Python 3.12 brought more specializations and other refinements to the interpreter. Now, Python 3.13 adds new elements to the JIT that generate actual machine code at runtime, instead of just specialized bytecode. The resulting speedup isn’t much just yet—maybe 5%—but it paves the way for future optimizations that weren’t previously possible.
Right now, the JIT is considered experimental—it’s not enabled by default, and can only be enabled by compiling CPython from source with certain flags. If in time it yields a significant performance boost (5% or more), and doesn’t impose a large management burden on the CPython team or Python’s users as a whole, it’ll become a fully supported build option. Whether or not it will be enabled for official releases will still be up to the managers for a given platform’s CPython builds.
Python’s release cycle
The Python programming language releases new versions yearly, with a feature-locked beta release in the first half of the year and the final release toward the end of the year. Developers are encouraged to try out this latest version on non-production code, both to verify that it works with your programs and to get an idea of whether your code will benefit from the new feature sets and performance enhancements in this latest version.
