Pidgin 3.0 Messaging Client Moves from Experimental Build to Alpha

Pidgin—the classic messaging client many users still remember—is very much alive. More than a year after its first experimental 3.0 release, the project has now reached the alpha stage.

This marks a significant milestone, as developers confirm that the protocol APIs are now stable enough for third-party integrations without requiring major rewrites. That said, this release is still not intended for end users.

The team emphasizes that many features are incomplete, the interface remains unpolished, and numerous bugs persist. In fact, package maintainers are being advised not to distribute it yet.

On the technical front, one of the biggest changes is the transition from the old AccountOption API to the new AccountSettings API. This new system is fully bindable and better suited for protocol plugins written in languages like Python and Lua.

Another improvement removes the long-standing limitation of forcing every account to use a generic “username” field. Protocols can now adopt more appropriate terms—for example, IRC can use “nick” instead.

The account editor has also been redesigned to align with the new settings model. All account settings are now grouped into a single list, with advanced options displayed inline. Protocols can define the display order using a weight property and validate settings before attempting a connection.

A notable addition in this release is support for Zulip, introduced as a built-in protocol plugin. The developers selected it for its open-source nature, third-party client support, and simple REST API with long polling.

Some features are still in progress—direct messaging support for Zulip, for instance, didn’t make it into this alpha but is expected early in the next development cycle.

Lastly, a new developer mode has been added, exposing unfinished protocols and experimental features that are hidden by default. The project has also dropped its dependency on libxml2 as part of a broader move away from XML-based configuration toward a SQLite-backed system.

For more details, see the announcement.