What's new in Emacs 31.1
masteringemacs.org
August 24, 2026
181 min read
48/100
Summary
Emacs 31.1 has been released with incremental usability, completion, window-management and terminal improvements rather than a single flagship feature. The release permanently removes the legacy unexec dumper, deprecated since Emacs 27, leaving the portable dumper as the supported mechanism for preloading Emacs Lisp state. It also stops building and installing Emacs’s old ctags program, directing users to Universal Ctags or to `etags --ctags` for compatible behavior. A planned new garbage collector was postponed to Emacs 32. A new User Lisp Directory feature automatically processes Lisp files under `user-lisp/` in an Emacs configuration directory, including recursive byte compilation, autoload generation and load-path setup. Tree-sitter modes can now offer to install their required language grammars. Completion gains configurable eager display and live updating of the *Completions* buffer, while the rewritten flex completion style is intended to be faster and rank matches more accurately. New commands rotate, flip and transpose window layouts, and a setting controls preferred split direction. Compatible terminals now enable `xterm-mouse-mode` by default, and TTY frames gain child-frame support. Emacs 31.1 also adds built-in controls for collapsing minor-mode indicators, hiding a buffer’s mode line, extending selections with Shift-click, and preventing asynchronous native compilation on battery power. It includes Org 9.8 and supports Unicode Standard 17.0.
Key Takeaways
- Emacs 31.1 removes the legacy unexec dumper and retains the portable dumper as the supported preloading system.
- The new User Lisp Directory feature can recursively byte-compile Lisp files, generate autoloads and add a `user-lisp/` directory to Emacs’s load path.
- Emacs can now offer to install required Tree-sitter language grammars for Tree-sitter modes it recognizes.
- Completion features include optional immediate display and live updates of the *Completions* buffer, plus a rewritten flex matching algorithm.
- Emacs 31.1 adds commands to rotate, flip and transpose window layouts, and enables mouse support by default in compatible terminals.
- Emacs 31.1 includes Org 9.8 and adds support for Unicode Standard 17.0.
What the discussion said
The thread barely engages with AI at all. Most of the discussion is about Emacs Lisp learning resources, built-in editor features, package-management details, and Tree-sitter installation problems; those are outside the AI/ML scope. The lone AI-adjacent moment comes when one reader, considering a move back from Zed to Emacs, is asked whether Zed’s AI features would be a meaningful loss. No answer follows, so the conversation supplies neither a verdict on AI-assisted editing nor evidence about feature quality, model capability, cost, privacy, or workflow impact. That absence is itself the clearest takeaway: commenters evaluating Emacs 31.1 were focused on making a leaner, more built-in configuration and on reducing friction around language tooling, not on replacing or adopting AI coding assistants. There is no visible enthusiasm for AI features, but also no criticism of them; the topic simply fails to become part of the release discussion. The thread therefore offers no defensible model, product, safety, or developer-experience conclusion about AI beyond one unresolved prompt about whether an alternative editor’s AI tooling is worth missing.
