Release channels

A release channel is a coarse stream a device subscribes to. Common choices:

• stable: production fleet (default).
• beta: opt-in early adopters.
• dev: internal devices and CI rigs.

A device belongs to exactly one channel at a time. This is deliberately simple: channels answer "how aggressive should this unit's update cadence be?".

Channel vs group

• Group: explicit membership; many per device; expresses customer / region / role.
• Channel: at most one per device; expresses release-stream affinity.

A deployment can target channels, groups, or both. Selecting stable and beta includes devices on either channel. Selecting several groups includes devices in at least one of them.

If you select channels and groups together, a device must be on one of the selected channels and in at least one selected group.

An empty list adds no restriction, so a deployment aimed at the beta channel alone reaches every device on beta, whatever groups they are in. A deployment aimed at the beta channel and the customer-acme group reaches only Acme's beta devices, which is how you pilot a build with one customer.

Defaults

Auto-registered devices land on the project's default channel (stable unless changed). Move a device to a different channel via the dashboard or the developer API.

Common patterns

• Internal canary first. Cut a release first to dev channel, watch it, then cut the same artifact to stable at 5%.
• Customer-specific betas. A beta channel + a customer group lets that customer pilot a build before the rest of the fleet.