Last checked and updated on April 19, 2026What Is New in Keycloak 5.0
Keycloak 5.0 is a significant release focused on modernizing the admin console and introducing new capabilities for managing users and applications. This update brings a fresh UI, enhanced client registration, and important groundwork for future improvements.
| Category | Key Changes |
|---|---|
| New Features | New Admin UI, Client Registration Policies, Early Access JavaScript Adapter |
| Improvements | User Profile Attribute Management, Performance Optimizations |
| Deprecations | Old Admin Console, Offline Session Preloading, Account Console Themes |
| Bug Fixes | Numerous fixes across authentication, authorization, and SAML |
What's the deal with the new Admin UI?
The old AngularJS admin console is now deprecated and replaced by a new React-based interface. This new UI offers a more modern and responsive experience for managing your realm. In practice, this is a stepping stone to a more maintainable and feature-rich admin interface down the line. The old console is still available but will be removed in a future release.
How does client registration get better?
Client Registration Policies are a new way to define rules for dynamic client registration. You can now enforce specific protocol mappers or client templates automatically when new clients are created. This is great for standardizing configurations across all your applications and reducing manual setup errors.
What changed for user profiles?
Managing user attributes is now more flexible. You can mark specific user profile attributes as required, making user data collection more consistent. This matters because it helps enforce data integrity for users right from the initial creation or registration process.
Is there a new JavaScript adapter?
Yes, an early access version of a new JavaScript adapter is included. It's built for modern applications and will eventually replace the existing one. For now, it's available to try out and provide feedback on before it becomes the default option.
What performance improvements were made?
Several under-the-hood optimizations were implemented. Lazy loading of offline sessions can reduce memory footprint for large installations. Database fetch operations were also optimized to be more efficient, which helps with overall system responsiveness.
FAQ
Is the old Admin UI completely gone in 5.0?
No, it's still available but is now deprecated.
You can access it by appending /legacy to the admin console URL. However, you should start
migrating to the new React-based admin console as the old one will be removed in a future version.
Should I use the new JavaScript adapter in production?
Not yet. The new JavaScript adapter is
marked as early access. It's intended for experimentation and feedback. Stick with the current stable adapter
for production workloads until the new one is officially promoted.
What happens to my custom account console themes?
Custom account console themes based on the
old structure will need to be updated. The old account console themes are deprecated alongside the old admin UI.
You'll need to port them to work with the new account console when you upgrade.
Are Client Registration Policies backward compatible?
Yes, the new policy system works
alongside the old registration access token method. Existing clients and registration processes will continue to
work, but you can now define more granular rules for new client creations.
Why was offline session preloading deprecated?
The feature was deprecated because it could
cause significant performance issues and memory consumption in larger deployments with many offline tokens. The
lazy loading approach is a more scalable solution for handling offline sessions.