Version 2.0.0 Release Notes
Release date: August 4, 2026
Version 2.0.0 is a complete rewrite of the 1.x line for .NET 10 and Orchard Core 3.0.x. It introduces a much broader set of modules for AI, content operations, omnichannel communication, phone-number intelligence, telephony, reporting, recipes, and administration.
Version 2.0 also launches the official CrestApps.OrchardCore documentation site at orchardcore.crestapps.com. The site now hosts the latest docs plus versioned documentation for the 2.0 and 1.2 lines.
This page highlights the final 2.0.0 capabilities and the upgrade items that matter when moving from 1.x.
At a glance
| Area | 2.0.0 focus |
|---|---|
| Platform | .NET 10 and Orchard Core >= 3.0.0 and < 3.1.0. |
| AI | Provider connections, deployments, profiles, prompt templates, chat, agents, tools, retrieval, memory, documents, Copilot, Claude, A2A, and MCP. |
| Content operations | Content Access Control, Content Transfer, Phone Field, richer recipe schemas, and workflow activity schemas. |
| Omnichannel | Contacts, subject flows, activity management, SMS, Event Grid, DNC integration, and contact import/export. |
| Phone intelligence | Phone-number verification, provider integrations, retry queue, reporting, and contact verification workflows. |
| Telephony | Provider-agnostic soft phone, call controls, recent calls, click-to-dial, and DialPad integration. |
| Reporting | Shared reports area, reusable date-range picker, CSV exports, and optional Excel exports. |
Before you upgrade
Back up every tenant database before starting an upgraded application on 2.0.0. Then review application projects, package references, enabled features, AI configuration, recipes, deployment plans, and any custom modules.
The most important platform changes are:
| Area | 1.x | 2.0.0 |
|---|---|---|
| .NET | .NET 8 / .NET 9 | .NET 10 |
| Orchard Core | Orchard Core 2.x | Orchard Core >= 3.0.0 and < 3.1.0 |
| Target framework | net8.0 / net9.0 | net10.0 |
| AI setup | Provider-specific selectors and settings | Provider connections, deployments, profiles, and defaults |
| Retrieval | Provider-specific knowledge flows | Data sources, documents, and memory |
| Documentation | Module README files | Official Docusaurus site with versioned docs |
Upgrade notes
Platform requirements
Applications using CrestApps.OrchardCore 2.0.0 should run on .NET 10 and Orchard Core >= 3.0.0 and < 3.1.0. Update the application target framework, package references, and package feeds before starting upgraded tenants.
AI configuration review
Because 2.0.0 is a rewrite, review existing AI configuration instead of assuming every 1.x setting maps directly. The 2.0.0 AI experience is organized around reusable provider connections, deployments, profiles, templates, and defaults rather than the older provider-specific setup.
The preferred AI configuration path is now OrchardCore:CrestApps:AI. Older CrestApps_AI configuration remains transitional, but new configuration should use the Orchard Core path.
Retrieval review
If a 1.x tenant used Azure OpenAI "with your data" style setup, review the new provider-agnostic retrieval modules. In 2.0.0, knowledge is modeled through AI Data Sources, AI Documents, and AI Memory so the same concepts can work across supported providers.
Tenant validation
After migrations run, validate the features that are enabled for each tenant. For AI tenants, confirm that chat, retrieval, tools, profiles, and defaults work as expected. For content and communication tenants, validate imports, exports, contact records, reports, phone-number verification, and any newly enabled workflows.
New and expanded features
Artificial Intelligence Suite
The AI Suite is now a full platform for building AI-powered Orchard Core experiences. Administrators can configure provider connections, create deployments for different AI purposes, define profiles and profile templates, manage prompt templates, and control which tools and knowledge sources are available to each experience.
The suite includes:
- AI provider connections and deployments for organizing model providers, credentials, and model choices.
- AI Profiles for reusable chat and assistant behavior.
- AI Profile Templates and Prompt Templates for repeatable tenant configuration.
- AI Agents for orchestrated workflows that can combine prompts, tools, retrieval, and external integrations.
- AI Tool Management and AI Tool Instances for enabling built-in tools or administrator-configured HTTP API tools.
- Response Handlers for extending how chat conversations are handled after a user message or at the end of a session.
See Artificial Intelligence Suite, AI Agent, AI Tool Management, AI Tool Instances, AI Prompt Templates, AI Profile Templates, and Response Handlers.
AI Chat, Chat Interactions, Copilot, and Claude
The chat modules provide multiple ways to add AI conversations to an Orchard Core site.
- AI Chat provides reusable profile-based chat experiences for admin and frontend scenarios.
- AI Chat Interactions supports ad-hoc AI interactions without requiring a dedicated profile for every scenario.
- AI Chat Analytics helps review chat usage and conversation activity.
- Copilot integration brings a GitHub Copilot-style chat experience into Orchard Core.
- Claude integration adds Claude as a first-class provider option.
Chat experiences support document citations, anti-spam controls, configurable capabilities, and deployment-aware behavior so administrators can decide which models, tools, and knowledge sources are available for each chat scenario.
See AI Chat, AI Chat Analytics, AI Chat Interactions, AI Chat Copilot Integration, and Claude.
AI retrieval, documents, and memory
2.0.0 introduces a provider-agnostic retrieval model.
- AI Data Sources connect tenant content or external sources to AI knowledge indexes.
- AI Documents support upload, parsing, indexing, and retrieval for document-based chat and assistant scenarios.
