Overhaul releases docs, add branches page (#5189)

Author: huntie

docs/_canary-channel-api-warning.mdx

@@ -2,6 +2,6 @@
 
 **This API is currently only available in React Native’s Canary and Experimental channels.**
 
-If you want to try it out, please [enable the Canary Channel](releases/release-levels) in your app.
+If you want to try it out, please [enable the Canary Channel](release-levels) in your app.
 
 :::

docs/_experimental-channel-api-warning.mdx

@@ -4,6 +4,6 @@
 
 Experimental APIs may contain bugs and are likely to change in a future version of React Native. Don't use them in production.
 
-If you want to try it out, please [enable the Experimental Channel](releases/release-levels) in your app.
+If you want to try it out, please [enable the Experimental Channel](release-levels) in your app.
 
 :::

docs/releases/release-levels.md docs/release-levels.mddocs/releases/release-levels.md renamed to docs/release-levels.md

@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 ---
 id: upgrading
-title: Upgrading to new versions
+title: Upgrading to New Versions
 ---
 
 import Tabs from '@theme/Tabs'; import TabItem from '@theme/TabItem'; import constants from '@site/core/TabsConstants';

docs/releases/releases.md

@@ -91,12 +91,42 @@
     },
     {
       "source": "/contributing/versioning-policy",
-      "destination": "/docs/next/releases/versioning-policy",
+      "destination": "/releases/versioning-policy",
       "permanent": true
     },
     {
       "source": "/releases/release-candidate-minor",
-      "destination": "/docs/next/releases/versioning-policy",
+      "destination": "/releases/versioning-policy",
+      "permanent": true
+    },
+    {
+      "source": "/docs/releases",
+      "destination": "/releases/overview",
+      "permanent": true
+    },
+    {
+      "source": "/docs/next/releases",
+      "destination": "/releases/overview",
+      "permanent": true
+    },
+    {
+      "source": "/docs/releases/versioning-policy",
+      "destination": "/releases/versioning-policy",
+      "permanent": true
+    },
+    {
+      "source": "/docs/next/releases/versioning-policy",
+      "destination": "/releases/versioning-policy",
+      "permanent": true
+    },
+    {
+      "source": "/docs/releases/release-levels",
+      "destination": "/docs/release-levels",
+      "permanent": true
+    },
+    {
+      "source": "/docs/next/releases/release-levels",
+      "destination": "/docs/next/release-levels",
       "permanent": true
     },
     {

docs/upgrading.md

@@ -268,7 +268,7 @@ We're working hard to make React Native releases more predictable and easier to
 
 If you are on React Native 0.82, you should be able to upgrade your app to React Native 0.83 without any changes to your app code.
 
-To learn more about what we consider a breaking change, have a look at [this article](/docs/releases/versioning-policy#what-is-a-breaking-change).
+To learn more about what we consider a breaking change, have a look at [this article](/releases/versioning-policy#what-is-a-breaking-change).
 
 ## Deprecations
 

vercel.json

@@ -52,7 +52,7 @@ In Animated, you can now animate layout props with native driver (the [limitatio
 
 You can find more examples under [`react-native/packages/rn-tester/js/examples/AnimationBackend/`](https://github.com/facebook/react-native/tree/main/packages/rn-tester/js/examples/AnimationBackend).
 
-To opt in, you can enable the experimental channel of React Native [as described in this page](/docs/releases/release-levels).
+To opt in, you can enable the experimental channel of React Native [as described in this page](/docs/release-levels).
 
 :::info
 

website/blog/2025-12-10-react-native-0.83.mdx

@@ -53,7 +53,7 @@ React Native 0.86 has **no user-facing breaking changes**.
 
 If you are on React Native 0.85, you should be able to upgrade your app to React Native 0.86 without any changes to your app code.
 
-To learn more about what we consider a breaking change, have a look at [this article](/docs/releases/versioning-policy#what-is-a-breaking-change).
+To learn more about what we consider a breaking change, have a look at [this article](/releases/versioning-policy#what-is-a-breaking-change).
 
 ## Deprecations
 

website/blog/2026-04-07-react-native-0.85.mdx

@@ -213,6 +213,7 @@ const config: Config = {
             require.resolve('./src/css/showcase.scss'),
             require.resolve('./src/css/versions.scss'),
             require.resolve('./src/css/docs-secondary-nav.scss'),
+            require.resolve('./src/css/releases.scss'),
           ],
         },
         gtag: {
@@ -268,6 +269,16 @@ const config: Config = {
         ...commonDocsOptions,
       } satisfies PluginContentDocs.Options,
     ],
+    [
+      'content-docs',
+      {
+        id: 'releases',
+        path: 'releases',
+        routeBasePath: '/releases',
+        sidebarPath: require.resolve('./sidebarsReleases'),
+        ...commonDocsOptions,
+      } satisfies PluginContentDocs.Options,
+    ],
     [
       '@docusaurus/plugin-pwa',
       {
@@ -437,6 +448,12 @@ const config: Config = {
             {label: 'Architecture', to: '/architecture/overview'},
           ],
         },
+        {
+          to: '/releases/overview',
+          label: 'Releases',
+          position: 'right',
+          activeBaseRegex: '^/(releases|versions)',
+        },
         {
           type: 'doc',
           docId: 'overview',