---
title: "Change log: 8.0"
description: Change log for the Digichem version 8.0 upgrade.
---

[Digichem Updates](https://digi-chem.co.uk/updates)

# [Change log: 8.0](https://digi-chem.co.uk/updates/change-log-8.0)

 Written by [Dr. Oliver S. Lee](https://digi-chem.co.uk/updates/author/dr-oliver-s-lee) | Sep 29, 2026, 8:06:15 AM

#### Digichem-desktop v2.0 (Note that Digichem-desktop uses separate version numbers to the main Digichem application)

###### New features and improvements:

- Added automatic app updates
- Added new Dashboard page to better show server usage at a glance
- Added new molecular sketcher (Ketcher: [https://github.com/epam/ketcher](https://github.com/epam/ketcher)) to submit page to allow drawing structures directly in the app
- Added new splash-screen and user login management for access to protected servers (notably, Digicloud)
- Overhauled server connection management to greatly improve reliability (particularly with servers behind SSH tunnels) and efficiency
- Improved efficiency of local DB searching
- The front-end is now able to query servers for more advanced status information, including available and consumed billing info, server queue status, and filespace consumption
- Added support for V1 server endpoints
- Added ability to disable auto-updates (and to freeze server version)

###### Bugfixes:

- Fixed slow job update on first launch
- Fixed minor race conditions in polling logic that could result in multiple requests hitting the server simultaneously
- Fixed result database failing to sync on first start up
- Fixed some bugs in the result viewer
- Fixed wrong timezone being used on job screen
- Fixed downloads in the download page sometimes not being sorted by time
- Fixed missing molecule name on newly loaded structures
- Added better detection for when an SSH connection drops
- Fixed renderer crash if no servers are available
- Added fix for proprietary VPNs that inject custom CA certificates into the cert chain
- Fixed splash-screen not accepting enter/tab keys and similar accessibility features for navigation
- Fixed backend deployment errors when bash is not the default shell
- Various updates to icons

 

#### Digichem (backend) v8.0

###### New features and improvements:

- Significantly improved handling of external programs during post-processing
- Computational engines (Gaussian, Orca, Turbomole etc) are now selected automatically when generating reports based on the type of data being analysed
- Server API is now versioned. Previous endpoints have been deprecated and move to ‘V0’
- A new V1 server API has been introduced with a JSON API like schema for greatly improved backend communication
- Multiple batch jobs (for multiple molecules etc) can now be submitted in a single API call using the ‘/v1/jobs/matrix’ endpoint.
- Improved endpoints for browsing the method library
- Added better detection of media-types for file endpoints, and added content-length header where appropriate
- Added support for compressing HTTP data to improve file transfer speed for large files
- Added user authentication methods for API access, so client certs are no-longer mandatory
- Added support for SLURM accounting/billing
- Added support for sending notification emails when a calculation completes (depending on email server availability)
- The slow spin-dipole interaction can now be disabled in PySCF NMR calculations (with minimal impact on calculation accuracy)
- Added support for the xTB calculation backend, giving access to extremely rapid geometry optimisations and excited state calculations (the latter with the sTD/sTDA method)
- Added support for the mixed DFT/sTD method using a PySCF reference wavefunction and the xTB sTD method for high-quality, rapid excited states calculations
- Added support for effective core potentials in PySCF calculations
- Added pre-built binaries of CREST, CENSO, xtb, xtb4stda, and std2 into distributions that are built against the same target OS as the main Digichem build
- Moved several calculations options out of the Calculation class and into the Destination class for better re-use of methods across different institutions

###### Bugfixes:

- Fixed problems with the root Gaussian directory being mishandled in certain circumstances
- Fixed server processes sometimes hanging forever when attempting to shutdown
- Various fixes for the schema of V0 and V1 API endpoints
- Fixed slow db result performance be removing unnecessary and expensive sort operation
- Fixed file locking sometimes not being NFS safe
- Added fix for servers on NFS using the same lock file across different nodes if multiple login nodes are available, that could leak to strange connection problems
- Fixed SLURM commands not always correctly accessing cached data
- Fixed various errors resulting in empty data being returned in job endpoints when there is a problem with the underlying data
- Fixed PySCF optimisation not using the final SCF wavefunction, resulting in strange geometry in reports. PySCF geometry calcs now save each geometry step to an xyz file
- Fixed occasional missing images in PySCF reports

 

#### Digichem-library v8.0

###### New features and improvements:

- Various improvements to molecular alignment procedures, including the introduction of two new grid-based solvers (NEST and GRID)
- Alignment procedures now record their own duration
- Added better handling of cubegen and formchk
- Added support for parsing xTB calculations
- Added support for generating cubes from xTB
- Added solvent translations for xTB
- Added support for parsing excited states with std2
- Added support for selecting the render backend with blender (Cycles, Eevee or Workbench)

###### Bugfixes:

- Fixed some solvents not being available because they erroneously included subscript
- Fixed basis\_sets not supporting atomic numbers
- Fixed failing to parse .sir files if pdm is None
- Added better error reporting for mismatched atom info
- Added reordering for pyscf excited states
- Fixed pyscf cube not respecting npts
- Fixed various molecular rotations being inverted (particularly for VMD)

[View full post](https://digi-chem.co.uk/updates/change-log-8.0)

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