Roadmaps – GIMP Developer
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Core Development
Roadmaps
Feature Prioritization
GIMP 3.4
GIMP 3.6
Development Focus
Miscellaneous
Archived Roadmaps
Setting up your developer environment
GIMP Coding Style
Submit your first patch
Debugging GIMP
Algorithms
UX Team Specifications
GIMP and Standards
Maintainer Corner
Internship programs
Resource Development
API References
GIMP 2.10 > GIMP 3.0 porting guide
About Plug-ins and Filters
How to write a plug-in
How to write a filter
Script-Fu User Guide
Debugging Plug-ins
Distributing plugins
GIMP Developer Conferences
GIMP Developers Conference 2000
GIMP Developers Conference 2003
GIMP Developers Conference 2004
GIMP Developers Conference 2005
GIMP Developers Conference 2006
Libre Graphics 2007: Montréal, Canada
Libre Graphics 2008: Wrocław, Poland
Libre Graphics 2009: Montréal, Canada
Libre Graphics 2010: Brussels, Belgium
IRC developer meeting — 2011 February 28
IRC developer meeting — 2011 March 14
IRC developer meeting — 2011 March 28
IRC developer meeting — 2011 April 19
Libre Graphics 2011: Montréal, Canada
Libre Graphics 2012: Vienna, Austria
Libre Graphics 2013: Madrid, Spain
Libre Graphics 2014: Leipzig, Germany
Wilber Week 2023: Amsterdam, Netherland
Libre Graphics 2024: Rennes, France
FOSDEM 2025: Brussels, Belgium
Libre Graphics 2025: Nuremberg, Germany
Wilber Week 2025: El Bruc, Spain
FAQ
About
Core Development
Roadmaps
Setting up your developer environment
GIMP Coding Style
Submit your first patch
Debugging GIMP
Algorithms
UX Team Specifications
GIMP and Standards
Maintainer Corner
Internship programs
Resource Development
API References
GIMP 2.10 > GIMP 3.0 porting guide
About Plug-ins and Filters
How to write a plug-in
How to write a filter
Script-Fu User Guide
Debugging Plug-ins
Distributing plugins
GIMP Developer Conferences
GIMP Developers Conference 2000
GIMP Developers Conference 2003
GIMP Developers Conference 2004
GIMP Developers Conference 2005
GIMP Developers Conference 2006
Libre Graphics 2007: Montréal, Canada
Libre Graphics 2008: Wrocław, Poland
Libre Graphics 2009: Montréal, Canada
Libre Graphics 2010: Brussels, Belgium
IRC developer meeting — 2011 February 28
IRC developer meeting — 2011 March 14
IRC developer meeting — 2011 March 28
IRC developer meeting — 2011 April 19
Libre Graphics 2011: Montréal, Canada
Libre Graphics 2012: Vienna, Austria
Libre Graphics 2013: Madrid, Spain
Libre Graphics 2014: Leipzig, Germany
Wilber Week 2023: Amsterdam, Netherland
Libre Graphics 2024: Rennes, France
FOSDEM 2025: Brussels, Belgium
Libre Graphics 2025: Nuremberg, Germany
Wilber Week 2025: El Bruc, Spain
Frequently Asked Questions
About this Site
Core Development
Roadmaps
Roadmaps
Feature Prioritization
This page shows roughly how the core development team plans GIMP evolution.
The absence of features from these roadmaps doesn’t mean we are not
interested: since GIMP is developed as a community, all it takes to
revise priority is for someone to contribute.
Our roadmaps are not “holy truth”, they are flexible and evolving.
The bottom line is that GIMP is what we all make of it. There is no
single company or entity heading the software (code admission is based
on quality and usefulness, not dictated by someone’s business).
GIMP 3.4
List of features for which some work was started and we hope to have in GIMP 3.4:
Feature
Status
Comments
Modern default set of resources
WIP
See
#307
Filters on layer mask
WIP
!2528
Vector layer mask
WIP
!2522
New XCF format
Discussed
An archive-based format should allow us more easily to load data on-use, therefore allowing much bigger project files (ex.: page and animation)
Auto-save
No
It will make use of the new XCF format based on GEGL buffers.
