Instructure is committed to consistently improving the Canvas user experience. The cloud-based platform maintains an agile production cycle with bug fixes, enhancements, and new features in three Canvas environments: beta, production, and test. All Canvas environments are also available on any mobile app; just use the appropriate Canvas URL.
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Releases provide advanced notice for intentional changes coming to the Canvas platform. Feature details are outlined in Release Notes: Canvas LMS.
- Additional questions about Canvas releases can be found in About Canvas Release Notes (FAQ).
- Only production release dates are local for all regions. All other events originate from US Mountain time.
- Events in the release schedule are subject to change.
- Release Schedule Calendar
- Beta Environment
- Release Notes
- Beta Refresh
- Screencast
- Production Environment
- Test Environment
Release Schedule Calendar
- Subscribe to the Canvas release schedule via the Canvas Updates Calendar (Google)
- Download release schedule via HTML or iCAL (copy your preferred link)
- The calendar is subject to change along with feature deprecation and end-of-life announcements; please consider subscribing to the Google calendar, as calendar downloads do not include any updates that may be made at any time.
- View a release schedule overview image of the Canvas release calendar
Beta Environment
The beta environment is for testing and QA review before code is released to the production environment. This code is available in the production environment approximately one month later, pending customer feedback and QA testing. Learn more about the Canvas beta environment.
Release Notes
Code that affects user workflows is enabled in the beta environment as part of the monthly release notes, which is published the first week of the Canvas release cycle.
Release notes are published the Monday following the latest production release date, which is the third Saturday of every month. Depending on the calendar month, release notes are enabled on the fourth Monday of the month, but occasionally the fifth Monday of the month. Please see the shared Google calendar or iCal link for exact dates.
Beta Refresh
The beta environment is refreshed with data from the production environment every Saturday. Any work or content added to the beta environment will be overwritten.
*An exact time when the beta environment will be overwritten by production will vary for every organization.
Screencast
Each release also includes a screencast that highlights all features being made available as part of the release. The screencast is available before the production release as indicated in the Canvas Community Screencast list.
Production Environment
The production environment is the live, working environment where users interact with Canvas every day. New and updated functionality is enabled in this environment on the date previously announced in the Canvas Release Notes.
Production releases take place on the third Saturday of the month.
* Production dates are local for all regions
*An exact time that new code will be deployed to the production environment will vary for each institution.
Test Environment
The test environment is updated on Monday after the production release. The test environment is overwritten with data from the production environment and allows users to test real data without compromising any user content. Learn more about the Canvas test environment.
Note: The test environment may not be available at your institution. If you cannot access the test environment, consider using the Canvas beta environment for testing purposes.
*An exact time when the test environment will be overwritten by production will vary for every organization.
The image below displays all events that take place between production releases. The Canvas release is always the third Saturday of the month. Depending on the calendar month, the Canvas Beta Release Preview, Release Notes, and Screencast may be adjusted by one week.
Only production release dates are local for all regions. All other events originate from US Mountain time as noted in Instructure Time Zone Communications.
