Releases

Releases are how you send wine to members of release-based clubs. Unlike subscription clubs that follow a fixed schedule, releases happen on your terms — you create a release whenever you have wine ready to offer, and members participate in each one individually. This guide covers every screen, button, and step involved in creating, managing, and completing releases.

What Is a Release?

A release is an ad-hoc fulfillment event. You decide when to release wine, you set the dates, and members make their selections and get charged for that specific release. There is no recurring billing cycle — members pay only when a release happens.

This model works well for wineries that produce in batches, offer seasonal collections, or want the flexibility to release wine on their own schedule rather than on a fixed monthly or quarterly cadence.

Release Statuses

Every release has one of these statuses, displayed as a badge next to the release name in the header:

Status	Badge Label	Meaning
READY_TO_OPEN	Ready to Open	The release has been created but not yet opened. Templates are assigned and you can open it at any time.
SCHEDULED	Scheduled	The release has a future open date. It will open automatically on that date, or you can open it manually before then.
OPEN	Open	The release is live. Members can browse available items and make their selections. New members can be added.
SELECTION_CLOSED	Selection Closed	The selection period has ended. Members who didn't choose have their defaults auto-confirmed. Ready for charging.
CHARGING	Charging	Payment processing is actively running for this release.
CHARGED	Charged	All eligible members have been charged (or attempted). Ready to start fulfillment.
FULFILLING	Fulfilling	Orders are being prepared, shipped, or picked up.
COMPLETED	Completed	All orders have been fulfilled. The release is finished.
CANCELLED	Cancelled	The release was cancelled. All pending reservations were voided.

In the release header, to the right of the status badge, there is a three-dot menu button (⋮). Clicking it opens a dropdown menu with the following actions. All items are always visible in the menu, but items are greyed out and disabled when not applicable to the current status:

Menu Item	Icon	Enabled When Status Is	What It Does
Open Release	▶ Play	Ready to Open, Scheduled	Opens the release immediately — members can start making selections
Close Selections	🕐 Clock	Open	Closes the selection period and auto-confirms any unsubmitted selections
Start Charging	📦 Package	Selection Closed	Opens the Charge Progress Modal to begin charging members
Retry Failed Charges	🔄 RefreshCw	Charged or Fulfilling (when there are failed charges)	Opens the Charge Progress Modal in retry mode
Start Fulfillment	🚚 Truck	Charged	Opens the Fulfillment Readiness Dialog to verify readiness before transitioning
Complete Release	✅ CheckCircle	Fulfilling	Marks the entire release as completed
Add Members	👤+ UserPlus	Open	Opens the Add Members modal to add new members to this release
Edit Release Details / View Release Details	✏️ Pencil / 👁 Eye	Any status (edit for pre-charging statuses, view-only for charging and later)	Opens the Edit Release Details sidebar to modify name, description, and dates
Change Templates	⚙️ Settings	Ready to Open, Scheduled, Open, Selection Closed	Opens the Update Tier Templates sidebar to reassign templates per tier
Cancel Release	✕ XCircle (red)	Ready to Open, Scheduled, Open, Selection Closed	Opens a cancellation confirmation dialog

Reopen a Member's Customer Choice

After a release is closed and confirmed, you may need to let a specific member edit their selections again — for example, if they emailed you about a substitution or changed their mind. WineView supports this without requiring a full release reopen.

From the member's fulfillment sidebar, if the reservation is in Confirmed status:

Open the action menu (⋮) on the reservation.
Click Reopen Customer Choice.
The reservation moves back to Pending Choice, the member receives a new selection email, and they can edit until you re-close.

This is per-reservation — it doesn't affect any other member's confirmed selections.

Cross-Location Takeover

If a member moves to a different location (for example, they switch tasting rooms or you've added a new location closer to them), you can transfer their open release reservation. From the member's fulfillment sidebar, use Takeover Release to:

Cancel the current reservation at the old location (releasing its inventory back to that location's stock)
Create a fresh reservation at the new location with the same selections
Preserve the member's price and tier

The cancelled reservation is recorded with the cancellation reason Takeover Release for audit traceability.

