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Version: Early Access

Digital.ai Release 25.3.x Release Notes

Early Access (EA) Releases​

Release Operator Docker Images​

Release Docker Images​

Support Policy​

See Digital.ai Support Policy.

Upgrade Instructions​

The upgrade process depends on your current and target Digital.ai Release versions.

For upgrade instructions, see:

Breaking Changes​

Please review these breaking changes in Release 25.3 before upgrading:

Bitnami Secure Images Initiative—Kubernetes Operator Impact​

Effective August 28, 2025, Bitnami will restrict its public container image catalog to a curated set of security-hardened images. This change impacts only Digital.ai Release installations using the Kubernetes Operator. VM and cloud-based installations are not affected.

  • Bitnami images (PostgreSQL, RabbitMQ, Nginx, init containers, Helm chart hooks) are optional and provided for convenience.
  • To check if your installation is impacted, use kubectl commands to list pods and init containers using Bitnami images.
  • Mitigation: Upgrade to the latest Maintenance Release (MR) before August 28, 2025, or patch your Custom Resource (CR) to use the Bitnami Legacy repository. Patch scripts and migration steps are available in the documentation.
  • After August 28, 2025, any pod restart using old Bitnami images will fail unless patched.
  • Troubleshooting and recovery steps are provided for image pull failures and operator upgrade issues.
  • For more information, see: Bitnami Secure Images Breaking Changes.

External Queue Dependency Removal​

Starting with Release 25.3.0, webhook event processing no longer relies on external JMS message brokers (such as RabbitMQ and ActiveMQ). Instead, webhook events are now stored and processed directly using the database (xlr_ci_event_records) as the event store.

This completes the transition to database-backed event processing, as announced in the End-of-Life (EOL) notification for external queue dependencies in Release 25.1.

  • The system architecture no longer requires external message queue dependencies for webhook events.
  • Webhook event processing is now backed by the database, improving reliability and reducing operational complexity related to JMS configuration and maintenance.

Important Upgrade Notes:

  • Before upgrading, ensure all webhook events in existing JMS queues are processed, as they will not be automatically migrated.
  • After the upgrade, all webhook event subscriptions will use the new database-backed processing.
  • Any existing JMS-related configurations will be ignored, as the system now exclusively uses database-based event handling.

Jira Plugin — Deprecation of JQL Search and Expression Endpoints​

Atlassian has announced the deprecation and removal of certain Jira Cloud REST API endpoints related to JQL search and expression evaluation.

Deprecated EndpointNew Endpoint
GET /rest/api/2|3/searchGET /rest/api/3/search/jql
POST /rest/api/2|3/searchPOST /rest/api/3/search/jql
POST /rest/api/2|3/search/idNo direct replacement; similar behavior can be achieved with:
POST /rest/api/3/search/jql
POST /rest/api/2|3/expression/evalPOST /rest/api/3/expression/evaluate

For more information, see: Atlassian’s Deprecation Notice.

Key Differences Between Old and New Endpoints

  • By default, the new endpoint only returns Issue IDs. Other fields must be explicitly requested using the fields property.
  • The endpoint does not provide immediate search-after-write consistency. Most changes are visible within seconds, but large operations (such as lexorank rebalancing or bulk edits) may take longer.
  • The validateQuery parameter is removed. Validation works as none.
  • Random page access is no longer supported. The startAt parameter is replaced with nextPageToken, which uses continuation tokens.
  • A maximum of 20 comments and 40 changelog items will be returned.
  • Unbounded JQL queries are not accepted and will return a 400 error.

Updated System Requirements​

Release 25.3 supports the following latest versions of Java, operating systems, and databases. Before upgrading, ensure your environment meets the following requirements:

  • JDK: Supports OpenJDK 21
    (Oracle JDK 17 and OpenJDK 17 are no longer supported)

  • Windows Server: 2025, 2022
    (2019 is no longer supported)

  • RHEL: 9.x, 10.x
    (8.x is no longer supported)

  • PostgreSQL: 17.5, 16.9
    (17.2 and 16.6 are no longer supported)

  • MySQL: 8.4 LTS
    (8.0 LTS is no longer supported)

  • SQL Server: 2022 (16.0)
    (2019 (15.0) is no longer supported)

For more information, see: Installation Prerequisites.

End-of-life Notifications​

The following features are deprecated or nearing end of support.

