LoginSign Up
← Back to all sparks
C

CoolProp

DEVOPS
Velocity0.0

Thermophysical property library for fluids

github.com/CoolProp/CoolProp ↗

CoolProp 8.0 bought sub-microsecond property lookups — and shipped a desktop app alongside it.

thermophysical propertiestabular interpolationrefpropdesktop guicode signingrefrigerants
◆Current state
CoolProp released 8.0.0 in June 2026 after a long 7.x period, and paired it the same day with the first signed release of a Desktop GUI that had spent two months in unsigned alphas. The library release is dense: an SVD-compressed tabular backend giving sub-microsecond per-probe evaluation in the batched path, mass-basis vapor quality across HEOS and REFPROP, Chebyshev superancillaries for the SRK and Peng-Robinson cubics, a large fluid and mixture library expansion including the 2026 ASHRAE Standard 34 blends, and thread-safety work.
◆Where it's heading
The project is moving on two fronts that reinforce each other: making evaluation fast enough to sit inside simulation inner loops, and putting a real application in front of engineers who previously had to write Python to use it. The new tabular backend being off by default in PropsSI says the maintainers are treating accuracy conservatively while the fast path proves out. The GUI's progression from unsigned alpha to notarized and SignPath-signed release in two months is the clearest sign it is meant as a product, not a demo.
◆Prediction
Expect the SVDSBTL backend's default-off flag to be revisited once conformance data accumulates, and the GUI to continue on its own version line now that the signing and auto-update pipeline is live.

◆Recent moves

  1. 1mo ago

    Desktop GUI 8.0.0: signed, notarized, and self-updating

    The GUI leaves alpha on the same day as the 8.0.0 library release: macOS builds are signed and notarized, Windows is signed via SignPath, and latest.json wires up the in-app auto-updater. The signing pipeline described as dormant in the April alphas is now live, which is the difference between a build users have to work around and one they can install.

    View source ↗
  2. 1mo ago

    CoolProp 8.0.0: SVD-compressed tables give sub-microsecond property lookups

    ⚡ SPARK

    The major release the 7.x line was building toward, and the tabular backend is the centerpiece — sub-microsecond per-probe evaluation in the batched fast_evaluate path, at IAPWS-G13-15 conformance for water. Mass-basis vapor quality lands across HEOS and REFPROP with eight new input pairs, Chebyshev superancillaries make the SRK and Peng-Robinson saturation curves fast and robust, and the fluid library absorbs the 2026 ASHRAE Standard 34 blends.

    View source ↗
  3. 3mo ago

    CoolProp GUI gui-v7.2.1-alpha.2

    The second GUI alpha, still shipping unsigned on macOS and Windows with most of the release note given over to Gatekeeper and SmartScreen workarounds. The notes state the signing pipeline is fully implemented but dormant pending repo secrets — which lands two months later in 8.0.0.

    View source ↗
  4. 3mo ago

    First public alpha of the CoolProp Desktop GUI

    CoolProp gets a desktop application for the first time: an AbstractState-based property calculator with twelve input pairs, multi-panel saturation tables with TSV copy, and a humid-air psychrometric chart with iso-line overlays and live hover readout. Unsigned and arm64-only on macOS at this stage, but it is the start of the surface that 8.0.0 ships properly.

    View source ↗