The CLion 2026.2 Roadmap: Simplified Debugger Configuration and the Ability to Use Multiple Zephyr West Profiles
We’ve begun work on our next major release, version 2026.2, which we plan to introduce in a few months. After reviewing your feedback and our strategic goals, we’ve decided to focus on improving build tools, including Bazel, as well as project formats, the embedded experience, and the debugger. Here are our more specific priorities:
- Simplified debugger configuration.
- Support for using multiple Zephyr West profiles.
- Easier inspection of fields and global variables in the debugger.
- Better UI for external sources in the Project tool window.
Read on to learn more about the updates we have planned.
Our team is committed to creating an IDE that makes development smooth and productive. However, the following is only a preliminary roadmap. We can’t guarantee that all issues and features listed below will be addressed or implemented in CLion 2026.2. Unexpected circumstances could require us to change our plans or implementation timelines for some items.
Debugger
The upcoming release will bring a unified configuration workflow, a more flexible variable inspection experience, and the ability to assign breakpoints to specific debug configurations.
Simplified debugger configuration
Currently, there is no simple way to configure the debugger – you have to deal with different settings: Toolchains, Run/Debug Configuration, Debug Servers, and sometimes DAP Debuggers. This gets even more complicated for embedded projects.
In the next release, we plan to introduce a new settings section, tentatively called Debug Profile, that provides a single, unified place to configure all your debugging setups – local, remote, and embedded. Whether you’re using GDB, LLDB, SEGGER J-Link, or ST-Link, everything will live in one place, significantly simplifying the debugger configuration process.
Help us ensure the debugger offers a UX that works for you by participating in this survey.
Easier inspection of fields and global variables
When inspecting a suspended program during debugging, only local variables are automatically tracked and displayed in the Threads & Variables pane. To see fields (class member variables) or global variables used in functions, you need to set up watches for them. However, for some users, fields or global variables may be just as important as local ones, and automatically adding them to the variable list would reduce manual work.
To accommodate this workflow, we’re adding a new option in the Debugger settings. It will allow the debugger to automatically display fields and global variables in the Threads & Variables pane, while still keeping them distinct from local variables. We plan to introduce this in one of the upcoming EAP builds and would love to get your feedback once it’s available (CPP-4992).
Configuration-specific breakpoints
CLion lets you run multiple debug sessions, either sequentially or in parallel. Currently, breakpoints are global, so you cannot assign them to a specific debug configuration. This can be a limitation when debugging multi-process systems or multiple tests. We plan to add configuration-specific breakpoints in the next release (CPP-34455).
Build tools and project formats
In 2026.2, we’ll deliver a range of updates to build tools and project formats, including a better Project tool window experience for external sources, a refactoring to make it easier to rename CMake targets, expanded Bazel plugin support, and updated bundled toolchains.
Better UI for external sources in the Project tool window
When working with source files or folders outside of your root project, the IDE displays them in the same folder as your root project sources in the Project tool window. This works fine if all the sources have unique names. However, when external sources share names with project root sources and their paths are long, it can be difficult to distinguish between them. This is often the case for embedded developers working on projects that require external libraries and files, like Zephyr ones. For the next release, we plan to add a separate node to group all external sources, making it easier to distinguish them from internal sources.
Easier CMake target renaming
CMake targets are executables, libraries, and utilities created with commands such as add_executable or add_library. Currently, when you need to rename a target in CLion, you have to manually edit all its occurrences. We plan to add a refactoring operation that automatically updates all definitions and usages of a target name across your CMakeLists.txt files.
Improvements to the Bazel for CLion plugin
We plan to expand support for configuration transitions introduced in the previous release:
- If you’re using the CLion Nova engine, you’ll be able to switch configurations when multiple exist for the same file (which is currently only possible for CLion Classic users).
- The plugin will automatically select the correct configurations when you debug or run a target, ensuring your code insight always reflects the active one.
We also plan to fix the build options inconsistency caused by hardcoded flag injection in the plugin (see the corresponding GitHub issue for more details).
Bundled toolchain updates
We’ll update some tools shipped with CLion, including:
- CMake to v4.3
- GDB to v17.1
- GCC to v15.2.0
- Mingw-w64 to v13
CMake 2.8 support will be deprecated.
Embedded development
Embedded developers can look forward to two major improvements in 2026.2: a more flexible way to manage multiple Zephyr West build configurations and extended support for live watches.
Support for using multiple Zephyr West profiles
We want to make it easier to manage multiple West build configurations that have different build parameters or target different boards. To this end, we’ll add the ability to create configuration profiles for Zephyr West projects, similar to CMake profiles (CPP-42799).
Improvements to live watches
With live watches, you can monitor global variables in real time – no need to stop the debugger or interrupt a program’s execution. In the next release, we’ll extend the support for variable types by making it possible to inspect arrays and structs.
Conclusion
The Early Access Program is just around the corner and will give you the chance to try all of the new features planned for the next major release for free. In the meantime, upgrade to CLion 2026.1 if you haven’t already done so, and let us know what you think!
