# Roadmap for 2.1 Release

**URL:** <https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/roadmap-for-2-1-release/7522>\
**Category:** Development\
**Created:** [September 10, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/roadmap-for-2-1-release/7522 "2026-09-10T14:39:29Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/ghutchis/32/456_2.png) [@ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/ghutchis)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/roadmap-for-2-1-release/7522/1 "2026-09-10T14:39:29Z")

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The plan is for a v2.1 release on 23 October 2026 (or 10/23 here in the US = “Mole Day” as part of National Chemistry Week).

That means I’d like to have a “freeze” for bug-fixes, documentation, translation updates, etc. around 1 October (i.e., about 3 weeks).

If you have bugs or feature requests that you really want to see, please reply below. (I’ll be editing this over the next few days as well.)

- 🚀 **Performance**
  - Faster geometry optimization & auto-opt tool
  - Faster MO and electron density rendering (~20-25x faster)
  - Faster ORCA parsing

- ⭐ **Features**
  - Improved navigation support
  - Improved conformer / trajectory support
  - Initial polymer builder
  - Batch calculations of energies and forces
  - Support for custom atom, bond, residue, and conformer properties
    - Reworking vibrations to allow per-conformer (step) Hessians

  - Extend conformer plot to track distance scans
    - Record optimizations / dynamics from auto-opt tool

  - Transparent compression support (for `.gz`, `.bz2` `.xz` and `.zstd` files)
  - New Z-matrix / internal coordinate editor
    - Support for at least _some_ input generators (e.g., ORCA, Gaussian, Q-Chem, MOPAC)

- 🪲 **Bug Fixes**
  - Windows crash diagnostic (Sentry) builds
  - Fix for Windows problems with Gaussian `.out` files
  - Fix for missing conformers from Open Babel
  - A variety of `pixi` and plugin fixes
  - A huge variety of bug fixes

- 🔌 **Plugins and Automation**
  - Improved automation support, including example scripts
    - Initial MCP and Skill for LLM automation

  - Progress dialogs for plugins, including # of steps, energies, etc.

- 🧰 **Build Updates**
  - Windows ARM support

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/ghutchis/32/456_2.png) [@ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/ghutchis)\
**Post date:** [September 10, 2026, 2:46pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/roadmap-for-2-1-release/7522/2 "2026-09-10T14:46:12Z")

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I also mentioned (based on the survey) that I’d be setting out some “help wanted” and “good first issue” options - most of which don’t take a lot of time, but would be very helpful.

- **Please** test the continuous builds and report bugs or issues you find
- If you use Windows and have experienced crashes, please let me know so you can try the new Sentry diagnostic builds (with a crash reporter)
- If you have a moment, please reply if there are parts of the documentation that are missing or confusing (e.g., a bunch of comments from the survey were features that already exist)

I’ll have a few more, but these are definitely the 3 most helpful things right now.

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**Author:** ![ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/ghutchis/32/456_2.png) [@ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/ghutchis)\
**Post date:** [September 13, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/roadmap-for-2-1-release/7522/3 "2026-09-13T19:51:40Z")

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A few thoughts for “beyond 2.1” development effort:

- WebAssembly / `avogadro-web` release
- Improved scripting / automation support
- Improved crystal / materials tools
  - Integrated CIF support, including partial occupation (also helps PDB)
    - Likely using [gemmi](https://gemmi.readthedocs.io/en/latest/) library

  - Further improvement in crystal packing / slicing
  - Integrated slab generation, view by Miller plane, etc.

More ideas / wishlist items?

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/user_avatar/discuss.avogadro.cc/ghutchis/32/456_2.png) [@ghutchis](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/u/ghutchis)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2026, 11:39am UTC](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/roadmap-for-2-1-release/7522/4 "2026-09-14T11:39:35Z")

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2 posts were split to a new topic: [Show and Hide Hydrogens](https://discuss.avogadro.cc/t/show-and-hide-hydrogens/7525)