Preserve Output Variable and Parameter Update​

The keepOutputPropertiesOnRetry property for Custom Script tasks is deprecated. This property allowed previously executed output results to be retained on task retry. Users were able to control execution of script sections based on previously populated output properties.

This functionality is replaced by the Preserve Output Variable on Failure for Custom Script Tasks feature, which provides a more consistent way to retain output variables when a Custom Script task fails.

Impact​

  • The keepOutputPropertiesOnRetry property is no longer supported and will be removed in future releases.
  • Existing scripts relying on this property may continue to function in the short term but should be updated.
  • In System Settings > Tasks > Custom Script tasks check the Preserve output variable value for Custom Script task checkbox.
  • Update any custom scripts that relied on conditional execution using keepOutputPropertiesOnRetry to align with the new preservation mechanism.

For more information, see: Preserve Output Variable on Failure for Custom Script Tasks.

Introducing Release MCP Server (Beta)​

The Release MCP Server is a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server implementation for Digital.ai Release. It enables AI-powered automation, intelligent orchestration, and seamless integration with your release pipelines. For Digital.ai Release customers, this means faster, smarter, and more reliable release management—empowering teams to automate complex workflows, analyze failures, and optimize deployments with AI agents such as GPT and Claude.

Beta Release

This is a beta release of the Release MCP Server. Features and functionality are subject to change, and feedback is welcome to help improve the product.

AI-Powered Key Capabilities​

  • Intelligent Release Management: Create, search, and manage releases using natural language and advanced AI-driven filtering, making it easy to find and act on the right releases.
  • AI-Assisted Template Operations: Design, review, and optimize deployment templates with AI guidance, including support for complex deployment patterns (e.g., canary, blue-green). AI can suggest improvements and best practices.
  • Smart Task & Phase Management: Add, update, convert, and delete tasks or phases with AI recommendations. Benefit from automated support for gate tasks, dependencies, and workflow optimization.
  • Seamless Configuration Management: Integrate with external systems (Jenkins, JIRA, Git) and manage configuration objects, with AI helping to map and validate integrations.
  • Variable Management: Use a single, AI-aware interface for managing variables across global, folder, release, and template scopes.
  • Monitoring & Analysis: Retrieve activity logs, analyze failures, and get AI-powered root cause detection and remediation suggestions.
  • Dynamic Type System Discovery: Explore available types and metadata for tasks, phases, and configurations, with AI helping to recommend the right types for your needs.
  • Automated Attachment Handling: Download logs and diagnostic files, with AI able to summarize or extract key insights from attachments.
  • Safe Exploration with ReadOnly Mode: Use ReadOnly mode to safely explore and analyze your environment with AI, without risk of unintended changes.

For more information, see: Release MCP Server.

Live Deployments - Flux CD Improvements​

Deploy applications using the Flux CD container workflows.

  • Manage Kubernetes application deployments in Digital.ai Release using Flux CD Container Workflows, supporting GitOps deployment patterns.
  • Configure deployment servers, Git repositories, application sources, and manifest generation using the Flux CD Container Plugin.

For more information, see: Deploy Applications with the Flux CD Container Workflows.

Tasks Enhancements​

This release makes it easier to manage and reuse tasks.

Copy and Paste Tasks Across Releases, Templates, and Workflows​

  • You can now copy and paste tasks within or across Templates and Releases.
  • Tasks can be pasted into workflows, as long as the task type is supported.
  • This feature streamlines task reuse, making it easier to replicate and modify tasks without starting from scratch.

For more information, see: Copy and Paste Task.

Gate Task Enhancements​

Gate tasks now offer greater control and transparency:

  • Fail if any dependency fails: A new feature flag (disabled by default) allows gate tasks to immediately fail (red) if any dependency fails, instead of moving to a Failing (yellow) state. This helps prevent releases from continuing when critical issues occur.

  • Manual recovery required: When this flag is enabled, gate tasks do not recover automatically. Even if failed dependencies are fixed or retried, the gate task remains in the Failed state. To proceed, you must manually Retry or Skip the task.

  • Automatic state updates: Gate tasks automatically update their state when dependencies change. If the feature flag is disabled and a dependency fails, the gate enters a Failing (yellow) state.

  • Nested gate support: Nested gate tasks are now supported. When a nested gate changes state, its parent gate updates accordingly, ensuring accurate state propagation.

  • Real-time updates: Adding, removing, or updating dependencies triggers real-time state changes across all related gates, with clear status messages to track progress and issues.

