Greetings, everyone! Thanks, as always, for being a part of the Apache Superset™ community.

Since the last newsletter, Superset 6.1 shipped, Extensions architecture has been rapidly evolving, Superset's MCP service is here, and we have a few more conferences on deck this summer. 

Scroll on for the highlights you may have missed...

Superset 6.1: Time to stop forking around 🚫🍴

The first release including Extensions support has shipped, meaning the core codebase is getting leaner, and now your custom features can stop fighting upstream. 

6.0 upgraded how Superset looks with theming. 6.1 changes how it's built. 

The headline is Superset Extensions—a modular, plugin-based architecture that lets teams add custom features without forking core. The ability to build and load extensions in SQL Lab has landed, and this new architecture will continue to spread throughout Superset in future releases, opening up a whole new world of Superset capabilities. 

If you've maintained a Superset fork, you know the tax. Every upstream release: another merge confict headache, another regression hunt, another "we'll catch up next quarter." Extensions remove that headache, allowing you to develop new features you can bolt on painlessly.  

What Extensions unlock 

• Ship custom SQL Lab editors, data views, and panel actions without touching the core codebase, meaning you can ship features, not patches.
• Treat your customizations as first-class code instead of fork debt.

This is the architectural shift Michael Molina (Airbnb / Superset PMC) called "just the beginning."

AI is here! Introducing Superset MCP 

Superset 6.1 also lands the Superset MCP service: the AI interface layer that lets agents query your charts, datasets, and dashboards through the Model Context Protocol. You can read all about how it was built right here. 

What this means in practice:

• Chart generation by natural language (Big Number, Pie, Pivot, Mixed Timeseries, AG Grid Table, Handlebars, and more)
• RBAC-aware permissions baked in, not bolted on
• A create_virtual_dataset tool that turns ad-hoc SQL into reusable assets
• Schema discovery, dashboard filter context, and a preview-first workflow

What to do about it

Already on Preset? You already have everything in 6.1. Nothing to do but enjoy it.

Running open source? Time to upgrade. Extensions is the architectural change that makes your custom work portable, and MCP is what you'll want in place before your team starts asking for AI agents.

Get Superset 6.1: Apache Distribution | PyPi | Docker | Changelog

Talk Superset IRL

Where We'll Be This Summer ☀️

Aug 31–Sept 2 ・ Austin

Save your spot to see Max Beauchemin (Original Creator of Airflow® & Superset) give a talk about his latest open source project, Agor, or stop by the Preset booth. 

Sep 15–18 ・ Las Vegas

Viva dbt Summit 2026! Swing by the Preset booth and stay tuned for speaker program. In the meantime, early bird pricing is available until June 1.

Read on!

Superset News and Updates

Superset MCP: Technical Deep Dive

Amin Ghadersohi documents all 20 tools, the library-first architecture, JWT+RBAC enforcement, and the preview-first workflow that lets agents iterate freely without polluting your database.

Keycloak SSO for Superset: A Production-Ready Deep Dive

Picking up where the OAuth2 docs leave off, Sandeep walks through Keycloak integration on Superset 3.x: custom Security Manager, role mapping, silent SSO, federated logout, and the gotchas worth knowing before you deploy.

Project Glasswing and the ASF: Open Source's Chance to Win the AI Era.

Anthropic's $1.5M donation to the ASF has split the open source community. Evan Rusackas makes the case that engagement beats retreat—and that every contributor learning AI tooling is doing real stewardship for the next era of OSS.

The Post-AI Analyst

Maxime Beauchemin on the data analyst role after AI: less execution, more judgment, and a new mandate to design the self-service systems everyone else relies on.

February 2026 Repo Update

Evan Rusackas' latest recap covers updates across 330 PRs from 48 contributors, including PWA support, the Global Task Framework, and a wave of embedded performance fixes. 

Announcing Preset Chatbot 

Meet Preset Chatbot, powered by MCP, now GA. Plain-English questions become governed charts, dashboards, or SQL—grounded in your semantic layer, gated by your existing RBAC, row-level security, and audit logs. 

Keep up with the repo

View the changelog, star it, tell a friend, rep some swag. The best way to support the project is to tell people how awesome it is AND add your company to In The Wild.

Get on the release train!🚆 

Release roadmap 📍

• 6.1.0 is the current "latest." Open new issues against this version on GitHub.
• 6.0.1rc1 is still eligible for testing, and will be released as soon as possible for those running the prior release.
• 5.x remains supported. 4.x is end-of-life.
• New languages are coming soon. You'll be able to get (or contribute) fully translated Superset in any language you want. 
• Scoping is underway for Superset 7.0. Big one! More soon.

Want to help shape what ships? View the Dev mailing list or subscribe by sending an email here. Check out (and subscribe to) the Superset Community Calendar and the Preset Events calendar for good measure. 

THANK YOU for being a part of the Superset community!

Evan Rusackas

Apache Superset PMC & Preset Developer Advocate