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Revise Feature and Experiment Lifecycle documentation#326

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update/experiment-docs
Open

Revise Feature and Experiment Lifecycle documentation#326
jeffpaul wants to merge 1 commit intodevelopfrom
update/experiment-docs

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@jeffpaul jeffpaul commented Mar 19, 2026

What?

Updated document to clarify the definitions and processes for Features and Experiments, including promotion criteria and UI presentation.

Relates to #234.

Copilot summary

This pull request updates the documentation to clarify the lifecycle and distinction between Features and Experiments in the AI plugin. The changes provide more explicit guidance on how Features and Experiments are defined, promoted, and evaluated, making the process clearer for contributors and users.

Feature and Experiment definitions and lifecycle:

  • The document was renamed from EXPERIMENT_LIFECYCLE.md to FEATURE_EXPERIMENT_LIFECYCLE.md and rewritten to explain the difference between Features (stable, supported functionality) and Experiments (early-stage, subject to breaking changes), including how each is surfaced in the UI and registered in the codebase.
  • Added a section detailing the criteria and process for promoting an Experiment to a Feature, including stability, user value, UX maturity, technical reliability, and maintainability.

Process and evaluation updates:

  • Clarified that proposals to WordPress core can focus on either a Feature or an Experiment, not just Experiments, and referenced core merge criteria.
  • Added notes emphasizing that Features are expected to be stable and supported, while Experiments can be deprecated or removed at any time and may undergo breaking changes, typically signaled by a major version bump.

Why?

How?

Use of AI Tools

Testing Instructions

Testing Instructions for Keyboard

Screenshots or screencast

Before After
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Updated document to clarify the definitions and processes for Features and Experiments within the AI plugin, including promotion criteria and UI presentation.
@jeffpaul jeffpaul added this to the 0.7.0 milestone Mar 19, 2026
@jeffpaul jeffpaul requested review from dkotter and justlevine March 19, 2026 20:33
@jeffpaul jeffpaul self-assigned this Mar 19, 2026
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codecov bot commented Mar 19, 2026

Codecov Report

✅ All modified and coverable lines are covered by tests.
✅ Project coverage is 57.85%. Comparing base (0d1ec92) to head (37bace0).

Additional details and impacted files
@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##             develop     #326   +/-   ##
==========================================
  Coverage      57.85%   57.85%           
  Complexity       615      615           
==========================================
  Files             46       46           
  Lines           3165     3165           
==========================================
  Hits            1831     1831           
  Misses          1334     1334           
Flag Coverage Δ
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Rename plugin from “AI Experiments” to “AI” and define feature vs experiment classification

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