Release notes: Platform Update 26.7

[nl0]

Release notes for Quilt Platform 26.7 (tag 26.7.0), to merge once the release ships.

Source: the [26.7.0] section of t4/CHANGELOG.md on the rc branch of quiltdata/deployment. Release tracked in qhq-lf0a; rc is baking at https://rc.quilttest.com (stackVersion 26.7.0-rc-2-g8ab943b1).

Shape of this release

Predominantly security and reliability. The user-visible surface is thin, and the notes say so rather than inflating it: three Platform-level changes, one large batch of security-scanner hardening presented as such, and two operational fixes.

Two things worth reviewing closely

The version-numbering note. This is the first release under date-based numbering (YY.M.PATCH) — 1.71 to 26.7. The note states that this changes what the numbers mean rather than the platform, that it is not a twenty-five-major-version jump, and that existing "requires 1.70.0 or higher" statements in the docs still read correctly since 26.7 is later than any 1.x. Worth a second opinion on the framing, since this is the first time customers see it.

The soft-delete permission consequence. Beyond the delete-marker behavior, managed read-write roles no longer grant s3:DeleteObjectVersion. Anyone who relied on a managed read-write role to permanently delete object versions — including through quilt3 — will now get AccessDenied until an admin grants the action via a custom policy. That is a real behavioral regression for those users, so it is stated explicitly rather than buried. The wording is grounded in the docs that shipped with the code change (docs/FAQ.md, docs/advanced-features/s3-prefix-permissions.md in quilt#5161), not paraphrased from the CHANGELOG.

Deliberate exclusions

Internal engineering items are left out: the Checkov CI gate, stack-monitoring telemetry, the make_assumable_role refactor, the NAT-gateway EIP literal, and the Terraform provider lock files. Also excluded: Grok being added to ConnectAllowedHosts, which landed for internal stacks only (nightly, open-quilt-bio, auto-stack-dev) — documenting it would amount to declaring Grok a supported client, which is a product call, not a release-notes one.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Greptile Summary

Adds release notes for Quilt Platform 26.7.

• Explains the transition to date-based release numbering.
• Documents safer deletion behavior and the associated permission change.
• Summarizes search validation, registry reliability, infrastructure hardening, least-privilege, retention, and operational improvements.

Confidence Score: 5/5

The documentation-only change appears safe to merge, with no concrete actionable defects identified.

The version transition, deletion semantics, permission consequences, and operational changes are presented clearly without an established contradiction in release-relevant repository context.

Important Files Changed

Filename	Overview
release-notes/26-7-0-release-notes.md	Adds clear, internally consistent customer-facing notes for the 26.7 platform release, including explicit compatibility and permission consequences.

_{Reviews (1): Last reviewed commit: "Release notes: Platform Update 26.7" | Re-trigger Greptile}

[nl0]

@QuiltSimon @drernie the draft is in, pls weigh in on what to include in these notes

[drernie]

This looks good. I just had to add QuiltSync.

[QuiltSimon]

Read through the draft. It's in good shape and the framing on both of the items you flagged holds up. Weighing in on what to include:

Version numbering. Keep the note, and I'd keep it roughly this length. The one thing I'd add is the concrete reassurance customers will actually want: their pinned "requires 1.70.0 or higher" constraints and any tooling that string-compares versions will keep working, because 26.7 sorts after 1.x. The draft says this but it's buried in the last sentence of the section — worth pulling forward, since "did my version pin just break" is the first question this raises.

Soft-delete permission consequence. Include it, and keep it as explicit as it is now. This is the one genuine behavioral regression in the release and the people it hits (anyone permanently deleting object versions through a managed read-write role, including via quilt3) will hit it silently with an AccessDenied. Stating the exact action (s3:DeleteObjectVersion) and the remedy (admin grants it via custom policy) is right. Two small asks: make sure the wording matches the FAQ/permissions docs that shipped in quilt#5161 verbatim rather than paraphrasing, and consider a one-line "what to do if this affects you" so support isn't fielding the same ticket repeatedly.

On the deliberate exclusions. Agree with all of them, including leaving Grok out of the Connect client list — documenting it in customer notes would read as declaring it supported, which it isn't on customer stacks. Good call keeping the security-scanner batch framed as configuration hardening with the two behavioral exceptions (log retention 90→365d, the extra Athena workgroup) called out; those are the only two an admin would actually notice.

One process flag, not a notes-content question: I couldn't independently confirm the QuiltSync v0.20.0 version string and the 26.7.0 CHANGELOG section from here (the rc CHANGELOG lives on deployment's rc branch and I only have up to 1.70.0 locally). Before this merges/ships, someone should reconcile the notes against the final [26.7.0] CHANGELOG section on rc so nothing drifted.

Not blocking — happy to merge once the two doc-verbatim checks above are done.

[drernie]

Verified docs are current. Tweaked language per Simon's comment.