---
title: "Handling a Regression"
url: https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression/
---

# Handling a Regression

This document uses key words such as "MUST", "SHOULD", and "MAY" as defined in

<!-- -->

[RFC 2119](https://www.ietf.org/rfc/rfc2119.txt) to indicate requirement levels.

Statuscandidate

Version`1.0.0`[(changelog)](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#changelog)

## [Overview](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#overview)

This playbook guides SDK maintainers through handling regressions discovered after a release. It covers severity assessment, response options (patch release vs. rollback), communication protocols, and post-incident review. By following these steps, regressions will be resolved quickly with minimal user impact.

Related resources:

* [Post-release monitoring](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/standards/coordination-maintenance.md#releases) — how regressions are detected
* [Rollback procedures](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/standards/coordination-maintenance.md#releases) — emergency rollback process
* [Cutting a Release](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/sdk-lifecycle/cutting-a-release.md) — standard release process (expedited for patches)

***

## [Steps](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#steps)

#### [1. Assess severity](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#1-assess-severity)

Classify the regression using these criteria:

* **Critical** (crashes, data loss, security vulnerability) → patch release **MUST** be cut within 48 hours
* **High** (broken feature, significant performance degradation) → patch release **SHOULD** be cut within 1 week
* **Medium** (edge case, cosmetic issue) → fix **MAY** be included in next regular release

#### [2. For critical or high severity regressions](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#2-for-critical-or-high-severity-regressions)

You **MUST** take one of the following actions:

**Option A: Revert and patch**

* Revert the problematic commit(s) on a release branch
* Use the revert commit format: `revert: <original commit subject>`
* Cut a patch release following [Cutting a Release](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/sdk-lifecycle/cutting-a-release.md), expedited — you **MAY** skip non-essential gates for critical severity

**Option B: Yank the release**

* If a clean revert isn't possible, yank the bad release from the package registry
* Follow the documented rollback procedure: [Rollback procedures](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/standards/coordination-maintenance.md#releases)

#### [3. Communicate](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#3-communicate)

You **MUST** post a GitHub issue describing:

* What happened (brief explanation of the regression)
* Which versions are affected
* What users should do (pin to previous version, or upgrade to the patch)

#### [4. Add to the quarterly retro](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#4-add-to-the-quarterly-retro)

Document the incident for the quarterly retrospective:

* What happened
* How it was caught (or why it wasn't caught in testing)
* What would have prevented it

This helps identify gaps in testing, review processes, or monitoring that can be improved.

## [Referenced Standards](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/playbooks/development/handling-a-regression.md#referenced-standards)

* [Post-release monitoring](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/standards/coordination-maintenance.md#releases) — monitoring that detects regressions
* [Rollback procedures](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/standards/coordination-maintenance.md#releases) — emergency rollback process
* [Release Gating Criteria](https://develop.sentry.dev/sdk/getting-started/standards/review-ci.md#release-gating) — gates that may be expedited for critical patches

***

| Version | Date       | Summary                                                                                     |
| ------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| `1.0.0` | 2026-02-23 | Initial playbook — regression response with severity assessment and expedited patch process |