From 3018da9f322af177f0c115e1045a61c5fe14f250 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: Joe Clark <31087804+jc-clark@users.noreply.github.com>
Date: Fri, 17 Jul 2026 18:06:56 +0000
Subject: [PATCH] Specify feature-based versioning for GHES in always-on
 instructions (#62319)

Co-authored-by: Copilot Autofix powered by AI <175728472+Copilot@users.noreply.github.com>
---
 .github/instructions/content.instructions.md | 11 +++++++++++
 1 file changed, 11 insertions(+)

diff --git a/.github/instructions/content.instructions.md b/.github/instructions/content.instructions.md
index fa81f86f60f3..af961d0bc3d2 100644
--- a/.github/instructions/content.instructions.md
+++ b/.github/instructions/content.instructions.md
@@ -115,6 +115,17 @@ For such content, DO NOT use in-article Liquid versioning such as `{% ifversion
 
 All articles that are ONLY for GitHub Enterprise Server (GHES) should be versioned in the frontmatter using feature-based versioning defined in `data/features/`. 
 
+### Versioning for GHES content: always use feature-based versioning
+
+If content is intended to ship to GitHub Enterprise Server, use **feature-based versioning (FBV)**.
+
+* Do **not** suggest removing GHES frontmatter versioning or hardcode version strings (for example, `free-pro-team@latest`) just to make links or tests pass.
+* If CI fails because a GHES link cannot be built, treat that as a versioning mismatch—not a signal to de-scope GHES.
+* Add or reuse the appropriate feature flag in `data/features/`. Use it in `versions.feature` frontmatter when an article's availability follows the feature, and use Liquid conditionals only for version-specific blocks within a broader article.
+* Keep frontmatter and in-article versioning aligned so links render for every supported version.
+
+For guidance, see [About feature-based versioning](https://docs.github.com/en/contributing/writing-for-github-docs/versioning-documentation#about-feature-based-versioning).
+
 ### FPT, GHEC, GHES articles
 
 All articles that are versioned for all of FPT, GHEC, and GHES in the frontmatter MAY require certain blocks of content to be versioned using in-article Liquid versioning. Before recommending this, check if this is really the case.