For more information, see: Gate Tasks Transitions.

Create Release Task Template Access​

Expression Language Support in Preconditions​

You can now use Expression Language (EL) to define preconditions for dynamic task and phase execution. Evaluate conditions at runtime using variables, functions, and task outputs.

  • Dynamic runtime checks – Evaluate conditions using release variables, folder variables, system properties, or task outputs.
  • Advanced logic – Use conditional operators, mathematical functions, and string manipulations for more complex scenarios.
  • Flexible workflows – Configure tasks to run only when specific criteria are met, such as a calculated risk score being below a threshold or a deployment flag being set.
  • Reduced manual intervention – Automates decision-making within the release flow, minimizing the need for human oversight.

For more information, see: Using Preconditions with Expression Language.

Release List and Calendar Updates​

The Releases page has been redesigned for a more consistent and user-friendly experience across both global and folder views.

Sorting Changes​

You can now sort releases by multiple columns. By default, releases are sorted by start date (earliest first).

For more information, see Sorting Releases.

Filtering Improvements​

You can filter releases in two ways:

  1. Quick Filter by Title:
    Instantly narrow down releases using the Filter by title search box.

  2. Advanced Filters Drawer:
    Use the Filters drawer (available in Releases, Archive, and Calendar tabs) to apply multiple filter criteria at once.

Filters Drawer

Filters Drawer

tip

All filter fields support auto-complete where applicable.

Filtering Limitations:

  • In the Archive tab, you can filter by Aborted and Completed status only.
  • Task tag filtering is not available in the Archive tab.
  • The date range filter (Releases Active Within) does not apply to the Calendar tab.

For more information, see Filtering Releases.

Archived Releases List​

A new Archive tab lets you view archived releases.

Archive tab

Archived Releases Tab

For more information, see Archive tab.

Calendar View Support in Folders​

The Calendar view is now available at the folder level, providing a consistent UI with the global Releases page.

Calendar in Folders

Calendar Filtering Updates​

The Calendar tab now supports the same filtering options as other tabs:

  1. Quick Filter by Title:
    Instantly narrow down releases by title.

  2. Advanced Filters Drawer:
    Apply multiple filter criteria at once.

Filters Drawer - Calendar View

Filters Drawer - Calendar View

For more information, see Calendar tab.

Workflow Enhancements​

We’ve made significant improvements to workflows to give you more control, better visibility, and a smoother experience when running or restarting them.

Create Release Task Support in Workflows​

  • You can now use the Create Release task in workflows.
  • In the workflow execution view, the Create Release task shows a link to the created sub-release along with its status (for example, if the sub-release is failing or has failed).
  • The stepper now shows whether the workflow waits for the created release or continues without waiting.
  • Failed or failing sub-releases are highlighted with a clear alert banner.

Restart Toggle for Execution View​

  • A new setting, Allow Restart in Execution View, is available for workflows (not for templates or releases).
    • When enabled, the Restart from here option is shown on tasks that support restarting.
    • When disabled, the option is hidden in the workflow execution view.
  • Support has been added for restarting nested tasks inside group tasks, as well as restarting group tasks even when they are in progress or failing.

Workflow Catalog Improvements​

Starting a workflow is now simpler: the workflow catalog is skipped and the confirmation dialog opens immediately when selecting Start workflow or Run workflow.

Git Folder Versioning Updates​

API Support for Git Operations​

Miscellaneous Improvements​

UI and Functional Enhancements​

Here's some UI and functional enhancements for a better user experience.

Task Drawer Updates​

We have introduced a new Task History feature within the Task Drawer, providing a comprehensive view of all task-related activities and updates directly in the task interface. This enhancement eliminates the need to navigate away from your current task view while checking activity history.

Key Features:

  • History Tab: A dedicated tab in the Task Drawer that displays a chronological list of all task activities

  • Advanced Filtering:

    • Filter activities by specific users
    • Filter by activity types
    • Quick search functionality for finding specific actions

  • Flexible Sorting Options:

    • Toggle between newest-to-oldest (↓) and oldest-to-newest (↑) using the Sort button
    • Default view shows most recent activities first

  • Detailed Activity Information:

    • User attribution with full name on hover
    • Activity type categorization (e.g., "Task Started", "Task Completed")
    • Precise timestamps for each action
    • Contextual summaries of changes and updates

    Task History View in Task Drawer

For more information, see: History Tab.

