diff --git a/.github/dependabot.yaml b/.github/dependabot.yaml
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..11eb34579
--- /dev/null
+++ b/.github/dependabot.yaml
@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+# Set update schedule for GitHub Actions
+
+version: 2
+updates:
+
+  - package-ecosystem: "github-actions"
+    directory: "/"
+    schedule:
+      # Check for updates to GitHub Actions every week
+      interval: "weekly"
\ No newline at end of file
diff --git a/.github/workflows/publish-backend.yaml b/.github/workflows/publish-backend.yaml
index ec628e245..548b0207b 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/publish-backend.yaml
+++ b/.github/workflows/publish-backend.yaml
@@ -15,7 +15,7 @@ jobs:
               uses: actions/checkout@v4
 
             - name: Set up Python
-              uses: actions/setup-python@v3
+              uses: actions/setup-python@v5
               with:
                   python-version: "3.10"
 
diff --git a/.gitignore b/.gitignore
index bdf343d4f..e00be6847 100644
--- a/.gitignore
+++ b/.gitignore
@@ -19,3 +19,6 @@ scripts/pubs_report.txt
 
 ### Test/Coverage ignore
 .coverage
+
+### IDE ignores
+.vscode/*
diff --git a/backend/tests/api/test_api.py b/backend/tests/api/test_api.py
index f1dd3a3ab..606ecd015 100644
--- a/backend/tests/api/test_api.py
+++ b/backend/tests/api/test_api.py
@@ -30,10 +30,10 @@ def test_redoc():
 
 
 def test_releases():
-    response = client.get("/v3/api/releases?limit=1")
+    response = client.get("/v3/api/releases?limit=2")
     assert response.status_code == 200
-    assert response.json()[0]["version"] == "latest"
-
+    releases = [release["version"] for release in response.json()]
+    assert [i in ["latest", "previous"] for i in releases] 
 
 def test_release_metadata():
     response = client.get("/v3/api/releases?release=latest")
diff --git a/frontend/src/global/icons.ts b/frontend/src/global/icons.ts
index 281ffbd32..8f035e516 100644
--- a/frontend/src/global/icons.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/global/icons.ts
@@ -79,6 +79,7 @@ const icons = [
   fas.faTable,
   fas.faUpload,
   fas.faUsers,
+  fas.faUserGear,
   fas.faXmark,
 ];
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/PageHome.vue b/frontend/src/pages/PageHome.vue
index d32802606..189e79bcb 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/PageHome.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/PageHome.vue
@@ -15,6 +15,10 @@
     <TabSearch :minimal="true" :focus-explore="true" />
   </AppSection>
 
+  <AppSection>
+    <AppButton to="/how-to" text="Learn to use Monarch" icon="arrow-right" />
+  </AppSection>
+
   <AppSection>
     <AppHeading>What is Monarch?</AppHeading>
 
