---
title: "Release Manifest"
description: "What the Guardian Platform release manifest records, and how to use it when installing, upgrading, or confirming a deployed release."
source: "Guardian Platform"
---
The release manifest is the shared reference for a Guardian Platform customer release. Use it to confirm that documentation, charts, images, and support records refer to the same release.

## What It Records

- Platform version and release type.
- Kubernetes minimum version and architecture.
- Source repositories and source references.
- Runtime image repositories, tags, digests, and source SHAs.
- Helm chart names, versions, and registry references.
- Validation status and evidence.
- Documentation provider, version, state, and source repository and format.

An excerpt from the v1.2.1 manifest, trimmed to one image and one chart:

```yaml
platform:
  name: governance-platform
  version: 1.2.1
  releaseType: stable
  releaseDate: "2026-09-24"
  kubernetesMinimumVersion: "1.29"
  architecture: linux/amd64
images:
  authService:
    repository: ghcr.io/eqtylab/auth-service
    tag: 1.2.1
    digest: "sha256:46d908fa…b44602"
    sourceSha: "92e64ba46907928ad62f65ef31a9112b18f1f39c"
charts:
  governancePlatform:
    name: governance-platform
    version: 1.2.1
    oci: oci://ghcr.io/eqtylab/charts/governance-platform
```

From 1.3, the manifest records `platform.name: guardian-platform`. Guardian's image and chart are under `images.guardian` and `charts.guardian`, the umbrella chart is under `charts.guardianPlatform`, and the release package is `guardian-platform-v<version>.tar.gz`.

## How Customers Use It

Use the release manifest when installing, upgrading, mirroring images, opening support tickets, or confirming the exact release deployed in an environment.

For air-gapped installs, the manifest is also the checklist for mirrored EQTY Lab images and packaged chart artifacts. It does not list the upstream images the chart pulls; [Air-Gapped Install](./airgap-install.mdx#install-flow) lists those.

## Cloudsmith Delivery

Stable customer releases are distributed through `eqtylab/prod` on Cloudsmith once publication for that version is verified; Cloudsmith publication is initially disabled while the integration is commissioned. The original release manifest continues to record GitHub build sources. Its companion `cloudsmith-delivery.json` records verified Cloudsmith image references, Helm chart references, raw package download URLs, and checksums. Image digests and chart archive checksums match the GitHub artifacts.

Use a release only after its delivery manifest is present. A GitHub release or release-candidate tag alone does not mean Cloudsmith publication has completed. Internal installations continue to use GHCR. Third-party runtime images keep their existing upstream registries; this distribution is not an air-gap bundle.

## Documentation Metadata

The `docs` section records the documentation provider, the docs version and its state (for example `beta`), whether it is the default version, and the source repository and format.

## Related

- [Connected Install](./connected-install.mdx) — installing from Cloudsmith once delivery is verified
- [Air-Gapped Install](./airgap-install.mdx) — mirroring the images and charts the manifest lists
- [Upgrade](./upgrade.mdx) — moving to a newer release the manifest records
- [Rollback](./rollback.mdx) — returning to the previous release the manifest records
- [Guardian Platform v1.2](../release-overview.mdx) — the release rules, starting with installing only what the manifest records
- [Backup and Restore](./backup-and-restore.mdx#configuration-and-secrets) — recording the deployed versions with each backup