History & Activity Log Changes​

Improvements have been made to how activities are displayed in the History tab:

  • Child release creation – When a child release is created from a parent, the History tab now shows the parent release as the Target instead of the child.
  • Trigger-based release creation – When a release is created by a trigger, the History tab shows the trigger name and lists the Target as Trigger for better traceability.

For more information, see: Release History

Release Level Dashboard Tile for Task Efficiency​

A new Release Automation tile is now available for individual release dashboards, providing comprehensive automation insights at the release level. This tile combines task distribution and time efficiency metrics in a single, easy-to-read dashboard component.

Key Features:

  • Automation Percentage: Displays the overall automation level as a percentage with a visual circular progress indicator.
  • Task Breakdown: Shows the count of automated vs. manual tasks across all tasks in the release (regardless of status - completed, in progress, and planned).
  • Time Efficiency: Displays time spent on automated vs. manual tasks for completed tasks only.

This enhancement addresses the need for release-specific automation metrics, helping release managers understand both the scope and impact of automation within individual releases, complementing the organization-wide analytics available in the Reports Dashboard.

For more information, see: Release Automation Tile

Risk Calculation Controls in the UI​

You can now enable or disable risk calculation directly from the Release user interface. This gives administrators greater flexibility in managing how risk scores are calculated and displayed for releases.

  • When enabled, Release calculates risk scores in real time and displays them in the Risk-Aware View and other relevant UI elements.
  • When disabled, risk indicators are hidden from releases, but risk profiles remain configurable.

For more information, see: Risk Calculation

Task Timeout Settings Added to UI​

New timeout settings have been added to the Release UI, allowing more control over task timeout durations.

You can now configure timeouts for:

  • Script tasks
  • Custom script tasks
  • Preconditions
  • Failure handlers

For more information, see: Task Timeouts.

GitOps-enabled Folder Versioning – UI Enhancements​

The GitOps-enabled Folder versioning UI is redesigned for better usability and clarity:

  • Consistent naming – All references to Folder Versioning are now updated to Git Versioning across the application.
  • Branch selection dropdown – Select from available branches in the connected Git repository to reduce manual input errors. Manual entry is still supported.
  • File selection dropdown – Files and folders are now displayed in a tree view, with options to filter, expand/collapse, and explore the full hierarchy.
  • Improved layout – Versions now appear as cards with clearer names, reduced avatar size, and inline author/time info (full date on hover).
  • Three-dot menu for versions – Each version has a menu with options Apply this version and View on Git repository. Three-dot menu
  • Visual refinements – Updated colors, borders, alignment, hover effects, warning icon repositioning for applied versions, and improved action button styles.

For more information, see: GitOps-enabled Git Versioning.

Plugin Manager Improvements - Official Plugin Upgrade Enhancement​

Digital.ai Release 25.3 introduces improved plugin handling across both the Plugin Manager UI and CLI.

Handling Official and Custom Plugins​

A dedicated plugin metadata file now ensures consistent classification of official and custom plugins during installation.

The XL CLI supports official and local arguments to control plugin installation paths. In offline environments, plugins are installed based on these flags even without access to plugin metadata. Deploy automatically removes duplicate plugin entries when an official plugin exists in the local folder, preventing upgrade conflicts.

Core plugins - such as base-plugin, command-plugin, database-plugin, and others - are now visible in the Installed section of the Plugin Manager page, where they can be upgraded or reinstalled directly.

For more information, see: Plugin Synchronization.

Deployment Event Triggers​

  • Deployment event triggers now allow Release to listen for deployment status changes from external providers (such as Digital.ai Deploy, ArgoCD, and FluxCD) and automatically start releases based on those events.
  • Users can configure triggers to respond to specific deployment states, filter by application/environment, and dynamically populate release titles and tags using event properties.
  • Improved mapping of JSON event data to template variables, supporting flexible orchestration and live updates.
  • Permissions for managing deployment event triggers are clarified; users need Manage triggers permission and appropriate access to deployment provider resources.

For more information, see: Deployment Event Triggers.

Security Improvements​

The following improvements enhance the security of Release.

Personal Access Token Expiration Changes​

  • Expiration Date and Time are now shown in the user’s local (browser) timezone.
  • The Expires in value shows the accurate remaining time, regardless of time zone or location.

For more information, see: Set Expiration Period for Personal Access Token

Platform and Integration Enhancements​

These updates expand integration and deployment options.

