What’s new in Retool: Q1 2025 release

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Multipage apps are now the default building experience, giving you a better foundation for complex applications. As many of you already know, multipage apps consolidate several separate apps into a single, more maintainable application. Defaulting to this architecture delivers 27% faster load times on average—Retool only evaluates the code and components on the current page and not the entire application.

The new architecture introduces global and page scopes, which allows elements like headers and sidebars to exist across all pages while each page maintains isolated components and code.

We've also made improvements to speed development. The Navigation component now automatically configures menu items to map to your app's pages. These menu items come with pre-configured event handlers that take your users to the corresponding page when clicked. Enhancements to the Command Palette (opened with ctrl/cmd k) let you directly search for specific pages and perform page management actions.

For international teams, we've added complete localization support for default and non-editable strings across most components. Components now support seven languages and automatically integrate with your app’s language settings, delivering a native experience to builders regardless of language preference. Refer to our docs to get started.

Other multipage improvements include a new Cascader component with enhanced flexibility for hierarchical data selection, and support for shadows in app themes to add consistent visual depth. Build more intuitive, well-designed apps faster with these updates.

Enterprise deployment controls provide structured governance and testing capabilities to ensure reliable application delivery. These features mean safe collaboration and rapid deployment of mission-critical apps.

You can now verify Source Control changes before they impact your production environment. Simply call the new “Test source control changes” API endpoint to perform a dry run that catches potential errors, or integrate this testing directly into your CI/CD pipeline with GitHub Actions or Buildkite.

Workflows now have comprehensive support in Source Control, bringing true collaborative development:

The new multi-instance releases feature lets you cut and deploy consistent versions of your apps across development environments. You can define which release version of your app should be live on each instance through a simple manifest file stored in your repository, enabling structured promotion workflows from dev to staging to production.

To enable multi-instance releases, follow the steps outlined in our docs.

Monitor Retool adoption and usage across your entire deployment with our revamped Usage Analytics dashboard. The redesigned dashboard gives admins improved oversight with a more organized, tab-based interface that breaks down Monthly Active Users by user type (Standard, End, and External) and application types (Mobile, Web). With enhanced Usage Analytics, you can track external user engagement, filter by specific apps and users, and identify adoption patterns.

Workflow automation often requires complex logic, time management, and coordination between processes. We’ve introduced several powerful features that give you greater control and flexibility when designing your business processes.

Create reusable, self-contained workflows with control flow that you can call from anywhere. Unlike single-step functions, these package complex operations with multiple steps into one component, complete with parameters, outputs, and internal logic. This simplifies complex workflows, reduces duplicate code, and creates more maintainable automations.

Start building your multi-step functions by referring to our docs.

With the new Wait block you can pause the execution of your workflow for a specified time—anywhere from a few seconds to a maximum of 60 days. This feature simplifies the implementation of common patterns like temporary access management (grant now, revoke later), staged communications (send follow-ups hours or days after an event), and rate limit management. Wait block allows you to build complex time-dependent processes within a single workflow instead of splitting them across multiple workflows with scheduled triggers.

When one workflow calls another within a Workflow block, you now have two options for how they work together:

This gives you more flexibility when designing complex workflow systems, enabling more efficient automation pipelines for time-sensitive processes.

For builders looking to power automations with AI (we assume that’s most of you), we’ve enhanced our AI framework to now support an expanded range of advanced reasoning models from leading providers like OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, and more.

This flexible integration ensures your apps and workflows can leverage cutting-edge AI capabilities without complex setup requirements. Simply add your API key, select your preferred model from the dropdown, and immediately start building.

We’re continuously updating model options to keep your apps and workflows future-ready. Stay up-to-date on the latest model updates in our edge releases. You can also use custom providers or our REST API connector to add your preferred AI model to any app.

Retool 3.148-stable significantly improves how you build and maintain your business’s applications. The release is packed with over 100 other improvements and updates—check out our detailed release notes to learn more. Self-hosted customers can start planning their upgrade now, and as always, keep an eye on our changelog for the latest updates and announcements. We're excited to see what you'll build!