Forge 2026.03.0 — Release Notes

Release date: 2026-03-11 Based on: AWX 24.6.1 License: Apache License 2.0

Overview

Forge 2026.03.0 is the first official release — a complete modernization of AWX 24.6.1 across 9 development phases spanning 25 weeks. Every layer has been upgraded: dependencies, backend, frontend, Docker images, deployment stack, and CI/CD.

Highlights

Modern Stack

Python 3.12 (from 3.11)
Node.js 20 (from 18)
Django 4.2.17 with 40+ upgraded packages
React 18 + TypeScript + Vite + Tailwind CSS (new Forge UI)
Channels 4 / Daphne 4 / Cython 3 migration completed

New Forge UI

Complete rewrite in React 18 with TypeScript
Vite build system (replaces CRA/react-scripts)
Tailwind CSS for styling (replaces PatternFly 4 + Styled Components)
Dashboard with real-time job status, host counts, project health
Full CRUD for all major resources (templates, credentials, projects, inventories, hosts, organizations, teams, users, notification templates, schedules)
Job output streaming with ANSI color support
Workflow visualizer (read-only)
Survey editor for job/workflow templates
Copy/clone support for templates, credentials, notifications
Settings management UI with per-category editing
Force password change on first superuser login
Legacy UI preserved at /ui_legacy/

Production Docker Compose

6-service deployment: PostgreSQL 15, Redis 7, init, web, task, Nginx
TLS termination via Nginx reverse proxy
Automated backup/restore scripts
Health checks on all services
Environment-based configuration (.env.example template)

Dual Docker Images

CentOS Stream 9 — 882MB (forge:2026.03.0-centos)
Ubuntu 24.04 — 932MB (forge:2026.03.0-ubuntu)

CI/CD Pipelines

GitLab CI (.gitlab-ci.yml) — 5 stages: lint, test, build, security, release
Jenkins (Jenkinsfile) — equivalent pipeline with parallel stages
Version derived from git tag (v2026.03.0 → 2026.03.0)
Automated Harbor registry push on tag release
pip-audit + Trivy security scanning integrated

Quality Metrics

Category	Result
Python unit tests	1237 passed, 0 failed
Frontend unit tests	42 passed, 0 failed
Functional API tests	989 passed, 0 failed, 1 skipped
Python lint (flake8)	0 errors
Frontend lint (tsc)	0 errors
Python CVEs (pip-audit)	15 remaining (0 critical runtime)
Container CVEs (Trivy)	0 CRITICAL

Breaking Changes

Minimum Python version: 3.12 (was 3.11)
Minimum Node.js version: 20 (was 18)
CalVer versioning: version scheme changed from SemVer (24.6.x) to CalVer (2026.03.0)
aioredis removed: replaced by redis-py (channels 4 migration)
async-timeout removed: Python 3.12 has asyncio.timeout built-in
Frontend: new Forge UI at /, legacy AWX UI moved to /ui_legacy/

Dependency Changes (Major)

Package	Before	After
Django	4.2.10	4.2.17
channels	3.0.5	4.1.0
daphne	3.0.2	4.1.2
cryptography	41.0.7	42.0.8
Cython	0.29.37	3.0.11
grpcio	1.62.2	1.67.1
twisted	24.3.0	24.7.0
boto3	1.34.42	1.35.36
redis	5.0.1	5.2.1
aiohttp	3.9.3	3.10.10
psutil	5.9.8	6.1.0
pip (build)	21.2.4	24.0
setuptools (build)	69.0.2	70.0.0

Build Fixes Applied

OpenSSL version pin removed (CentOS Stream 9 repo changes)
Rsyslog version pin removed
django-ansible-base pinned to stable 2024.9.4 (was @devel)
Argparse crash fix for Python 3.12.8+ (_parse_known_args intermixed parameter)
Ubuntu Dockerfile: npm package, pkg-config, bash brace expansion, storage.conf lookup
pip hash reset after Node.js upgrade in Dockerfile

Deployment

Quick Start (Docker Compose)

cd tools/docker-compose-prod
cp .env.example .env
# Edit .env with your secrets
docker compose up -d

Docker Images

# CentOS (default)
docker pull forge:2026.03.0

# Ubuntu
docker pull forge:2026.03.0-ubuntu

Full Changelog

See CHANGELOG.md for the complete list of changes across all 9 phases.