Overhaul releases docs, add branches page

[huntie]

Note

Stacked PR: Depends on #5186, #5187, #5188.

Summary

A new, stronger home for Releases information on reactnative.dev.

1. The versioning/release pages had become somewhat hidden under Docs > Guides and an expandable side nav section. The refreshed Releases Overview page now presents essential info in a single view, accessible from a top-level Releases nav item.

   

2. For framework/library maintainers, we've had no central source for what each release branch contains. The new Branches page introduces an initial table of platform components by branch, inspired by Chromium Dash.

   

3. Revise all content. Generally, the Releases Overview page retains everything a first-timer would need to understand. Cut out/relocate passive information such as number of intended releases/philosophy.

   • The Versioning Policy core guidance is untouched.

Deliberate choices

• Separated from the docs — in future, potentially a dynamic section of the site (out of scope today).
• The Release Levels page (user guidance on Canary etc. feature level opt-in) remains, for now, under Docs (relocated to Docs > Guides > Workflow).

Other changes

• Add _redirects entries mapping the old /docs/releases/* URLs to the new locations, and fix two stale versioning-policy redirects.
• Table styling: Both release tables get a shaded, bold row-header column and single-line cells that scroll horizontally within their bordered wrapper.

Test Plan

Screen.Recording.2026-07-25.at.18.11.49.mov

• ✅ Tour of new Releases pages
• ✅ Docs version switcher navigates to /versions within our new hierachy
• Switch to 0.85 docs (old versions) (left hand side)
  • ✅ Releases section in Docs sidebar (previous state, unchanged)
  • ✅ All pages present (previous state, unchanged)

[Simek]

The versioning/release pages had become somewhat hidden under Docs > Guides and an expandable side nav section.

Just FYI, the page was also available as top level link: https://reactnative.dev/releases which is broken after the changes. We should update it or remove it.

[Simek]

Docs version page stretches to the full viewport width, while the rest of pages are contained in the layout.

[cortinico]

Just FYI, the page was also available as top level link: reactnative.dev/releases which is broken after the changes. We should update it or remove it.

Yup this should remain. It should land to the top level of this new section.

[cortinico]

• The Release Levels page (user guidance on Canary etc. feature level opt-in) remains, for now, under Docs (relocated to Docs > Guides > Workflow).

Why was this not moved as well?

[huntie]

Why was this not moved as well?

@cortinico For now, just because IMO this sits better in the versioned regular docs — it's instructions about app bootstrap code specific to a given RN version. i.e. "How to opt into a feature (flags) level" rather than the other pages being "This is what and how RN release versions are"

[huntie]

reactnative.dev/releases [...] is broken after the changes. We should update it or remove it.

@Simek @cortinico Addressed by the _redirects file, should be handled for already under Netlify (and also updated Vercel redirects artifact).

[huntie]

Docs version page stretches to the full viewport width

@Simek Intentional/harmless. This /versions page is the prev, unchanged route — not technically a docs page and doesn't need a jumpable outline nav.

Maybe continuity over consistency 😅, either would do.

[huntie]

@Simek Changes addressed, thanks!

Chunkier but better-fitting table 👍🏻

[Simek]

Fix for Version page stretching

Add in showcase.tsx Layout element:

wrapperClassName="showcase-wrapper"

change in showcase.scss:

.plugin-pages .main-wrapper {
// to 
.showcase-wrapper.main-wrapper {

It looks like Docusaurus threats the Version page as a custom one + we inject showcase styles on all pages 😅 Will look at this problem separately after the merge.

[Simek]

With the version page stretch issue address LGTM form the web app perspective. 👌