High-end CMYK support
WIP
As a backend pixel storage. See
!2379
and
early experiments
. Also see
the main GIMP FAQ
for details
Layer effects and adjustement layers import from PSD
WIP
Some legacy effects
only are supported right now). Depends on Photoshop descriptor handling (
!2338
).
Layer effects export to PSD
WIP
Second step of the Photoshop descriptor handling
Re-Enable OpenCL?
WIP
With
GSoC 2024 work
and recent work on OpenCL in GIMP core’s GEGL ops (
!2414
and
!2415
), we may experiment re-enabling OpenCL
Paint Select tool
playground
Released as experimental in 2.99.4, needs work
Rework of Foreground Select tool
Designing
This tool definitely requires usability and workflow rework; rethinking it as a Particle Select tool (hair, fur, etc.), in combination wih Paint Select for rough selection part (hence foreground selection) of the work is also worth investigating (cf. next item).
Particle Select tool
No
See
comment on issue 2912
The Foreground selection interaction should be reworked as a tool to select particles or object borders
Milestone 3.4 in Gitlab
GIMP 3.6
List of features for which some work was started and we hope to have in GIMP 3.6:
Feature
Status
Comments
Core animation
WIP
Animation plug-in is dropped, this is being rewritten as a core feature
Page support
WIP
Proper document’s “page” concept (instead of using layers)
Inpainting tool
No
Feature long-available with resynthesizer third-party plug-in; would deserve GEGL-based core implementation
Development Focus
We have several focus projects these days.
These will happen on minor point releases (when the second number of the
version increases) as micro point releases (third number increment) is
for bug fixes.
The features are gathered per topic below, though they may be spread
through several releases.
Non-destructive editing
Some work has been started already around new types of layers, which
will also be the start point for new tools (such as a
Shape Tool
which
makes sense as a vector tool).
Feature
Status
Comments
Shape tool
No
Easily create circles, rectangles, N-side polygons, stars etc. Either a new tool or a rewrite of the path tool with shape options
Less destructive transform
WIP
Squash successive transforms into a single matrix and merge the result as just-on-time before other types of edits
Non-destructive filters
A first implementation of non-destructive filters was released in
GIMP 3.0
Note that both adjustment layers and layer effects/styles are the
terminologies currently used in requests by users.
Feature
Status
Comments
Better GUI for layer effects
Specified
See
UX specs
. We might have to reimplement the item dockable widgets.
Graph view
Discussed
As an alternative to the layer view, a graph-based view is regularly discussed. See
gimp-ux#240
Animation and multi-page support
Long-term work has been done around animation concepts. It will also bring
multi-page ability.
Feature
Status
Comments
Story-board mode
WIP
Improved export
WIP
More ability to export full-document, per-page, per layers… Web exports and alternative views were also discussed.
Macros (script recording)
Ultimate continuation of a work which started in GIMP 2.10 and 3.0, where we started to
store parameters of every successful filter’s runs and plug-in’s runs.
Same should happen for tool usage.
Finally we need the proper infrastructure to allow
replaying
actions
Feature
Status
Comments
Action storage infrastructure
No
Class (
GimpMacro
?) to handle a “recording” which can be replayed
Store GEGL ops, plug-in runs, GIMP actions and tool use
WIP
These must be recordable in a
GimpMacro
On-disk storage
No
GimpMacro
must be serializable and deserializable across sessions
Script-export
No
GimpMacro
should also be exportable in “code form” which can be reused as a plug-in
Macro tweak
No
GimpMacro
should be viewable and tweakable: e.g. you could trigger a recorded drawing at a higher resolution!
Script recording and playback
No
#8
Extensions
The work was started for GIMP 3.0 for which we originally hoped to finalize the
new concept of “GIMP extensions”, a new wrapper format (
.gex
) which can embed
plug-ins, brushes, dynamics, themes and other data, (un)installable in 1 or 2
clicks.
The core infrastructure is already present since GIMP 3.0, but we also want to
make this public with a new online infrastructure, allowing third-party
extension creators to upload their extensions and everyone to browse available
ones.