Deep Links

You can deep-link directly into a release or specific reservation from external tools (Slack, email, dashboard action items):

/dashboard/business/releases?releaseId=<uuid> — opens that release
/dashboard/business/releases?releaseId=<uuid>&reservationId=<uuid> — opens the release and auto-opens that reservation's sidebar
/dashboard/business/releases?releaseId=<uuid>&openCharge=true — opens the release with the Charge Progress modal pre-opened (useful for "go charge this now" workflows)

WineView's dashboard Needs Your Attention bell uses these query parameters to jump you to the exact place that needs action.

Creating a Release

To create a new release, click the + button next to the Cycle / Release selector dropdown at the top of the Fulfillment page. This opens the Create Release sidebar — a 2-step wizard.

Step 1: Release Details

The sidebar header shows Create Release with a package icon. A step indicator at the top shows two steps: 1 Details (active, highlighted) and 2 Templates (inactive, greyed out).

Fields:

Field	Required	Description
Release Name *	Yes	Text input with placeholder "e.g., Spring 2026 Release". Max 100 characters.
Description	No	Text area (5 rows) with placeholder "e.g., We have selected the best wines for you this season...". Max 500 characters. Shown in the release announcement emails sent to members.

When should the release open? — Two side-by-side buttons:

I'll open it manually (left button) — the release will be created in Ready to Open status. You open it later from the actions dropdown.
Schedule a date (right button) — a date picker appears below to set the automatic open date.

If you select "I'll open it manually", a note appears: "You can open the release at any time from the release detail page."

If you select "Schedule a date", a date picker labeled Selections will begin on appears. Click the button to open a calendar popover and pick a future date.

Selection Deadline * — Required for clubs that have customer choice tiers. A date picker button with placeholder text Pick a date. Click to open a calendar popover. This tells members the last day they can make selections (it is displayed to members but not enforced by the system — you close selections manually whenever you want).

Footer: A single button on the right: Next (with a right arrow icon). Disabled until all required fields are filled. Clicking advances to Step 2.

Step 2: Assign Templates by Tier

The step indicator now shows 1 Details (completed, green checkmark) and 2 Templates (active, highlighted).

Heading: Assign Templates by Tier

For each tier that has active members, a section appears:

Tier name as a heading
If the listing supports pickup: a Pickup Template (N members) dropdown — select the template to use for pickup members in this tier. Only templates that are configured for the relevant pickup locations are selectable; unconfigured templates appear greyed out with "(not configured for [location])" text.
If the listing supports shipping: a Shipping Template (N members) dropdown — select the template for shipping members. After selecting a shipping template, the system automatically checks shipping readiness. If any items are not shipping-ready, warning icons appear next to those items.
If a tier has members for both pickup and shipping, both dropdowns appear.
Tiers with zero active members are hidden. If any tiers are hidden, a note appears: "N tiers hidden (no active members)".

Tier discount picker: Below the template selectors, if discounts/rewards are configured for any tier, a Discount dropdown appears per tier to optionally apply a discount to all members in that tier for this release.

Footer:

Back button (left, with a left arrow icon) — returns to Step 1
Create Release button (right) — disabled until all tiers with members have templates assigned. When all tiers are assigned and you click it:
1. An inventory preflight check runs automatically.
2. If there are inventory shortages, a warning dialog appears showing the affected items and quantities. You can click Create Anyway to proceed or Cancel to go back and adjust.
3. If no shortages (or you chose to proceed), the release is created.
4. If you chose "Schedule a date" in Step 1, the release is activated with the scheduled date. If you chose manual, the release is created in Ready to Open status and you get a toast: "Release '[name]' created — open it when you're ready".

