pulse/docs/releases/RELEASE_NOTES_v6.md

Pulse v6.0.0 Release Notes

v6.0.0 is the first stable release of Pulse v6. It promotes the validated v6.0.0-rc.1 and v6.0.0-rc.2 line into the default supported v6 release.

Pulse v6 reorganizes the product around Infrastructure, Workloads, Storage, and Recovery, keeps the governed v5-to-v6 upgrade and Unified Agent continuity path, and ships the corrected self-hosted commercial model that was validated during rc.2.

Pulse v5 Support Transition

Pulse v5 entered maintenance-only support on 2026-04-20. I will ship only critical security, data-loss, licensing or billing blocker, installer or updater failure, and safe migration blocker fixes for existing v5 users until 2026-07-19. After 2026-07-19, Pulse v5 is end-of-support and new fixes land on v6 unless I publish an explicit exception.

What Is In v6.0.0

Unified v6 product layout

Pulse v6 changes the default product shape. Authenticated users now land on Infrastructure, and the primary surfaces are:

• Infrastructure
• Workloads
• Storage
• Recovery

Existing bookmarks, old screenshots, and operator runbooks that assumed the v5 Proxmox-first layout should be reviewed during upgrade.

Recovery and infrastructure are first-class

Recovery is now a primary surface rather than a backup-only page family, and infrastructure onboarding is split by ownership:

• Install on a host for direct Unified Agent deployment
• Platform connections for API-backed systems such as Proxmox, TrueNAS, and VMware

Self-hosted packaging is corrected from the early RC posture

Self-hosted core monitoring is no longer sold by monitored-system count on the current public v6 plans.

Plan	Core monitoring	Metric history	Paid value
Community	Included	7 days	Full self-hosted monitoring
Relay	Included	14 days	Remote web access, Pulse Mobile pairing for handoff, push, and convenience
Pro	Included	90 days	Relay plus AI operations, automation, and advanced admin features

Legacy Pro+ remains continuity-only for existing holders. It is not a public self-hosted checkout tier.

Existing paid customer continuity is explicit

• Existing lifetime customers remain valid, with self-hosted monitoring volume not metered under the current v6 policy.
• Legacy recurring Pulse Pro subscribers who were already active before the public v6 pricing cutover keep their existing recurring price while that subscription stays active.
• Supported legacy paid migrations can still exchange into the v6 activation model without repurchasing.
• If a self-hosted v6 install still shows a bounded monitored-system cap after activation or migration, treat that as a bug rather than intended policy.

Commercial account and upgrade surfaces match the current model

Pulse Account, the in-product Plans & Billing surface, and related pricing copy now describe self-hosted upgrades as plan selection plus paid extras instead of buying more monitored-system capacity.

Pulse Cloud launches with v6

Pulse Cloud is the hosted version of Pulse. Each Cloud account gets a dedicated, isolated workspace at *.cloud.pulserelay.pro with managed hosting, daily automated backups, and Relay pre-configured for Pulse Mobile pairing. All Cloud tiers include the full Pro feature set.

Plan	Price	Monitored systems	Support
Cloud Starter	$29/month or $249/year	10	Community
Cloud Power	$49/month or $449/year	30	Priority
Cloud Max	$79/month or $699/year	75	Priority

A 14-day trial is included on every Cloud plan, no credit card required. An early-signup founding rate of $19/month is available on Cloud Starter; see docs/architecture/v6-pricing-and-tiering.md for current eligibility. Cloud signup is handled at cloud.pulserelay.pro. Full Cloud setup, migration, and FAQ live in docs/CLOUD.md. The MSP multi-tenant ladder remains a separate hosted product; see the MSP section of the pricing doc.

Upgrade Guidance For Existing v5 Users

1. Back up the current system and keep direct console access available.
2. Re-test navigation, bookmarks, and any saved links that depended on the old route structure.
3. Re-test custom automation or dashboards that depended on v5-style /api/state or websocket payloads.
4. Re-test recovery workflows and any backup-era assumptions.
5. Verify license activation or paid-license migration immediately after first boot on upgraded systems.
6. Upgrade Unified Agents separately only when you are explicitly testing the v5-to-v6 agent path.

Operator References

• docs/UPGRADE_v6.md
• docs/releases/V6_CHANGELOG.md
• docs/PULSE_PRO.md
• docs/MIGRATION_UNIFIED_NAV.md