v8.0.0-rc.1 (2026-01-31)

Thanks @ivonaest and @wulu007 for your first PRs!

:boom: Breaking Change

• babel-eslint-parser
  • #17763 Drop support for eslint v7-v8 (@liuxingbaoyu)
  • #17755 Make eslint-parser/experimental-worker the default (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-register
  • #17762 Remove browser entrypoint for @babel/register (@nicolo-ribaudo)
• babel-parser, babel-plugin-proposal-partial-application, babel-plugin-syntax-partial-application
  • #17760 [Babel 8]: partial-application plugin requires "version" option (@JLHwung)
• babel-core, babel-plugin-transform-runtime, babel-register
  • #17756 Use package.json#imports for browser-specific code (@nicolo-ribaudo)
• babel-build-external-helpers, babel-cli
  • #17746 [Babel 8] Extract babel-build-external-helpers (@JLHwung)
• babel-traverse
  • #17722 Remove NodePath#visit (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-cli, babel-node
  • #17741 [Babel 8] Disallow excess arguments in babel-external-helpers (@JLHwung)
• babel-generator, babel-plugin-proposal-pipeline-operator, babel-traverse, babel-types
  • #17732 [Babel 8] Remove smart pipeline support and remove accessor property from Standardized alias (@JLHwung)
• babel-plugin-transform-object-assign, babel-standalone
  • #17619 [Babel 8] Remove @babel/plugin-transform-object-assign (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-plugin-transform-runtime, babel-preset-env
  • #17701 [Babel 8]: clean up unused preset-env data entries (@JLHwung)

:rocket: New Feature

• babel-code-frame, babel-core
  • #17070 feat: Allow specifying startLine in code frame (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-types
  • #17423 Add attributes to import/export builder (@JLHwung)
• babel-standalone
  • #17653 feat(standalone): export async transform (@JLHwung)
  • #17482 feat: read standalone targets from data-targets (@JLHwung)

:bug: Bug Fix

• babel-parser
  • #17761 fix(parser): correctly parse type assertions in extends clause (@wulu007)
  • #17720 fix(parser): improve super type argument parsing (@JLHwung)
• babel-register
  • #17229 [Babel 8] Refactor register cache (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-traverse
  • #17702 fix(babel-traverse): check variable shadowing for global object callees (@wulu007)
• babel-core
  • #17733 fix: Correct the type of plugin parameter (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-plugin-proposal-partial-application
  • #17662 fix(partial-app): support super method call (@JLHwung)
• babel-compat-data, babel-plugin-transform-block-scoped-functions, babel-plugin-transform-block-scoping, babel-preset-env
  • #17691 Fix hoisting of function declarations in loops and switch (@liuxingbaoyu)
• babel-generator
  • #17717 fix: improve parentheses rule of conditional (@JLHwung)

:nail_care: Polish

• babel-parser
  • #17531 Improve @babel/parser error types (@liuxingbaoyu)

:house: Internal

• babel-code-frame, babel-helpers, babel-node, babel-types
  • #17678 Replace picocolors with node:util.styleText() in @babel/code-frame (@fisker)
• Other
  • #17751 Add CI check to make sure packages exist on npm (@nicolo-ribaudo)
• babel-helper-transform-fixture-test-runner
  • #17743 Use require(esm) for @babel/core (@nicolo-ribaudo)
• babel-template
  • #17748 chore: Improve template exception handling (@liuxingbaoyu)

:running_woman: Performance

• babel-generator, babel-runtime-corejs3
  • #17718 [Babel 8] Improve generator performance (@liuxingbaoyu)

Committers: 8

• Babel Bot (@babel-bot)
• Huáng Jùnliàng (@JLHwung)
• Nicolò Ribaudo (@nicolo-ribaudo)
• @ivonaest
• @liuxingbaoyu
• @magic-akari
• @wulu007
• fisker Cheung (@fisker)