# Releases and versions

This page records how Bob versions are published and how they relate to the `bob` binary, Mac Capture, and the Obsidian plugins. Install a named version with [Install a specific Bob release](<https://bobs-org.github.io/guides/install-a-tagged-release/index.md>).

## Where releases appear

| Surface | What it shows |
| --- | --- |
| [GitHub Releases](<https://github.com/bobs-org/bob-cli/releases>) | Version notes and, when the train ships them, prebuilt archives |
| Git tags | `vX.Y.Z` on [bobs-org/bob-cli](<https://github.com/bobs-org/bob-cli>) |
| `CHANGELOG.md` | Keep a Changelog sections in the bob-cli repository |
| crates.io | The `bob-obsidian` package is not yet published. Install from Git or a GitHub Release |

The Cargo package name is `bob-obsidian`. The installed binaries keep their names: `bob`, `bob_pomodoro`, `bob_notify`, and `tmux_bob_pomodoro`. `cargo install bob-cli` installs an unrelated project.

## Cadence

The release train ships at most one version per America/New\_York calendar day, and only when a user-visible change landed since the last tag. `feat`, `fix`, `perf`, and `revert` commits count. `docs`, `chore`, `refactor`, `test`, `ci`, `style`, and `build` commits do not ship a version on their own. A day with no qualifying commit produces no release.

The train is in rehearsal: it creates tags and GitHub Releases. It does not publish to crates.io yet.

## Version numbers

Bob is on 0.x. On that series:

| Change since the last release | Version |
| --- | --- |
| `feat`, `fix`, `perf`, or `revert` | Patch, for example 0.2.0 → 0.2.1 |
| A Conventional Commit with `!` | Minor, for example 0.2.1 → 0.3.0 |
| `docs`, `chore`, `refactor`, `test`, `ci`, `style`, or `build` only | No release |

A `!` marker is the product contract break for CLI flags, CLI output, and JSON consumers. The Rust library in this repository is an internal seam, not a public API. CLI and JSON fields grow additively until a `!` commit says otherwise.

## Check your version

```
bob --version
```

Output

```
bob 0.2.0
```

The printed number is the version compiled into that binary. Compare it with the newest `vX.Y.Z` tag on GitHub Releases. A Git checkout of `master` can contain changes that have not reached a tagged release. The daily schedule does not guarantee a release: the train must pass its guard and CI.

## Companion tools

Mac Capture and the Obsidian plugins track bob-cli `HEAD`. They call `bob` and consume its JSON; they do not parse capture grammar themselves. The JSON contract grows additively, so a companion built against an older schema keeps working when new fields appear. A `!` commit is the signal that a CLI or JSON consumer must change.

Pinning `bob` to a GitHub Release while the plugins and Mac Capture follow `HEAD` is the usual split. Hosts that track `HEAD` for every component use each repository's current source and can sit ahead of the latest CLI tag.

## Prebuilt archives

Each GitHub Release can attach archives for:

| Platform | Target | Archive |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Linux x86\_64 | `x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu` | `bob-x86_64-unknown-linux-gnu.tar.gz` |
| macOS arm64 | `aarch64-apple-darwin` | `bob-aarch64-apple-darwin.tar.gz` |

Each archive contains `bob`, `bob_pomodoro`, `bob_notify`, and `tmux_bob_pomodoro`. The package also declares cargo-binstall metadata for those URLs; `cargo binstall bob-obsidian` resolves them after the crate is on crates.io. Until then, download the archive from the GitHub Release or install from Git. See [Install a specific Bob release](<https://bobs-org.github.io/guides/install-a-tagged-release/index.md>).

## Related

- [Install a specific Bob release](<https://bobs-org.github.io/guides/install-a-tagged-release/index.md>)
- [Install Bob](<https://bobs-org.github.io/start/install/index.md>)
- [JSON outputs](<https://bobs-org.github.io/reference/json-outputs/index.md>)
- [Requirements and compatibility](<https://bobs-org.github.io/reference/compatibility/index.md>)
- [How the release train works](<https://bobs-org.github.io/develop/releases/how-the-release-train-works/index.md>)
- [Release train reference](<https://bobs-org.github.io/develop/releases/reference/index.md>)