Opening a Release

From the Fulfillment page, select the release from the dropdown.
Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header.
Click Open Release (enabled only when status is Ready to Open or Scheduled).
An Open Release confirmation dialog appears:
- Title: Open Release
- Description: "This will immediately open the release for member selections. Inventory will be reserved for all eligible members at this time."
- Preflight summary — shows:
  - Eligible members count
  - Blocked by issues count (if any, in amber)
  - Members to assign count
  - Inventory shortage warnings (if any items don't have enough stock)
  - Issue summary (if any members have issues like missing addresses or payment methods)
- If the release was Scheduled, an amber warning: "This release was scheduled to open on [date]. Opening now will override the scheduled date."
- Send notification emails to members receiving this release — a checkbox (checked by default). Uncheck to open without emailing members.
- If there are coverage gaps (members without a matching template for their tier/fulfillment method), a red block appears: "Cannot open: members not covered" with details per tier. The confirm button is replaced with Edit Templates to fix the issue.
- If there are inventory tracking issues, a red block appears: "Cannot open: inventory tracking issue". The confirm button is replaced with OK and a Notify WineView button.
Footer buttons:
- Cancel (left)
- If no issues: Confirm Open (right)
- If there are inventory shortages or member issues but no coverage gaps: Open Anyway (right, amber-colored)
After confirming, a processing modal appears: Opening Release with animated steps:
- "Creating member reservations" (active spinner)
- "Assigning fulfillment templates"
- "Sending notification emails"
When complete, the modal shows results: Release Opened Successfully (or Release Ready for Charging if all members are exact-set and auto-advanced past selections):
- Reservations Created count
- Templates Assigned count
- Any warnings about failed template assignments or blocked members
Click Done to close.

Closing Selections

Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header.
Click Close Selections (enabled only when status is Open).
A confirmation dialog appears:
- Title: Close Selections
- Description: "This will close the selection period. Members who haven't made their selections will have their default templates auto-confirmed. This action cannot be undone."
- Buttons: Cancel and Close Selections

The Charge Progress Modal opens when you click Start Charging or Retry Failed Charges from the actions dropdown. It has three phases:

Phase 1: Pending (Review Before Charging)

Modal title: Release Charging (with a credit card icon)

Summary table:

Eligible members (confirmed selection) — count of members who have confirmed selections
Blocked by issues — count of members blocked (amber, subtracted from eligible)
Members to charge — final count (bold, highlighted)

Additional information:

Estimated time: "about N minutes" (based on member count)
Not included in this charge run — a grey box listing exclusions:
- "N skipping this release" (if any)
- "N never confirmed a selection" (if any)
- "N already charged" (if any)
Previously failed warning (if applicable): amber box stating "N members failed in a previous charge run and will not be retried automatically. Use Retry Failed Charges after this run completes."
By Tier breakdown — table showing each tier name, member count, and bottle count
Fulfillment Method breakdown — side-by-side cards showing Pickup count and Shipping count
Blocked-by-issues detail — an expandable section: "Why are N members blocked?" Click to expand and see each issue type with count.
Red warning box: "Member payment methods will be charged immediately. This action cannot be undone."

Footer buttons:

Cancel (left)
Charge N Members (right, with credit card icon) — begins the charge run

Phase 2: In Progress

Center display:

Spinning loader icon
"Processing Payments"
"N of N members processed"
"Currently processing: [member name]" (updates in real-time)

Progress bar showing percentage complete with "N% complete" on the left and "N remaining" on the right.

Result tiles (side by side):

Green tile: Successful with count
Red tile: Failed with count
Amber tile: Skipped with count (only shown if > 0)

Failure category chips — if failures occur during processing, colored badges appear showing the failure type and count:

"Card declined: N" (red)
"Blocked by Stripe Radar: N" (amber)
"Stripe API issue: N" (amber)
"Configuration error: N" (red)

Footer button:

Run in Background — closes the modal but keeps the charge running in the background. Progress is visible from the background jobs indicator in the top-right of the page.