Provision Release Templates in Backstage Using YAML​

  • You can now provision Release templates in Backstage using inline YAML or YAML files from GitHub.
  • Define Release templates as YAML and apply them directly to Digital.ai Release through Backstage.

For more information, see: Provisioning Release Templates in Backstage Using YAML.

Plugins and Integrations​

The following plugins and integrations have been updated or added in this release.

AWS Container Plugin​

The AWS Container plugin now supports managing AWS Secrets Manager secrets directly from Release. You can create, retrieve, update, and delete secrets in your release flows.

New tasks available:

  • Create Secret (Container) – Create a new secret in AWS Secrets Manager.
  • Get Secret (Container) – Retrieve an existing secret or a specific key from a secret.
  • Update Secret (Container) – Update an existing secret value or a specific key within a secret.
  • Delete Secret (Container) – Delete a secret, with options for recovery window or immediate removal.

For more information, see: AWS Container Plugin

Confluence Plugin​

The Confluence plugin adds three new tasks for collaboration and content management:

  • Add Content Watchers to Wiki Pages – Add users as watchers to Confluence pages.
  • Add Restrictions to Wiki Pages – Restrict access to Confluence pages for specified users.
  • Add Labels to Wiki Pages – Add labels to existing Confluence pages for better organization and searchability.

For more information, see: Confluence Plugin

Dynatrace Plugin​

New Dynatrace integration with these tasks:

  • Create Synthetic Monitor – Create a new synthetic monitor in Dynatrace directly from a release pipeline.
  • Get Monitor Executions – Retrieve the latest execution results for a specific monitor, with optional filters like location or status.
  • Update Monitor Settings – Enable or disable monitors and configure global or local outage alerts.
  • Trigger On-Demand Executions – Run a synthetic monitor (browser or HTTP) on demand, with configurable options like location, execution count, and failure conditions.

For more information, see: Dynatrace Plugin

GitLab Plugin​

This release adds two new tasks and enhances two existing tasks for improved GitLab integration.

  • Run Job – Manually trigger a specific job defined in a GitLab CI/CD pipeline without waiting for automatic execution.
  • Delete Branch – Remove an existing branch from a GitLab repository by providing the project ID and branch name.
  • Create Merge Request – Now includes a Remove Source Branch option to automatically delete the source branch after a successful merge.
  • Query Data – Updated with a Query Parameters field to refine search results and return more targeted data.

For more information, see: GitLab Plugin

Octopus Deploy Plugin​

The Octopus plugin now supports configuration-as-code projects when creating releases.

  • Create Release – Added a Git Reference field that lets you specify a Git branch, tag, or commit hash.
    This field is required for projects with version control enabled.

For more information, see: Octopus Deploy Plugin

ServiceNow Plugin​

This release adds new tasks, enhancements, and a renamed task for improved ServiceNow integration.

  • Create CMDB CI – Create a new Configuration Item (CI) in ServiceNow’s CMDB.
  • Update CMDB CI – Update an existing Configuration Item (CI) in ServiceNow’s CMDB.
  • Create Record – Create a new record in any ServiceNow table.
  • Update Record – Update an existing record in any ServiceNow table.
  • Create Change Request – Now supports additional fields: Standard Change Template ID, Affected CIs.
  • Update Change Request – Now supports additional fields: Standard Change Template ID, Affected CIs, Append Affected CIs.
  • Find configuration item by Name has been renamed to Find CMDB CI by Name for improved clarity.

For more information, see: ServiceNow Plugin

SonarQube Plugin​

The SonarQube plugin adds three new tasks to retrieve project information directly from Release.

  • Get Issues – Retrieve project issues with filters for branch or pull request.
  • Get Measures – Fetch project measures such as bugs, vulnerabilities, coverage, and code smells.
  • Get Project Analysis – Access the latest project analysis history.

For more information, see: SonarQube Plugin

Tekton Container Plugin​

Introducing a new plugin to integrate Tekton, a Kubernetes-native CI/CD engine, directly into your release pipelines.

This plugin enables interaction with Tekton pipelines using the following tasks:

  • Trigger Pipeline Run (Container) – Start a pipeline run in a specific Kubernetes namespace. Optionally wait for the run to complete and update the task status based on the Tekton result.
  • Get Pipeline Run (Container) – Retrieve the current status of a previously triggered pipeline run. Useful for integrating pipeline results into flow logic.

For more information, see: Tekton Container Plugin