# Releases & Health | Sentry for Zap

A release is a version of your code that is deployed to an [environment](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/go/guides/zap/configuration/environments.md). When you give Sentry information about your releases, you can:

* Determine issues and regressions introduced in a new release
* Predict which commit caused an issue and who is likely responsible
* Resolve issues by including the issue number in your commit message
* Receive email notifications when your code gets deployed

## [Bind the Version](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/go/guides/zap/configuration/releases.md#bind-the-version)

Include a release ID (often called a "version") when you initialize the SDK.

There are some release name restrictions and conventions to be aware of. [Learn more about naming releases](https://docs.sentry.io/product/releases/naming-releases.md).

Releases can also be auto-created by different systems—for example, when uploading a source map, or by some clients when an event that is tagged with a release is ingested. Therefore, it's important to set the release name when building and deploying your application. Learn more in our [Releases](https://docs.sentry.io/platform-redirect.md?next=/configuration/releases/) documentation.

## [Setting a Release](https://docs.sentry.io/platforms/go/guides/zap/configuration/releases.md#setting-a-release)

```go
sentry.Init(sentry.ClientOptions{
	// ...
	Release: "my-project-name@1.0.0",
})
```

How you make the release name (or version) available to your code is up to you. For example, you could use an environment variable that is set during the build process or during initial start-up.

Setting the release name tags each event with that release name. We recommend that you tell Sentry about a new release before sending events with that release name, as this will unlock a few more features. Learn more in our [Releases](https://docs.sentry.io/product/releases.md) documentation.

If you don't tell Sentry about a new release, Sentry will automatically create a release entity in the system the first time it sees an event with that release ID.

After configuring your SDK, you can install a repository integration or manually supply Sentry with your own commit metadata. Read our documentation about [setting up releases](https://docs.sentry.io/product/releases/setup.md) for further information about integrations, associating commits, and telling Sentry when deploying releases.