Phase 3: Completed

Hero display:

If all succeeded: green checkmark icon + All Charges Successful
If failures: amber warning icon + Completed with Failures (or Completed with Failures & Skipped if both)

Run type badges:

Initial run (blue) or Retry run (amber)
Manual or Auto-triggered (outline)

Stats grid (3 or 4 columns):

Total — total members processed
Success — successful charges (green)
Failed — failed charges (red)
Skipped — skipped members (amber, only if > 0)

Revenue breakdown:

Product Revenue — $X,XXX.XX
Tax Collected — $X,XXX.XX (if > 0)
Fees Collected — $X,XXX.XX (if > 0)
Total Collected — $X,XXX.XX (bold, large)

Failure Breakdown — if there were failures, a detailed table showing each failure category:

Category badge (e.g., "Card declined", "Blocked by Stripe Radar")
Count of affected members
Description of what happened and recommended action

Failed Members — expandable section: click Failed Members (N) to see a scrollable list of each failed member with:

Member name and email
Charge amount
Error message
Category badge
A small credit card button to retry charging this individual member inline
A small person icon button to view this member in the fulfillment table

Skipped Members — expandable section: click Skipped Members (N) to see each skipped member with their name, issue reasons, and a Resolve link to navigate to that member's fulfillment sidebar.

Download CSV Report button — downloads a CSV file with columns: Type, Name, Email, Amount, Category, Error/Issues, ReservationId.

Charging History — expandable section: click Charging History to see a chronological list of all charge runs for this release, each showing:

Run type badge (Initial / Retry)
Status (COMPLETED, RUNNING, FAILED, INTERRUPTED)
Start time
Success / failed / skipped counts
Duration
Trigger source (auto / manual)

Footer:

If there are failures: Retry N Failed button (with refresh icon) — starts a retry charge run for all failed members
Done button — closes the modal and clears the job from the background indicator

Starting Fulfillment — The Fulfillment Readiness Dialog

When you click Start Fulfillment from the actions dropdown (enabled when status is Charged), a readiness check dialog opens.

Dialog title: Start Fulfillment — Readiness Check (with a truck icon)

Status counts grid — a 2-column grid showing the count of members in each category. Categories with zero members are hidden:

Row Label	Icon	Meaning
Charged & Ready	✅ Green checkmark	Members who are charged and ready to be fulfilled
Ready for Fulfillment	📦 Blue package	Members already in a ready state
Already Fulfilled	✅ Green check	Members whose orders are already complete
Confirmed (Not Charged)	🕐 Yellow clock	Members confirmed but not yet charged
Payment Failed	✕ Red X	Members whose payment failed
Issue Blocked	🚫 Red ban	Members blocked by issues (missing address, etc.)
Pending Choice	🕐 Orange clock	Members who haven't submitted selections
Unassigned	👥 Grey users	Members without a reservation yet
Cancelled	✕ Grey X	Cancelled reservations

Blockers section (red box, if any): Lists specific reasons fulfillment cannot start. Example blockers: "N members have payment failures", "N members have unresolved issues".

Warnings section (yellow box, if any): Lists non-blocking concerns. Example: "N members still in Pending Choice status".

Footer buttons:

Cancel (left, outline)
If the only blocker is issue-blocked members: Exclude N Blocked & Start (middle, red) — excludes all issue-blocked members from the release and starts fulfillment. While processing, shows spinner + "Excluding..."
Start Fulfillment (right) — enabled only when readiness check passes (no blockers). While processing, shows spinner + "Starting..."

Managing an Open Release

While a release is Open, these actions are available:

Adding Members

Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header.
Click Add Members (enabled only when status is Open).
The Add Members to Release modal opens with a searchable list of eligible members.
Select members to add and click Add Selected Members.

Editing Release Details

Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header.
Click Edit Release Details (or View Release Details if the release is in a non-editable status like Charging, Charged, Fulfilling, or Completed).
The Edit Release Details sidebar opens with editable fields for name, description, and dates.
Make changes and click Save Changes. The sidebar is read-only for non-editable statuses.

