We begin by exploring the background of free-threaded Python, summarising its origins, current status, and the technical differences distinguishing it from standard Python implementations. A key focus will be examining the compatibility landscape, specifically investigating how many popular third-party libraries are currently prepared for free-threading. We will distinguish between generic pure Python wheels and explicitly free-threaded wheels and I’ll explain how the community can contribute to compatibility verification.

We then critically discuss free-threaded Python’s necessity, weighing the disadvantage of increased thread safety concerns (and verification methods) against the promised advantage of speed (including multithreaded profiling).Will free-threaded Python become a critical future direction for the language? How can you contribute? If and how specific projects can immediately benefit from it? Let’s find out together!