Model versions and the monthly lineup
Dropstone numbers each lineup with the year and the month it was cut, and a new version ships only when a tier's pick changes. How to read the number, and which lineup you get.
Fast, Pro, and Heavy are names that stay the same. Behind them the lineup is versioned, so you can always tell which set of models you are on.
What the number means
A version is written as two numbers, for example 1.8.
- The first number is the year.
- The number after the dot is the month the lineup was cut.
So 1.8 is the eighth lineup of the first year, and 2.1 would be the first lineup of the second year.
When a new version ships
The lineup is re-evaluated every month. A new version ships when a tier's pick changes. If the same three models win again, the version does not move.
A version bump always means something changed, so a number worth watching is a number worth trusting.
Which lineups you can choose from
The selector keeps two: the current lineup, and the previous one behind More models. In Dropstone Chat that is the button at the foot of the composer, and in the CLI it is /models.
Only the immediately previous lineup is kept. Anything older is retired. Dropstone lineup history is the table of every lineup that has shipped, including the retired ones.
Which lineup you get
If you do not name a version, you get the latest one.
- In Dropstone Chat and the CLI, the tier you pick runs the current lineup.
- Through the API, a request for
dropstone-fast,dropstone-pro, ordropstone-heavyresolves to the current lineup at the moment it runs. A script that names a tier without a version follows the lineup forward on its own.
To hold a tier still, name the version: dropstone-fast-1.7 runs the model that 1.7 put in that slot. The CLI reference and API access cover where to set it.
A version pin only works while that lineup is kept. Name a version that has been retired and the request is refused, because the model behind it is gone. Drop the version and name the tier on its own to run the current lineup. Troubleshoot error messages covers the wording on each surface.
Seeing which version you are on
The model selector in Dropstone Chat shows the version next to the tier. In the CLI, /models shows the same.
Which model am I using? covers the full record, including how to see which model handled a past request.
Staying on a version, or going back
The CLI can pin a tier to a specific version, and can reveal the previous generation, so a project that depends on one model's behaviour can stay on it. The CLI reference documents both.
Does a version change affect my work?
No. Your conversations, your projects, and your memory belong to your account, not to a version. When the lineup moves, the next reply comes from the new model and everything else stays where it is.
Related articles
- Which AI models does Dropstone use?Dropstone runs three tiers. On the 1.8 lineup, Fast runs DeepSeek V4.1 Flash, Pro runs GLM-5.3 Flash, and Heavy runs Kimi K3, re-evaluated every month.
- Dropstone lineup historyEvery Dropstone model lineup from 1.5 to 1.8, with the open-weight model that filled each tier. 1.8 is in service, 1.7 is still selectable, and 1.5 and 1.6 are retired.
- How Dropstone chooses its modelsEvery month Blankline re-evaluates the open-weight models available for each Dropstone tier against three tests, how well it does the work, what it costs to serve, and how safely it behaves with tools. A model has to beat the one already in the slot.
- Which model am I using?The button at the foot of the composer names the tier, the lineup version and the effort level, and your usage page records which model handled each request.
- Choose a modelHow to pick between Dropstone Fast, Pro, and Heavy, where the selector lives in chat and in the CLI, and why the name Fast describes what a tier costs rather than how fast the model inside it runs.