2026-04-30 · firedancer
Firedancer shipped a new testnet release that updates its Agave submodule and improves resilience. The release is explicitly marked for testnet, not mainnet beta.
The release updates the Agave submodule to v4.0.0-rc.0, improves resilience in edge cases, updates the GUI, and sends out the first shred early to aid leader targeting. It is published as Immutable and testnet-only.
Even testnet releases matter because Firedancer is core validator infrastructure. Better resilience and timing behavior can translate into stronger validator performance and cleaner path-to-mainnet confidence.
Validator operators should review the release notes before testing in non-production environments. If you're tracking Firedancer, keep an eye on compare diffs and follow the upgrade path carefully.
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