushes or they may simply represent large portions of functionality.

Stories can be added to a release by dragging them to the Release panel. A story added to a release will be re-prioritized so that it appears just below what was previously the last story in the release.

Releases cannot be reordered in the Release panel. They appear in the Current or Backlog panels just below the final story in the release. The release marker can be moved below a story to include it in the release. Moving a release marker above a story excludes it from the release.

The Releases panel shows all releases color-coded by their state. Light blue releases have been completed. Dark blue releases are in progress. Red releases are in progress and currently falling after their fixed date deadline.

When you create a release marker you have the option of tying it to a specific date. The release marker itself will continue to appear just below the last story included in the release, but a line will appear in the iteration where the fixed date falls. If a release marker is below its associated fixed date line it will turn red, indicating the release is in danger of being completed after the deadline. As long as the release marker is above the fixed date marker it will continue to appear in blue.