# Creating Release Candidates

E3SM-Unified and its core dependencies follow a structured release process
that relies on **release candidates (RCs)**. These pre-release versions are
used for testing and validation before an official release is finalized and
deployed.

This section describes how to create RCs for both individual dependencies
(like `e3sm_diags` or `mpas-analysis`) and for the `e3sm-unified` metapackage
itself. It also includes tools and tips for troubleshooting build failures.

```{toctree}
:maxdepth: 1

overview
rc-dependencies
rc-e3sm-unified
rc-troubleshooting
```