- AI Memory gives assistants a persistent memory capability that can be backed by supported indexing providers.
Built-in integrations include Azure AI Search, Elasticsearch, PostgreSQL data sources, PDF documents, OpenXML documents, and Azure Blob Storage for document storage.
See AI Data Sources, AI Documents, PDF support, OpenXML support, Azure Blob Storage, and AI Memory.
A2A and MCP
The release adds protocol support for connecting Orchard Core AI experiences with other agents and tools.
- A2A lets Orchard-hosted AI solutions participate in agent-to-agent workflows.
- MCP Server lets Orchard Core expose resources to MCP clients.
- MCP Client lets Orchard Core consume external MCP servers.
- FTP and SFTP MCP resource modules add file-resource options.
See A2A, Model Context Protocol, MCP Server, MCP Client Integration, FTP MCP resources, and SFTP MCP resources.
Content Access Control and Phone Field
Content Access Control lets administrators restrict content items by role. A content type can require specific roles before a user can access items of that type.
Phone Field stores phone numbers in a normalized format with country-aware editing and validation. It is used by other modules such as Omnichannel and phone-number verification, and it is also available for custom content types.
See Content Access Control and Content Fields.
Content Transfer
Content Transfer provides bulk import and export for Orchard Core content.
The base feature supports CSV. The optional OpenXml feature adds Excel .xlsx support. Administrators can download templates, import rows in the selected format, publish imported content when desired, monitor queued imports, download failed rows, and export content for the selected content type.
Content Transfer also supports large import files through chunked uploads, so import limits can be configured without weakening the global media library limits.
See Content Transfer.
DNC Registry
The DNC Registry modules help sites check phone numbers against do-not-call sources.
Administrators can configure provider settings, protect provider API keys, and use the Local Do Not Call Registry to upload country-specific CSV lists. Local uploads are processed in the background and include progress and validation feedback.
See DNC Registry.
Omnichannel
The new Omnichannel platform supports customer communication workflows inside Orchard Core.
It includes:
- Contact records with phone numbers, time zones, contact methods, and communication preferences.
- Subject flows for deciding what should happen when an activity is completed.
- Activity management for manual and automated work.
- Campaigns, campaign groups, dispositions, channel endpoints, and subject actions.
- SMS support for automated or agent-driven messaging.
- Event Grid integration for webhook-based communication scenarios.
- Contact import/export support through Content Transfer.
- Reporting support when the Reports module is enabled.
Subject behavior is configured from the subject content type, so administrators can manage direction, channel, activity behavior, AI options, and disposition requirements from the content definition experience.
See Omnichannel Communications, Omnichannel Management, SMS, and Event Grid.
Phone Number Verifications
Phone Number Verifications provides a provider-agnostic way to verify phone numbers and track verification results.
The feature can verify omnichannel contact phone numbers, store provider responses, retry failed checks, surface records that need attention, and provide an administrative queue for monitoring and retrying verification work.
Built-in providers include:
| Provider | Capability |
|---|---|
| AbstractAPI | Phone validation through AbstractAPI. |
| Twilio | Phone lookup through Twilio Lookup. |
| Veriphone | Phone verification through Veriphone. |
See Phone Number Verifications, AbstractAPI, Twilio, and Veriphone.
Reports and Resources
The new Reports module provides a shared admin reports area with reusable filters, metric cards, tables, charts, permissions, and exports. CSV export is included in the base feature, and Excel export is available through the optional OpenXml feature.
The Resources module provides shared UI resources used across modules. The new reusable DateRangePicker gives reports and activity screens a consistent date-range filter with presets and custom ranges.
Recipes and workflow activity schemas
The Recipes module now provides richer schema support for authoring and validating recipes. Schemas cover more Orchard Core and CrestApps concepts, including content definitions, content items, roles, settings, AI profiles, data sources, MCP resources, A2A connections, and workflows.
Workflow activity schemas help describe workflow events and tasks more clearly, making recipe authoring easier for automation and AI-assisted scenarios.
See Recipes and Workflow Activity Schemas.
SignalR
SignalR support now includes API-token authentication for hubs that opt in. This helps single page applications, mobile apps, and service-to-service clients connect to supported CrestApps hubs using OpenID access tokens.
See SignalR.
Telephony and DialPad
The new Telephony modules provide a provider-agnostic soft phone for Orchard Core.
Users can place and manage calls from a floating soft phone widget. The soft phone supports common call controls, recent calls, active-call status, and click-to-dial from phone fields when available.
The DialPad provider integrates DialPad as the first telephony provider. It supports API key authentication, OAuth 2.0, production and sandbox environments, and per-user connection flows for multiuser scenarios.
Time Zones
The Time Zones module lets administrators manage friendly named time-zone maps. Other modules, including Omnichannel, can use these maps instead of exposing raw IANA time-zone lists to operators.
See Time Zones.
Upgrade checklist
- Back up every tenant database.
- Install the .NET 10 SDK.
- Update application projects to
net10.0. - Update package references and package feeds for CrestApps.OrchardCore
2.0.0. - Start the application and let tenant migrations complete.
- Review AI provider connections, deployments, defaults, profiles, templates, tools, and knowledge sources.
- Enable and configure new modules only where they are needed.
- Validate the tenant workflows that matter to your site, such as AI chat, imports, exports, reports, omnichannel activity management, phone verification, telephony, recipes, and deployment plans.