# Support Policy

We strive to resolve all reported bugs or issues to the best of our abilities as an open-source project. Nevertheless, we cannot ensure a fixed resolution time or guarantee the availability of a fix for every problem.

Bug fixes will be available for outdated versions for a duration of two years following the latest version's release. The previous version will be regarded as outdated once a new version of Pest is released.

| Major Version | PHP Compatibility | Initial Release   | Bug Fixes Until
|---------------|-------------------|-------------------| --- |
| Pest 4        | >= PHP 8.3        | August 21, 2025   | To be determined
| Pest 3        | >= PHP 8.2        | September 9, 2024 | August 21, 2027
| Pest 2        | >= PHP 8.1        | March 20, 2023    | September 9, 2026
| Pest 1        | >= PHP 7.3        | January 7, 2021   | March 20, 2025

Pest adheres to semantic versioning principles, where the version number `x.y.z` conveys the following information:
- When issuing bug fixes, the `z` number is incremented (e.g., 4.10.2 to 4.10.3).
- When adding new non-breaking features or improvements, the `y` number is incremented (e.g., 4.10.2 to 4.12.0).
- When introducing breaking changes, the `x` number is incremented (e.g., 4.10.2 to 5.0.0).

As maintainers of testing frameworks, we take breaking changes very seriously. Our goal is to deliver robust, cutting-edge features without disrupting the community's test suites. This commitment is why upgrading from Pest 2 to Pest 3 was as simple as updating your composer.json file. Similarly, the transition to Pest 4 has been designed to be just as seamless, ensuring an effortless upgrade experience for our users.

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In the next chapter, we will explore the process of upgrading between major versions via our upgrade guide: [Upgrade Guide](/docs/upgrade-guide)