In this post, I point out how one can participate in the prerelease (including seeing its substantial docs and obtaining the prerelease update adding the new features). I can't share news of what's IN the new version, per the info available in those prerelease docs. But in a follow-on post I will offer links to the recordings of several recent Adobe webinars, from mid-April 2026, where Adobe CF team members shared several hours of presentations about what's coming (again on more than just the new AI features).

Here are the topics I cover in this post.

• Accessing the prerelease"
• Available prerelease docs: hundreds of pages
• Available prerelease forums
• Implementing the prerelease: via an update or via a new CF2025 installer
• What the new installers offer, if used
• What about CF2023?
• What about CF2026? Seems it will be a CF2027
• When is this CF2025 update coming out? That's NOT been announced. Where to watch

Accessing the prerelease

Some of you may well be surprised to hear that there IS a prerelease for this update. It's been open for a few months, as discussed by Adobe on their site and in various social media (but hey, if you don't know, you don't know).

You can sign up for the prerelease here: https://www.adobeprerelease.com/beta/2730181C-CD48-41E9-FA75-BBBF84A7E8A3. (Note that you can visit the simpler link, adobeprerelease.com to see what, if any, Adobe prereleases may be available. Note also that sometimes they leave listed there ones that ended long ago.) FWIW, the links also work as prerelease.adobe.com, for those more familiar with that subdomain.

If it's your first time participating in an Adobe prerelease, you will be asked to agree to an NDA (not to share information made available only to prerelease participants). And yes, I realize that me even posting this borders on breaking "the first rule of fight club", but I feel safe that what I'm sharing is kosher (again, Adobe DID offer those public webinars in April, which I will be linking to in another post shortly.)

Available prerelease docs: hundreds of pages

Once you sign up and enter the prerelease area, you'll find on its downloads page a link to a zip for the docs--which are substantial for this prerelease, literally hundreds of pages (as mentioned in the webinars discussed above).

Available prerelease forums

Note as well that once you're in the prerelease area, there is an available forums area, where both announcements about the prerelease are made and "general discussions" are shared where prerelease participants can share information and observations between themselves and with Adobe.

That said, I find that when visiting the site in my mobile browser (Chrome on Android) I do NOT see any link to the forums...but I know they exist from visiting the site on desktop. That's why I have just shared the two links here. Since you have to be signed up to the prerelease to SEE it, I trust this is not itself a violation of the NDA.

Implementing the prerelease: via an update or via a new CF2025 installer

You will also see in that prerelease site's downloads page that there are available new CF2025 installers offered. These are for those who may want to install CF2025 anew, with it including this new update.

But again this IS indeed a CF2025 update, so the prerelease site offers instructions on how to instead ADD this prerelease update to an EXISTING CF2025 instance. (During the prerelease, at least, this entails changing the download location for the update to a different location than the default.)

And as I noted at the outset, the AI functionality itself is indeed implemented as a new "package", so you can optionally chose NOT to install it (or uninstall it) if you don't want it. There are other packages updated as part of this CF update, as is typical of many other CF updates.

What the new installers offer, if used

Back the the new installers, one may wonder why they'd bother doing that. It's not new. There have been past CF updates (to CF2023 and 2021 and earlier), where after several updates they come out with one that also offers such "refreshed installers", as they tend to call them then.

The primary benefit may seem that it provides for a new installer that already includes that then-latest update. (To be clear, they do NOT create new installers for EVERY CF update.) But usually it's that the new ("refreshed") installers also offer something else new (which can't be implemented solely via a CF update).

Commonly it's support for a new OS version...and many have been asking "when will ColdFusion support Windows Server 2025?" Sadly, it had come out AFTER CF2025 was released (in Feb 2025). It seems reasonable to expect that these refreshed installers will incorporate that support. Maybe they will also support recent updates to other OS's (Mac and Linux).

To be clear, there's mention of this change of OS support in the prerelease docs (I feel safe saying that). As for whether it was indicated in any of the several hours of Adobe webinars on the coming update, which I mentioned above, I don't know. I haven't yet watched EACH of them. If anyone else has and can say, please to let me know.

What about CF2023?

Note that this update cannot be added to CF2023, as far as I know.

Yes, that version is indeed still currently "supported" by Adobe and gets updates (as happened last in Apr 2026, as I write, and which I blogged about when it came out.

It's unclear to me if there will ever be an update for CF2023 to provide what this update does. If not, it will be the first such update where it's provided for ONE supported CF version but not another supported CF version...which may lead to interesting times down the road.)

Again, I don't recall hearing that mentioned in the webinars on the coming update. But if anyone else heard it, or if Adobe may want to comment either way, I welcome your comments.

What about CF2026? Seems it will be a CF2027

I mentioned at the outset that this was to be an update and NOT a "CF2026". Will there be a ColdFusion 2026? Apparently not. Instead it seems there won't be a new "version" until 2027, so perhaps it will be called CF2027. CF Evangelist Mark Takata addressed this briefly in his intro webinar of the series on the prerelease, again whose recording links I'll offer in another post shortly.

When is this CF2025 update coming out? That's NOT been announced. Where to watch

Finally, Adobe has not announced when the update (and refreshed installers) will be coming out. This is their typical MO (modus operandi), so nothing new here. It will just be announced some day in coming days or weeks (likely, based on the release of the webinars and some other public discussions).

Could there be another urgent security update that comes out beforehand? Maybe. Again, we never know.

Keep an eye out on the Adobe CF community forums and the Adobe CF portal, where they usually do announce new updates. And of course you can watch my blog here, as I create a new post for CF (and Java) updates (pointing to such resources and offering more thoughts).

You can also keep an eye out on social media. Sometimes Adobe posts things on LinkedIn or Facebook (there are CF groups for each) or the CF Slack. I will note that I offer a list of such CF community resources as a category of my CF411 site. See my list of CF community help resources.

Again, the update is about (a LOT of) new AI features in CF, but also other things, so check it out--whether during the prerelease or when it's finally released.

Until then, hope this post is helpful to some readers. Interesting times. We'll see how it all shakes out!

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