Feature
Status
Comments
Icon themes in extensions
done
Themes in extensions
done
Brushes in extensions
done
Plug-ins in extensions
nearly done
plug-ins cannot be disabled or enabled live (without GIMP restart) yet
GEGL operations in extensions
No
Installing extensions from
.gex
file
done
Extension website
WIP
repository
has been created yet is still quite bare.
Searching, installing from remote repository
WIP
In-GIMP GUI for extension display
WIP
The dialog exists, but it’s an early very-ugly implementation
Bi-direction core ⇆ plug-ins communication
WIP
!120
Allow core to send signals for plug-ins to react
Space Invasion
“Space Invasion” is the codename for a long-lived project, started with GIMP
2.10 development, i.e.
back in
2012
. The concept is to
make GIMP more than a sRGB editor. First we focused on anyRGB, but nowadays we
are even more into anySpace support. We want to be able to edit images with CMYK
backend too (right now, we can do CMYK 🗘 RGB roundtrips which is nice but not
enough), also allowing random channels (e.g. spot color channels), and of course
why not CIELAB images or whatever could be useful.
HDR support is definitely also a good target eventually.
Feature
Status
Comments
Spot Color support
No
Ability to add more channels for printing.
Reviewing/Improving Indexed color mode
No
Our Indexed mode is limited and not so well maintained. Make a review of how people use it and how to improve it would be a nice project.
Tools
We have been planning several new interesting tools or tool enhancements. Some
are still only conceptual, though some already have experimental implementations
which we consider not in a releasable state.
Feature
Status
Comments
Seamless Clone tool
playground
Released as experimental in 2.9.2, needs work
N-point deformation tool
playground
Released as experimental in 2.9.2, needs work
Text tool re-work
WIP
This tool deserves a big rewrite of interaction (closer to well-known interactions, such as in LibreOffice); see also a
proposal by Liam
part of gsoc 23 (#9274)
Text tool: OpenType support
No
See
proposal in-progress
Better “smooth painting” in Paint tools
No
Find a proper algorithm to have good smooth painting at last!
Painting
Various interesting topics have been raised across the years and would
be worth investigating for improving GIMP’s painting abilities.
Feature
Status
Comments
Better palettes
WIP
High bit depth, multi-format, etc. Some core work was already done in 3.0
Better brushes
WIP
High bit depth, color spaces, animations, other…
New Brush Engine
No
Some work from
#268
GIMP-Painter
might be worth studying
Study other brush engines?
No
Pigment-simulation engines, “mixbrush” engines, etc. Worth studying these new area for digital painting
Better painting smoothness algorithm
No
The current “weight” algorithm is not as good as we’d want
Linking dynamics to brushes?
No
See
#1319
On-Canvas Customizable Menu
No
Some quick on-canvas editing happened in
#498
though a more complete GUI solution (radial menu?) could be studied
Canvas
Since GIMP 2.10, we added some advanced canvas concept, such as the ability to
see and even work off-canvas. This is still incomplete, and we still intend to
add new concepts of either auto-growing layers or even infinite layers.
Feature
Status
Comments
Off-canvas selection
No
“Show All” contextual actions
WIP
The “View > Show All” action should change more widely how various features interfere with the image.
GUI
GIMP’s interface has always been very customizable, though it can always be
improved. For instance while the “single window mode” (
since
2.8
) was
very welcome, in many case, we wished for a mix of the single and multi window
modes. Moreover a horizontal toolbar is often wished for, as well as
improvements of dockable management. These are all topics which could be
redesigned and worked on.
Feature
Status
Comments
Improved toolbox
No
Simpler customization, draggable to other area, detachable, ability to show more than display size with
icon, etc.
Toolbar
No
Customizable to set quick buttons to any possible action
Better window management
No
Rather than a SWM vs MWM, both able to do some things the other can’t, we should have a single window mode which can do everything
Dockable interaction review
No
Review and change how we can create, lock, unlock and reorganize dockables
Miscellaneous
Many of these features are on contributors wishlist and can be implemented in a
branch and merged into the main development branch as we go, especially since we
loosened up the “no new features in stable releases” policy. Please talk to us,
if you want to work on any of those.
