Hi Mattermost Community,
With the release of Mattermost v10, we’d like to take a moment to clarify some important changes regarding Playbooks and what they mean for our Professional and Enterprise customers.
Background
In previous Mattermost versions, Playbooks were available to both Professional and Enterprise customers, serving as a platform for standardizing and automating workflows. As we collaborated with customers and envisioned the future of Playbooks, it became clear that AI would play a pivotal role in automating and enhancing workflow management. To deliver this vision, we will be integrating Playbooks with Mattermost Copilot, providing the Responsible AI capabilities necessary for automated analysis and process standardization compatible with both on-prem and SaaS-based models.
What Does This Mean for Playbooks in v10?
Given this new direction, we made the decision to replatform Playbooks into the Mattermost Enterprise SKU, where it can be seamlessly integrated with its Responsible AI capabilities. Here’s what you can expect with this transition:
- For existing Enterprise Customers: Upgrading to Mattermost v10 will automatically transition you to Playbooks v2, which is the platform for future feature development as well as new Responsible AI capabilities. No additional action is needed to enjoy the benefits, which will come to v10 in subsequent releases. Playbooks v2 will of course function without using AI, however we are investing for the future state of the feature to be best with AI.
- For existing Professional Customers: Professional customers can continue to use Playbooks v1 uninterrupted with support extended through Mattermost v10. When Mattermost v11 is released (estimated around September 2025), there will be a grandfathering program developed to ensure Professional customers using Playbooks v1 can continue to realize the value of their investments as they upgrade to Mattermost v11.
- For Non-Customers: For non-customers using the free version of Mattermost, Playbooks v1 can be used uninterrupted through Mattermost v10. However when Mattermost v11 releases (estimated around September 2025), Playbooks v1 will no longer be included and non-customers who want to continue to use the capability in the free version of Mattermost will need to move to an open source, community-supported version for the capability.
Addressing Upgrade Issues
We’ve identified an issue where Mattermost Professional customers and Mattermost Team Edition users could inadvertently break their Playbooks capability due to a failing edition check in the Mattermost v10.0.0 release, making it seem like Playbooks is no longer available in Mattermost v10, when it is intended to be available.
The issue happens when Professional customers and Team Edition users inadvertently upgrade to Playbooks v2, which requires an Enterprise SKU license to run, and the capability becomes unusable until downgraded back to Playbooks v1. You can determine what version of Playbooks your instance is running in the System Console > Plugin Management.
If you have been affected by this issue, please download the latest Playbooks v1 version from our releases page and upload it to your Mattermost v10 server via the System Console > Plugin Management page. Professional customers can contact customer support for assistance.
To prevent this issue in future, a patch has been shipped in v10.0.1 to ensure that the edition check in Playbook v1 properly limits upgrade to Playbooks v2 only for Enterprise SKU customers, which should avoid this issue in future.
Moving Forward
From the release of Mattermost v10 in September 2024 we have a year of continued availability for Playbooks v1 through to September 2025. As Professional customers approach their contract renewal, we’ll discuss options for continuing Playbooks support for their use cases, including potential upgrades to an Enterprise license, with discounting applied as appropriate.
We understand that changes like this can be disruptive, and we’re committed to working with our customers to navigate these transitions smoothly. If you have any concerns or objections, please contact your Customer Success Manager.
Thank you for your continued support.
– The Mattermost Team
FAQ
What’s expected for Mattermost Enterprise customers?
Playbooks will be updated automatically with the Mattermost Server when new capabilities are available, beginning with Playbooks v2.0 shipping with Mattermost v10.0.
New Playbooks features will only be available to Enterprise license customers moving forward, and will prioritize Enterprise-grade systems integration and automation with Mattermost Copilot to accelerate mission critical incident resolution.
What’s expected for Mattermost Professional customers?
Professional customers can continue to use Playbooks v1 uninterrupted with support extended through Mattermost v10. Beginning in Mattermost v11 (estimated around September 2025), there will be a grandfathering program in place to ensure Professional customers can continue to realize the value of their investments in Playbooks. Please reach out to your Customer Success Manager for more details.
What’s expected for Mattermost’s free edition?
Unlicensed servers can continue to use Playbooks v1 uninterrupted through Mattermost v10, after which the Playbooks v1 version will be unsupported in order to focus supportability and quality on licensed customers.
What support will be provided for Playbooks v1?
Mattermost will address security issues and bugs in Playbooks v1 extended through Mattermost v10.
What are the differences between Playbooks v1 and Playbooks v2?
The initial version of Playbooks v2 does not have materially new features over Playbooks v1, but it will serve as the platform for future feature development and Responsible AI capabilities.
Known Issues
A known issue allows Professional customers and Team Edition users to upgrade to Playbooks v2 via the in-product marketplace, which fails to start without an Enterprise License. This issue has been addressed in v10.0.1 to prevent accidental upgrades.
If you have been affected by this issue, please download the latest Playbooks v1 version from our releases page and upload it via the System Console.
We appreciate your support and look forward to building the future of Playbooks.