Releasing a new version of Cesium Native

This is the process we follow when releasing a new version of Cesium Native.

Prepare for Release

Run the /prepare-release skill in the GitHub-hosted skill file and provide the release version number. You can do this in the GitHub Copilot chat by typing /prepare-release <version-number>. It performs these four steps for you:

1. Verify that CI is passing on all platforms. Fix it if not.
2. Verify that CHANGES.md is complete and accurate.
   • Give the header of the section containing the latest changes an appropriate version number and date.
   • Diff main against the previous released version. This helps catch changes that are missing from the changelog, as well as changelog entries that were accidentally added to the wrong section.
3. Set the version property in package.json.
4. Set the VERSION property passed to the project() function in CMakeLists.txt.

After the prompt has completed, review and commit these changes. You can push them directly to main.

Release

Use the release helper script to tag the release, push the tag to GitHub, and fast-forward the cesium.com branch to the new tag. Replace the version number with the one used in the preparation steps above.

npm run publish-release -- 0.56.0

Use --dry-run to preview the commands without changing anything, --yes to skip the confirmation prompt, or --remote <name> to target a non-default remote.

This script performs the release and docs publication steps in one operation:

1. Creates and pushes the v0.56.0 tag.
2. Checks out cesium.com and fast-forwards it to the tag.
3. Pushes the updated cesium.com branch.
4. Returns to main.

Release Schedule

Release Coordinator

Date	User
6/1/2026	@timoore
7/1/2026	@azrogers
8/3/2026	@j9liu
9/1/2026	@timoore
10/1/2026	@azrogers
11/2/2026	@j9liu
12/1/2026	@timoore

Cesium Native Runtimes Release Timeline

Days Until Release	Release Tasks
T-2	* All pending PRs merged in all repos * Begin cesium-native release * Update cesium-native in all runtimes and perform regression testing
T-1	* Create release commits for cesium-unity and cesium-unreal * Debug any CI issues * Prepare GitHub release drafts
T-0	* Publish releases