The world of web development is changing fast, and Angular v21 arrives at the perfect time. This release brings smoother workflows powered by AI, a more modern and friendly developer experience, and several new APIs that make building apps easier than ever.

Angular v21 isn’t just another update to the framework it’s an upgrade to the entire way you build apps. Whether you like using AI tools or prefer the traditional keyboard-and-IDE setup, this version offers big improvements for every type of developer.

Let’s take a look at the key features and highlights of Angular v21.

Top Highlights of Angular v21

Experimental Signal Forms
Angular Aria (Developer Preview)
Expanded MCP Server Tools
Vitest becomes the default test runner
New apps ship without zone.js by default

Signal Forms : A New Era for Reactive Forms

Status: Experimental

One of the most requested features has finally arrived: Signal Forms, a new form management API built entirely on Angular Signals.

Signal Forms offer :

Fully typed form models
Automatic sync between signals and form inputs
Centralized, schema-based validation
No need for ControlValueAccessor
A simple, composable developer experience

Example :

import { form, Field } from '@angular/forms/signals';

@Component({
  imports: [Field],
  template: `
    Email: <input [field]="loginForm.email">
    Password: <input [field]="loginForm.password">
  `
})
export class LoginForm {
  private login = signal({
    email: '',
    password: ''
  });

  loginForm = form(this.login);
}

Validation patterns like email, regex, and custom Validators are built-in. And binding custom components becomes dramatically easier.

Angular Aria : Accessible, Headless UI Components

Status: Developer Preview

Angular introduces Angular Aria, a brand-new library focused entirely on accessibility and customizability.

These are unstyled, headless components perfect for design systems, custom themes, or highly branded apps.

We can add this package using below command.

Angular Aria complements Angular Material and CDK:

Want…	Use…
Fully styled components	Angular Material
Behaviour primitives	Angular CDK
Custom-styled, a11y-optimized UI	Angular Aria

This is a huge step forward for design systems and accessibility.

AI-Powered Development With Angular's MCP(Model Context Protocol) Server

AI-assisted development is the future, and Angular v21 is fully prepared.

The Angular MCP Server now stable gives your LLMs tools to understand Angular projects, best practices, and documentation in real time, bypassing model knowledge cutoffs.

Tools available in Angular’s MCP Server include

get best practices - Shares the most up-to-date Angular best practices
search documentation - Searches the newest Angular docs
find examples - Provides fresh and relevant code examples
modernize - Suggests new and experimental migration paths
onpush zoneless migration - Helps move projects to OnPush and Zoneless
list projects - Detects Angular projects inside your workspace
ai tutor - Acts as a learning assistant for understanding Angular concepts

This enables AI agents to write fully modern Angular code using Signals, Signal Forms, Aria, and more.

Vitest Is Now the Default Test Runner

Vitest has officially graduated to stable and replaces Karma for all new Angular projects.

Benefits:

Faster test execution
Smart watch mode
TypeScript-first
Great compatibility with Vite and modern tooling

Run tests normally:

Migrating an existing project?

Karma and Jasmine remain supported but Jest and Web Test Runner are now deprecated and will be removed in v22.

Zoneless by Default : Better Performance, Less Magic

Angular v21 ships without zone.js by default.

Why?

Signals remove the need for patched browser APIs
Better Core Web Vitals
Faster async-await
Smaller bundles
Easier debugging
Better control over change detection

A New Documentation Experience

angular.dev continues to evolve with:

Major updates:

Completely rewritten Routing documentation
Improved Dependency Injection guides
Comprehensive theming guide for Angular Material
A full Tailwind CSS + Angular guide
A new Signals tutorial for all stable APIs
A brand-new AI development section at Angular AI Docuementation.

Resources

Official Announcement: https://blog.angular.dev/announcing-angular-v21-57946c34f14b

GitHub Releases: https://github.com/angular/angular/releases

Official Documentation: https://angular.dev

Angular MCP Server Guide: https://angular.dev/ai/mcp

A Huge Thanks to the Community

Since v20, over 215 contributors helped shape Angular v21.
From migration improvements to new diagnostics, component tweaks, and devtools enhancements the ecosystem continues to grow thanks to community passion and dedication.