Feature
Status
Comments
Optionally save undo history in the XCF
No
#89
Brushpack support
No
Improve resource creation
No
Dedicated GUI to create brushes, patterns, or other resources would be welcome
Milestone “Future” in Gitlab
Archived Roadmaps
GIMP 3.2
In GIMP 3.2, we focused on new types of non-raster layers, and improving
the layer effects and other non-destructive workflow:
Feature
Status
Comments
Link layers
done
!823
(similar to the “smart objects” concept). See also
#453
and some
demo video
Vector layers
done
!773
. Back-end exists since 2006, UI was inadequate.
MyPaint brushes v2 port
done
MR !2359
(except Spectral Blending features, see
#14441
Milestone 3.2 in Gitlab
GIMP 3.0
The focus of this version was to complete the GTK+3 port and reduce
technical debt in used technologies.
Benefits:
Better maintained version of GTK
Better graphics tablet support
Better handling of HiPPI displays
Wayland support on Linux
Refactored code, easier to build new features upon
Feature
Status
Comments
Port to GTK3
done
(except minor API usage, but no major tasks anymore)
Port away from intltool
done
We are now full gettext
Port to meson build
done
Autotools was removed
Redesign API for scripts/plug-ins
done
GObject Introspection introduced, along with refactoring, no wire protocol redesign in the end, big API improvements
Wayland support
done
Various bugs still happen, especially in window management area (broken sizes and positions), color management, but mostly because of missing protocols in Wayland…
Space invasion
done
Various color management improvements, CMYK support (not as core image format, but import/export and picking/choosing/viewing)…
Multi-layer selection
done
Most code is multilayer aware…
Less “floating selection”
done
Discussed on the
gimp-gui mailing list
, transform tools still create floating selections
Documentation
done
Make sure documentation is up-to-date by release time
Automatic layer boundary management
done
#32
- auto-growing layers are
part of gsoc 23 (#9314)
Support SwatchBooker file format for palettes and gradients
done
!843
(GIMP 3.0)
Layer effects
done
Initial limited implementation as
!958
started
as
part of gsoc 23 (#9244)
Layer effects on layer groups
done
Initial limited implementation as
!1376
Milestone 3.0 in Gitlab
GIMP 2.10.x series
The 2.10.x series coexisted with the ongoing work to port GIMP to GTK+3
and cleanup obsolete API.
We tried to backport fixes and new features to 2.10.x when we could.
Feature
Status
Comments
High bit depths
done
Released in 2.9.2
Preview filters on canvas
done
Released in 2.9.2
OpenCL support
done
Released in 2.9.2, more plugins need OpenCL version
Turn the IWarp plug-in into an on-canvas tool
done
Initial version released in 2.9.2. Improved version released in 2.9.6.
Merge basic transformation tools
done
Unified Transform tool, released in 2.9.2
Canvas rotation and flipping
done
Released in 2.9.2
MyPaint Brush tool
done
Released in 2.9.4. No brush create/edit support (
bug 768772
Support the XDG Base Directory Specification
done
Released in 2.9.2
Symmetry painting
done
Released in 2.9.4
Layer modes rewrite
done
We need to support both legacy, gamma-corrected, and linear modes, sensible UI is missing
Better support for image metadata
done
Released in 2.9.6
Support layer masks on layer groups
done
Released in 2.10
Cleanup libgimp
done
We need to go through the API with a fine comb and check to deprecate all functions which are not suitable for 3.0.
UI themes
done
Released in 2.9.6
Icon themes
done
Released in 2.9.6
Icon size minimal support
done
Released in 2.9.6
Color management fixes and improvements
done
Changes released in 2.10.x, more coming in 3.x
Support for gamma encodings other than the sRGB TRC
done
Support for RGB working spaces other than sRGB
done
currently being worked on in babl, more to be done
Fix compositing part of blending modes
done
Milestone 2.10 in Gitlab
March 14, 2026
Setting up your developer environment