Changing Templates

Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header.
Click Change Templates (enabled for Ready to Open, Scheduled, Open, Selection Closed).
The Update Tier Templates sidebar opens showing template assignments per tier.
Reassign templates as needed and click Save.

Cancelling a Release

Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header.
Click Cancel Release (red text, enabled for Ready to Open, Scheduled, Open, Selection Closed).
A confirmation dialog appears:
- Title: Cancel Release
- Description: "This will cancel the release. Any pending reservations will be voided. This action cannot be undone."
- Reason (optional) — a text input with placeholder "Why is this release being cancelled?"
- Buttons: Keep Release (left) and Cancel Release (right, red/destructive)

Completing a Release

Click the three-dot menu (⋮) in the header.
Click Complete Release (enabled only when status is Fulfilling).
A confirmation dialog appears:
- Title: Complete Release
- Description: "This will mark the release as completed. Make sure all orders have been fulfilled before proceeding."
- Buttons: Cancel and Complete Release

Release Fulfillment — Processing Members

Once a release is in Fulfilling status, you process member orders the same way as cycle-based fulfillment. The member table shows all members in the release with their current reservation status.

For each member, click their row to open the Member Fulfillment Sidebar and follow the same status-based workflow documented in How to Manage Fulfillment and Process Orders:

Pending Choice members: Click Confirm in the footer to confirm on their behalf, or wait for them to submit.
Confirmed members: Click Mark Ready for Pickup or Mark Ready to Ship.
Ready for Pickup members: Check items and click Complete Pickup or Pickup Selected Items.
Ready for Shipping members: Configure shipping, then click Mark Shipped.

For release members, an additional action row appears in the sidebar footer when the release is Open and the member has a confirmed selection:

Button	What It Does
Skip	Opens a "Skip from Release?" confirmation. Skips the member from this release — they will not be charged or fulfilled.
Reopen	Opens a "Reopen Member Selection?" dialog with a checkbox: "Send email to notify the member". Re-opens the member's selection window so they can change their choices.
Charge Now	Opens a "Charge Now?" confirmation. Immediately charges this individual member's payment method without waiting for the bulk charge run.

Allow Self-Skip Toggle

On the listing's settings (under Listings → [listing] → Tags & Policy), the Allow Members to Skip Releases toggle controls whether members can skip releases on their own from their member dashboard:

On (default): The "Skip Next Release" button appears on the member's Membership Detail page. Members can opt out of upcoming releases without contacting you.
Off: Members cannot self-skip. If a member needs to skip, your staff must do it for them from the Member Fulfillment Sidebar (the Skip button is unaffected by this setting).

This toggle is per-listing — you can allow self-skip on some clubs and require staff intervention on others.

Bulk Operations in Release Fulfillment

Select multiple members using checkboxes and click Process Selected to open the Bulk Fulfillment Sidebar. The bulk sidebar works the same as for cycles — see Bulk Fulfillment Sidebar for the complete wizard documentation.

Release Lifecycle — Complete Flow

Here is the full lifecycle of a release from creation to completion:

Create the release using the 2-step wizard. Status: Ready to Open or Scheduled.
Open the release from the actions dropdown. Status changes to Open. Members receive notification emails and can make selections.
Wait for members to submit their selections (customer choice tiers) or proceed directly (exact set tiers).
Close Selections from the actions dropdown. Status changes to Selection Closed. Unsubmitted selections are auto-confirmed.
Start Charging from the actions dropdown. The Charge Progress Modal opens. Status changes to Charging during processing, then Charged when complete.
If any charges failed: click Retry Failed Charges to re-attempt them.
Start Fulfillment from the actions dropdown. The Fulfillment Readiness Dialog opens for a readiness check. Status changes to Fulfilling.
Process orders — mark ready, ship, and complete pickup for each member (individually or in bulk).
Complete Release from the actions dropdown. Status changes to Completed.