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/about/PageHowTo.vue b/frontend/src/pages/about/PageHowTo.vue
new file mode 100644
index 000000000..4522a0530
--- /dev/null
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/about/PageHowTo.vue
@@ -0,0 +1,248 @@
+<!-- 
+  how to
+ -->
+
+<template>
+  <AppSection v-show="true">
+    <AppHeading>How to use Monarch Intiative</AppHeading>
+    <p>
+      The Monarch Initiative is an extensive, cross-species, semantic knowledge
+      graph and ecosystem of tools made for the benefit of informaticians,
+      clinicians, researchers, patients, and more. This section will help you
+      quickly and easily explore the graph on the website, with the API, or
+      using the ecosystem of related tools.
+    </p>
+  </AppSection>
+
+  <AppSection>
+    <AppHeading>What do you want to do with Monarch today?</AppHeading>
+    <AppSelectSingle
+      v-model="selectedOption"
+      name="Sort"
+      :options="selectOptions"
+    />
+    <div v-if="selectedOption.id === 'search'">
+      <AppHeading>
+        Searching for a single gene, disease, or phenotype.
+      </AppHeading>
+      <p>
+        The search bar in the page header allows flexible searching of gene,
+        disease, or phenotype all in one place.
+      </p>
+      <AppHighlight :src="search">
+        <ul>
+          <li>
+            Genes can be searched by common gene name, gene ID, or symbol.
+          </li>
+          <li>Diseases can be searched by name or ID.</li>
+          <li>Phenotypes can be searched by name or ID.</li>
+        </ul>
+      </AppHighlight>
+      <p>
+        Any of these descriptors can be entered into the search bar directly.
+        Press enter or select a suggestion to search.
+      </p>
+      <AppButton
+        to="explore#search"
+        text="Take me to search..."
+        icon="arrow-right"
+      />
+    </div>
+    <div v-if="selectedOption.id === 'textAnnotator'">
+      <AppHeading> Annotating text with terms from the Monarch KG. </AppHeading>
+      <p>
+        Annotate a descriptive text containing symptoms or phenotypes with terms
+        from the Monarch KG.
+      </p>
+      <AppHighlight :src="textAnnotator">
+        <ul>
+          <li>
+            Paste or upload the text containing symptoms or phenotypes in the
+            text box.
+          </li>
+          <li>Click the "Annotate" button.</li>
+          <li>
+            The results will contain your free text with matching terms replaced
+            with Monarch terms.
+          </li>
+        </ul>
+      </AppHighlight>
+      <AppButton
+        to="explore#text-annotator"
+        text="Take me to text annotator..."
+        icon="arrow-right"
+      />
+    </div>
+    <div v-if="selectedOption.id === 'phenotypeExplorer'">
+      <AppHeading> Compare phenotype profiles. </AppHeading>
+      <p>
+        Find similar genes or diseases based on phenotypes using the phenotype
+        explorer. You can also use phenotype explorer to compare two phenotype
+        profiles of your own.
+      </p>
+      <AppHighlight :src="phenotypeExplorer">
+        <ul>
+          <li>
+            Enter the name of a disease or a list of phenotypes in the top
+            search bar
+          </li>
+          <li>
+            Enter another disease, gene, or list of phenotypes you want to
+            compare to
+          </li>
+          <li>Click the "Search" button</li>
+          <li>
+            The results will contain diseases that match the phenotypes or
+            symptoms you entered.
+          </li>
+        </ul>
+      </AppHighlight>
+      <AppButton
+        to="explore#phenotype-explorer"
+        text="Take me to phenotype explorer..."
+        icon="arrow-right"
+      />
+    </div>
+    <div v-if="selectedOption.id === 'monarchAPI'">
+      <AppHeading>
+        Using the Monarch API to integrate the KG into tools.
+      </AppHeading>
+      <p style="padding-bottom: 1.5rem">
+        Monarch provides a RESTful API to access the KG and related services.
+        Here are some of the services built using the Monarch API you can use or
+        to serve as a reference.
+      </p>
+      <AppTile
+        to="http://api-v3.monarchinitiative.org/"
+        icon="code"
+        title="API"
+        subtitle="The API serving this website"
+      />
+      <AppTile
+        to="https://github.com/monarch-initiative/oai-monarch-plugin"
+        icon="user-gear"
+        title="ChatGPT Plugin"
+        subtitle="Monarch KG with ChatGPT"
+      />
+      <AppTile
+        to="https://github.com/monarch-initiative/monarchr"
+        icon="R"
+        title="R Package"
+        subtitle="Monarch KG in R"
+      />
+      <p style="padding-top: 1.5rem">
+        Use the buttons above to go directly to the API documentation, the
+        ChatGPT plugin, or the R package. Or see the further information below.
+      </p>
+      <ul>
+        <li>
+          Monarch provides a RESTful API which we use to develop the website and
