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Umbraco cuts release candidates on three branches at once and is paying down backoffice startup cost.

cmsdotnetbackoffice-performancecomponent-librarymulti-branch-releasesdependency-security
◆Current state
All three visible entries are release candidates, published across three live branches — 18.1, 17.6 and the long-term 13.16 — with 18.1 and 17.6 cut on the same day and sharing most of their pull requests. The 17.6 candidate is the substantive one: a block of backoffice performance work (coalesced JavaScript chunks, manifests embedded to cut startup requests, parallelized boot API calls, a new content index) alongside new UFM and picker components and configurable scheduled publishing. Several dependency entries are security-driven — MessagePack updated for advisories, SQLitePCLRaw pinned off a vulnerable build.
◆Where it's heading
Two threads run through the new-generation branches. One is making the rewritten backoffice cheap to boot, attacking request count rather than payload size — the classic sign that a single-page admin rewrite has hit its startup-latency wall. The other is filling in the component and property-editor surface (element pickers with value summaries and type validation, media thumbnails, member and element name components) so the new extension model has parts to build with. The 13.x LTS gets dependency maintenance only, which is the expected end-of-life shape.
◆Prediction
Expect these candidates to promote to stable with the performance set intact, and the next cycle to keep extending property editors and the Management API surface rather than opening a new capability area.

◆Recent moves

  1. 12d ago

    Umbraco 18.1 RC: picker validation, scheduled publishing controls

    The 18.1 candidate, carrying a broad feature list on top of dependency work: an entity-frame component, UFM member and element name components, element picker value summaries and allowed-type validation, configurable scheduled publishing, and Management API endpoints for sorting children by a system field. It is the widest of the three branches and shares most of its changes with the 17.6 candidate cut the same day.

    View source ↗
  2. 12d ago

    Umbraco 17.6 RC: backoffice startup performance push

    The same-day 17.6 candidate, and the clearest statement of the current priority: JavaScript chunks coalesced, package manifests embedded, boot API requests parallelized, tree data requests coalesced and a new content index — all aimed at the number of requests the backoffice makes to start. Ships alongside media URL providers with cache busting and security-driven dependency pins.

    View source ↗
  3. 26d ago

    Umbraco 13.16 RC: MailKit dependency update

    A single dependency update with a nullability fix on the long-term 13 branch. Maintenance-only output, in contrast to the feature work landing on 17 and 18 — the expected shape for an LTS line late in its life.

    View source ↗