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NATS

DEVOPS
Velocity7.5

High-performance messaging system for distributed applications

nats.io ↗

NATS 2.15 ships a desired-state reconciliation engine that fundamentally changes how JetStream clusters are managed.

messagingjetstreamdistributed-systemsoperationsopen-source
◆Current state
NATS has shipped v2.15.0, its most significant JetStream release in recent memory. The headline change is a desired-state metalayer — a reconciliation-loop engine that replaces the previous ad-hoc approach to stream scaling, placement, and node evacuation. Alongside this, new endpoints for cancelling in-flight moves, evacuating peers, and disaster-recovery rescue complete the cluster operations surface. A new default limit of 1,000 consumers per stream is the main breaking change operators need to audit before upgrading.
◆Where it's heading
The past three months of NATS development have been entirely oriented around hardening JetStream for production at scale — specifically around cluster membership changes, zero-downtime maintenance, and disaster recovery. The backup/restore v2 format and the metalayer compatibility shims in v2.14.7 show deliberate upgrade path engineering. The 2.15.x series will almost certainly receive stabilization patches as early adopters surface edge cases in the new metalayer.
◆Prediction
Expect a 2.15.1 patch within a few weeks addressing adoption friction from the consumer-count limit and race conditions surfaced by early 2.15.0 deployments, followed by client SDK updates to expose the new metalayer and evacuation APIs.

◆Recent moves

  1. 3d ago

    NATS 2.15: Desired-State JetStream and Full Cluster Operations Suite

    ⚡ SPARK

    v2.15.0 GA ships the desired-state metalayer as the central architectural change, making stream scaling and moves safe enough to cancel mid-operation and recover from lost nodes. The new evacuate and rescue endpoints complete the cluster operations tooling, and backup/restore v2 fixes a longstanding gap in consumer snapshot fidelity.

    View source ↗
  2. 4d ago

    NATS 2.15.0 Release Candidate 2

    Second release candidate for v2.15.0, incorporating the full desired-state metalayer and stream operations suite. RC stabilization work; no net new capability for production users beyond RC.1.

    View source ↗
  3. 5d ago

    NATS 2.14.7: Metalayer Compatibility Shims and JetStream Performance Gains

    v2.14.7 adds metalayer compatibility stubs so that clusters can safely roll from 2.14 to 2.15 and back without operational risk — the upgrade path engineering behind the v2.15 launch. It also delivers measurable JetStream performance improvements: faster pending calculations when max-messages-per-subject is 1, aggregated block removals during snapshot syncs, and a sweep of race conditions and edge cases in consumer management.

    View source ↗
  4. 5d ago

    NATS 2.14.7 Release Candidate 2

    Second release candidate for the 2.14.7 patch, consisting primarily of dependency updates and a JetStream fix for delete syncing from snapshots. Pre-production stabilization only.

    View source ↗
  5. 9d ago

    NATS 2.14.7 Release Candidate 1

    First release candidate for the 2.14.7 patch, focused on dependency bumps and JetStream internal improvements ahead of GA. No user-visible changes beyond dependency currency.

    View source ↗
  6. 12d ago

    NATS 2.15.0 First Release Candidate

    The first release candidate for v2.15.0, introducing the desired-state metalayer and evacuate endpoints to early testers ahead of GA. All major features from this RC shipped unchanged in the v2.15.0 GA.

    View source ↗