FreeCAD Files

This is the first release candidate for FreeCAD 26.3, the first complete build of the work done since 1.1. We are near the finish line: what is needed now is testing, so that any remaining blocking bugs surface before the final release.

A note on the version number: 26.3 follows 1.1. Nothing was skipped and nothing was renamed. FreeCAD has moved to three releases per year on fixed dates with calendar-based version numbers, so the next releases will be 27.1, 27.2 and 27.3.

What we need from you:

• Download the build for your operating system from the assets below and run it against your own work. Real models and real workflows find things that test suites do not.
• Report anything new and not yet reported here (please use the search): https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/issues
• Regressions against 1.1 are the most valuable reports at this stage. If something worked in 1.1 and does not work here, say so explicitly.

🛑 There are still open blockers and known critical issues for 26.3: https://github.com/FreeCAD/FreeCAD/issues?q=is%3Aissue%20state%3Aopen%20label%3A%22Blocker%22

The number can go up over the next weeks as more people test, and that is a good sign rather than a bad one. It means the final release will be more polished.

If you are a developer and want to help, pick an issue from that list (or any other bug report), write a fix, and open a pull request against main, or build and test open PRs with the 26.3 milestone. We discuss submitted patches at the weekly merge meetings on Mondays: https://www.freecad.org/events.php

📋 What is new in 26.3: https://wiki.freecad.org/Release_notes_26.3

Some defaults and behaviours changed, so it is worth reading the release notes and start with a fresh configuration. Please do not use a release candidate for production work, and keep backups of any file you open with it.

🦾 If you want to help the community to make data-driven decisions about FreeCAD changes, install the optional Telemetry addon in the Addon Manager.

Further release candidates follow roughly every two weeks, with the final release targeted for November if no blocker remains. Weekly development builds are published alongside these and will appear above this release in the list as 27.1.0-dev, so make sure you are testing this tag and not a weekly.