On August 26, 2026, JetBrains revealed the CLion roadmap for the following four months, including plans for the 2026.2.x patch releases and the next stable release, 2026.3. The roadmap focuses on three main areas: improving workflows supported by software agents, developing embedded-systems tools, and expanding debugger capabilities.
Agent-Assisted Embedded-System Debugging
JetBrains plans to add a dedicated skill for debugging HardFaults in systems based on ARM Cortex-M. This type of failure can result from jumping to an invalid address, stack overflow, or using an invalid pointer, and the HardFault_Handler alone does not explain the actual cause of the failure.
According to the roadmap, the agent will be able to access tools and interfaces that display memory, registers, and assembly instructions, alongside the stepping tools and breakpoints currently available. The feature aims to facilitate analysis of the processor state, its frame on the stack, and fault-status registers, particularly when debugging projects connected to real hardware.
CLion will also provide agent assistance with project setup when initialization fails because of build-system settings or toolchain components. The program will identify installed agents, then let users select one and run it in the terminal, directing it to the IDE tools needed to address the problem.
Expanding Debugger and Configuration-File Support
Development plans include support for displaying peripheral units and debugging real-time operating-system threads and FreeRTOS objects through the Debug Adapter Protocol (DAP). Debug configurations will be able to be saved in JSON format and edited manually or with an agent’s assistance, in addition to importing JSON settings from tools such as Visual Studio Code.
JetBrains also plans to provide a dedicated template for the Lauterbach TRACE32 debugger and move embedded-system run settings into debug configurations to reduce overlap among different templates. Windows users with the MSVC toolchain will receive an LLDB 21 option in the next stable release, while the current bundled LLDB version will remain available as a separate option. The bundled GDB will also be updated to version 17.2 on all platforms.
QNX, ISPC, and Improved Project Understanding
JetBrains aims to add basic support for QNX projects, including the QCC compiler and the x86-64 and AArch64 architectures, along with a debug configuration and agent assistance with setup and debugging. The company says that CLion does not currently fully support QCC, which affects file indexing and code-assistance features.
CLion will also add support for the ISPC language, including syntax highlighting, code analysis, and code completion, addressing a gap in code-understanding tools for projects that combine ISPC and C++.
What Changes in Practice?
If these plans are implemented, CLion will become more suitable for hardware and real-time-system projects, with portable debug configurations that can be edited outside the program’s interface. JetBrains also plans to improve responsiveness and reduce interface freezes and indexing times, update the bundled CMake to version 4.4.2, and improve Dev Container support.
Meanwhile, CLion 2026.3 will ship the final stable version of the legacy Classic engine plugin, following the product’s transition to the Nova engine. It will also separate JavaScript and TypeScript support from the core package while keeping it available as a standalone plugin. JetBrains emphasizes that the roadmap is preliminary and does not guarantee that every feature will be implemented or that the announced schedules will be met; the Early Access Program will allow users to try features of the next major release.