---
title: "Support states and the grace period | CREED docs"
description: "How a version moves from Active to Security, to Eol on the day after security_until, and to EolGraceExpired after the 90-day grace."
url: https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/guides/support-states.html
llms: https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/llms.txt
generator: Squire agent-ready
---

# Support states and the grace period[#](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/guides/support-states.html#support-states-and-the-grace-period)

This page explains how a version moves through the states `Active`, `Security`, `Eol` and `EolGraceExpired`, and what the reader does with versions it has never heard of.

## With Arms Wide Open[#](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/guides/support-states.html#with-arms-wide-open)

The support window stays open until `security_until`. A version is still `Security` on that day, moves to `Eol` the day after, and stays in `Eol` for `eol_grace_days` (90) more days before it is `EolGraceExpired`. The boundary is inclusive, and the reader never guesses.

![Form CR-1 from the front page, filled in four times from policy.json and stamped: PHP 8.2 on 2026-10-29 is Security only, 63 days left; PHP 8.2 on 2027-01-01 is EOL, in grace until 2027-03-31; PHP 8.1 on 2026-10-29 is past grace; Laravel 13 on 2026-10-29 is Supported.](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/readme/form-cr1.svg)

Form CR-1, as the front page fills it in: four real rows of `policy/policy.json`, the same answers `Policy::stateOf` gives, stamped.

## Versions CREED hasn't heard of[#](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/guides/support-states.html#versions-creed-hasn-t-heard-of)

The reader refuses what it does not know, except the newest thing and the oldest. A version that sorts above every line the policy lists is `Active`, and `isAheadOfPolicy()` says so. A version that parses and sorts below every listed line is `Eol`: it is older than the oldest listed line, and that is end of life by definition. `belowOldestLineReason()` gives the reason, `older than the oldest listed line (8.1)`. A version that falls between listed lines, or that does not parse, is still unknown, and still throws. Current versions are never refused.

A line marked `"current": true` is `Active` on every date and carries no `security_until`: the policy says the line is current, and the reader does not guess when it stops being so.

## Higher[#](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/guides/support-states.html#higher)

CREED itself requires PHP `^8.3`, like every stack package, and CI tests it on 8.3, 8.4 and 8.5. The policy's floor for apps is a different number: `^8.2` until PHP 8.2 reaches end of life on 2026-12-31, then `^8.3`. Creed has always been one version ahead of everyone else, at least by his own account.

## Related[#](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/guides/support-states.html#related)

- [Reading the policy from PHP](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/guides/reading-the-policy.html)
- [Reader API](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/docs/reference/api.html)
- [The versions chapter](https://creed.apps.wayne.edu/handbook/versions.html)