What’s New in Specright: Spring 2026 Release

At Spec Summit 2026, we shared a bold direction for where Specright is headed: an AI-driven, spec-first PLM. With the Spring 2026 product release, we continue to deliver on that vision.

Specright’s AI Assistant brings natural language querying to every screen in Specright — helping your team put intelligence to work anywhere your data meets a decision. This product release also marks the GA of the R&D Workbench for Food & Beverage — a purpose-built environment for F&B formulation and development teams.

But this release goes beyond AI. Release 33 focuses on reducing friction between your data and the decisions that depend on it. It features custom compliance rules that enforce retailer mandates and internal sustainability policies. In addition, structured project briefs are also included to give new product initiatives a defined starting point.

Here’s a look at the highlights.

Your Spec Data, On Demand — Specright AI Assistant Is Here

Users can continue to work in Specright by navigating the dashboard, applying filters, running reports and leveraging the navigation that they are familiar with, or as of this release, they can switch to Specright AI Assistant.

Specright AI Assistant is built directly into Specright and accessible from any screen via a persistent utility bar. Ask a question in plain English — “How many packaging specs do I have in draft status?” or “Find everything related to aluminum foil across my specs and ingredients” — and get an answer instantly, without leaving your workflow.

For teams managing large specification libraries, the impact is immediate. Data that previously required navigation expertise or a report request is now one question away.

For IT and compliance-conscious organizations, Specright AI Assistant is built to enterprise standards. Every action is captured in an immutable audit log, org admins can configure behavioral guardrails using BLOCK and WARN rules, and AI Assistant inherits each user’s existing Specright permissions. Users only ever see data they’re already authorized to access. There’s no separate login, no new application to adopt, and no data leaving your environment.

The R&D Workbench Comes to Food & Beverage

For F&B R&D teams, formulation work has long meant stitching together spreadsheets, manual compliance checks, and disconnected tools — a process that consumes scientific talent and introduces real risk, especially for brands operating across multiple regulatory jurisdictions. Spring 2026 marks the GA of our first R&D Workbench, purpose-built for Food & Beverage and grounded in Specright’s spec-first data architecture.

The Workbench gives formulators an AI-native environment to create and iterate on formulas. Users can start from scratch or reverse-engineer existing products with intelligent substitution suggestions — with full version history and rationale capture across every change. Built-in nutrition analysis feeds compliant label generation across the US, Canada, Mexico, EU, and UK, while claims verification validates nutrient and health claims against FDA, USDA, Health Canada, NOM-051, and EU/UK frameworks. Allergen data flows automatically from ingredient records through formulas and labels, with emphasis flagging that meets US, EU, and UK declaration requirements.

For formulators, that means less time chasing regulatory references and more time on the science. The R&D Workbench for F&B is the first of three workbenches launching this year; stay tuned for what’s coming next.

Compliance That Goes Beyond the Rulebook

Specright’s existing Compliance Insights capability — built in partnership with Lorax — already helps teams surface regulatory risks like EPR fees and state-level material bans directly on packaging component records. Spring 2026 extends that foundation with Custom Compliance Rules, giving brands the ability to define and enforce their own compliance criteria alongside government regulations.

That means you can now track specifications against retailer-specific material restrictions — like a major natural grocery chain’s ban on expanded polystyrene — alongside your own internal sustainability policies, such as a target to keep plastic content below 10% across a product line. Like standard Compliance Insights, custom rules run directly on packaging component records, so the analysis is always in context, not in a separate tool or spreadsheet.

For sustainability directors and compliance teams, this fills a real gap. Regulatory requirements are only part of the compliance picture. Retailer mandates and internal policies carry just as much operational risk — and until now, tracking them required manual review. Custom Compliance Rules lets you validate your entire portfolio automatically, and catch issues before they reach the dock.