+          for other tools we provide. You are welcome to use the API for your
+          own projects. For more information
+          <AppLink to="http://api-v3.monarchinitiative.org/"
+            >see the API documentation</AppLink
+          >.
+        </li>
+        <li>
+          A ChatGPT plugin uses calls to the Monarch API to process casual
+          language questions about genes, diseases, and phenotypes. The plugin
+          uses the API to get information from the KG on identified terms.
+          Responses are tailored to a more general audience and may be easier
+          for non-experts to understand. For further reading please
+          <AppLink
+            to="https://monarchinit.medium.com/knowledge-backed-ai-with-monarch-a-match-made-in-heaven-a8296eec6b9f"
+          >
+            see the announcement paper
+          </AppLink>
+          or you can go straight to the
+          <AppLink
+            to="https://github.com/monarch-initiative/oai-monarch-plugin"
+          >
+            GitHub repository </AppLink
+          >.
+        </li>
+        <li>
+          The Monarch R package provides easy access, manipulation, and analysis
+          of Monarch KG data resources from R. For more information please see
+          the
+          <AppLink to="https://github.com/monarch-initiative/monarchr">
+            MonarchR GitHub repository </AppLink
+          >.
+        </li>
+      </ul>
+    </div>
+    <div v-if="selectedOption.id === 'about'">
+      <AppHeading> More information about the Monarch Initiative. </AppHeading>
+      <p style="padding-bottom: 1.5rem">
+        Here are some quick links for some of the most frequently requested
+        information about the Monarch Initiative. For additional information,
+        please see
+        <AppLink to="about"> our about page </AppLink>.
+      </p>
+      <AppTile
+        to="/cite"
+        icon="feather-pointed"
+        title="Cite"
+        subtitle="How to cite and attribute Monarch"
+      />
+      <AppTile
+        to="/overview"
+        icon="cogs"
+        title="Overview"
+        subtitle="How all the pieces of Monarch fit together"
+      />
+      <AppTile
+        to="/team"
+        icon="users"
+        title="Team"
+        subtitle="The people behind Monarch"
+      />
+      <AppTile
+        to="https://monarch-initiative.github.io/monarch-ingest/Sources"
+        icon="database"
+        title="Sources"
+        subtitle="Datasets, ontologies, and downloads"
+      />
+      <p style="padding-top: 1.5rem">
+        Use the buttons above to go directly to the information listed.
+        Additional information may be available on the about page.
+      </p>
+      <AppButton
+        to="about"
+        text="Take me to the full about page..."
+        icon="arrow-right"
+      />
+    </div>
+  </AppSection>
+</template>
+
+<script setup lang="ts">
+import { ref } from "vue";
+import phenotypeExplorer from "@/assets/demos/phenotype-explorer.mp4";
+import search from "@/assets/demos/search.mp4";
+import textAnnotator from "@/assets/demos/text-annotator.mp4";
+import AppHighlight from "@/components/AppHighlight.vue";
+import AppSelectSingle, { type Option } from "@/components/AppSelectSingle.vue";
+
+const selectOptions: Option[] = [
+  { id: "none_selected", label: "I want to..." },
+  {
+    id: "search",
+    label: "Search and use information about a gene, disease, or phenotype...",
+  },
+  {
+    id: "textAnnotator",
+    label: "Annotate a patients symptoms to terms in the Monarch KG...",
+  },
+  {
+    id: "phenotypeExplorer",
+    label: "Find similar diseases based on a phenotypes or symptoms...",
+  },
+  {
+    id: "monarchAPI",
+    label: "Use the Monarch API with tools like ChatGPT/LLM or R...",
+  },
+  { id: "about", label: "Find additional information about..." },
+];
+const selectedOption = ref(selectOptions[0]);
+</script>
diff --git a/frontend/src/pages/node/AssociationsTable.vue b/frontend/src/pages/node/AssociationsTable.vue
index 65e622d15..31cf6ba98 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pages/node/AssociationsTable.vue
+++ b/frontend/src/pages/node/AssociationsTable.vue
@@ -281,6 +281,7 @@ const {
   isLoading,
   isError,
 } = useQuery(
+  // eslint-disable-next-line @typescript-eslint/no-unused-vars
   async function (fresh: boolean) /**
    * whether to perform "fresh" search, without filters/pagination/etc. true when
    * search text changes, false when filters/pagination/etc change.
diff --git a/frontend/src/router/index.ts b/frontend/src/router/index.ts
index ee83ad215..591e51f78 100644
--- a/frontend/src/router/index.ts
+++ b/frontend/src/router/index.ts
@@ -123,6 +123,11 @@ export const routes: RouteRecordRaw[] = [
     name: "Outreach",
     component: asyncRoute("about/PageOutreach"),
   },
+  {
+    path: "/how-to",
+    name: "HowTo",
+    component: asyncRoute("about/PageHowTo"),
+  },
 
   /** resources page */
   {