# What is Hotfix?

> An urgent fix shipped outside the normal release cycle.

Canonical: https://www.decimal.app/glossary/hotfix · Last reviewed: 2026-09-23

A hotfix is a targeted code change deployed quickly to fix a production problem, often skipping the usual release train while still going through review and tests.

## Why it matters

Hotfixes are how customer-facing bugs get resolved fast. Support needs to know when one ships so it can tell affected customers.

## Best practices

1. Keep it small. Fix the issue, nothing else.
2. Link the tickets. Connect the fix to every customer ticket it resolves.
3. Follow with a postmortem. Understand why it reached production.

## How Decimal helps

Decimal can draft the fix for a diagnosed bug as a pull request for your engineers to review, and link it back to the customer tickets.

## Related terms

- [Regression](https://www.decimal.app/glossary/regression): A bug where something that used to work stops working after a change.
- [Postmortem](https://www.decimal.app/glossary/postmortem): A blameless review of what went wrong and how to prevent it recurring.
- [Known Issue](https://www.decimal.app/glossary/known-issue): A confirmed bug that's been acknowledged but not yet fixed.
- [Incident](https://www.decimal.app/glossary/incident): An unplanned disruption or degradation of a service that needs an urgent response.

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