What Is Build Metadata in Semver?

Build metadata in semantic versioning is an optional label appended after a plus sign that carries build-specific information such as a commit hash or build number. By specification it does not affect version precedence, so two versions differing only in build metadata are considered equal for ordering. It is purely informational.

Why it matters

CI pipelines often want to stamp a version with the exact commit or build that produced it without changing how the version sorts against others. Build metadata is the designated place for that, keeping precedence governed by the release and pre-release fields. Tools that compare versions must ignore the metadata, which is a common source of confusion.

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