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Addons that work

Forever runs on the modern retail addon engine, not the Classic one, and it inherits every restriction Midnight put on addons. That means the addon you loved on Classic Era does not load, the health and threat math most raid tools depend on is locked away, and a couple of famous addons are gone for good. This page is the guild’s single list of what actually works as of the September 19 CurseForge audit, so nobody installs a pile of dead folders on launch night.

Why the addon world starts over

Section titled “Why the addon world starts over”

A Blizzard rep in the WoW UI Discord put it plainly: Forever “shares Mainline WoW’s UI architecture, including the vast majority of APIs available in 12.1.5”. verified Engineer Nora Mills said at the September 17 Q&A, “We did opt for the modern API approach”. unverified

What addon authors found in the beta client (build 1.60.1.69913): verified

  • WOW_PROJECT_ID returns 1, the retail value. Classic-only libraries silently skip loading.
  • Legacy globals GetItemInfo, GetSpellInfo and GetTalentInfo are gone, replaced by C_Item, C_Spell and C_Traits.
  • UnitHealth returns a secret value. h + 1 throws “execution tainted by addon”. Grid2 errors with “attempt to perform arithmetic on a secret number value”.
  • Combo points are secret too. Nameplate CP displays and CP trackers are broken. verified
  • Secure snippets fail because loadstring_untainted is missing, which breaks Clique-style click casting and secure group headers. The author who found it reads it as a bug.

The restrictions stay synchronized with retail: a limit added on retail carries to Forever the next patch, and the reverse. verified Blizzard’s framing is that Forever’s encounters are simpler so the limits “should hurt less”, and that the goal is “a game that plays fine without addons at all”. unverified The usual rules still apply: addons must be free and open, no in-game ads or donation prompts, and Blizzard may disable anything. unverified No official approved or banned list exists.

What Blizzard built in instead

Section titled “What Blizzard built in instead”
Built-in tool Status Notes
Damage meter Confirmed by Blizzard, present in beta verified Shows party members ranked by damage. Details! cannot read protected combat data anyway. This is the meter.
Cooldown manager Exposed in beta interface options, “still incomplete for some classes” unverified One snippet says it arrives after launch with no date. Do not promise it for day one.
Swing timer Conflict. Developers said “maybe soon”; one fan site says it exists in Advanced Options unverified Treat as unconfirmed. A native PLAYER_SWING event was reported.
Mouseover Cast option A combat option that turns every button into mouseover-else-target unverified See Macros.
Edit Mode, totem bar slot Reported in beta UI settings unverified
Saved equipment sets, combined bags, reagent bags, searchable AH, 40-quest log, ping system Reported in beta unverified Fan-site “what’s new” list.

Working now: Forever flavor on CurseForge (checked 2026-09-19)

Section titled “Working now: Forever flavor on CurseForge (checked 2026-09-19)”

Every row below carried the Forever flavor tag when the page was loaded. verified

Addon What it does Notes
DBM Boss timers and warnings through the native encounter API Guild standard. Forever raid modules need the raids to exist (December 9).
BigWigs Boss mod alternative v425 released 9/19. Pick one boss mod guild-wide; do not run both.
Leatrix Plus Quality-of-life automation (auto sell, auto repair, quest automation, and more) Its page says “now support WoW Forever”.
Leatrix Maps Map enhancements
Baganator Modern bags and bank Pairs with Syndicator.
Syndicator Cross-character item search and inventory data Required by Baganator.
Bagnon Classic one-bag alternative If you prefer the old look.
Auctionator Auction house scanning, posting and shopping lists TSM is not ported.
Platynator Nameplates “designed for Midnight and Forever”
Chattynator Chat frame revamp Optional.
BugSack Catches Lua errors so you can report them
BugGrabber Companion library for BugSack
RestedXP Guide In-game leveling guide Its store lists paid Forever Horde, Alliance and both-faction guides that are “not yet complete”. The store page itself returned 403. unverified
Forever ClassicUI Recreates the 2004 frames and look New project, 7.5k downloads at audit time.
Questie Forever Quest helper, unofficial fork by Sweettooth91 Says it shows new quests through Blizzard’s API. The official Questie is not ported. Label it unofficial.
Forever Cooldown Manager Community cooldown display; reads the spellbook and auras directly Forever flavor, updated 09-22. Display only. Shows “?” for buffs others apply during combat. verified
Raidify Attendance export for the Raidify guild tool Forever flavor listed 09-19. See Guild tools. verified

Off CurseForge, on GitHub: the community “Forever Classmate / ForeverUtilities” resource bar tracks Energy with a percent-based API, totem slot timers, weapon imbues and Maelstrom cues, and leaves secret values blank. verified (README only; not audited in game.)

Not yet: no Forever flavor as of 2026-09-19

Section titled “Not yet: no Forever flavor as of 2026-09-19”

Do not install these and wonder why they are broken. All pages were loaded. verified

Addon Status on 09-19
Details! Updated 9/18, no Forever flavor. Use the built-in meter.
Questie (official) Covers Classic, TBC, MoP and Titan only.
TradeSkillMaster No Forever flavor.
TomTom, Bartender4, Dominos, Cell, VuhDo, Clique, Pawn, HandyNotes, Plumber, Postal, Method Raid Tools, Guild Roster Manager, ThreatClassic2 No Forever flavor.
Gargul Retail, Classic, TBC, MoP, Titan Reforged. No Forever flavor as of v8.0.0 (Sept 12). Retail build may load since the API is retail-like, but untested.
RCLootCouncil Retail only (3.23.3, Aug 31). “RCLootCouncil Classic” is a separate project. Same caveat as Gargul.
GatherMate2 Retail only.
OmniCC Page says “Classic only; for Midnight try tullaCTC”.
AtlasLootClassic Last update 2023.
EllesmereUI Developer announced Forever support; CurseForge still shows Retail only.
ElvUI Forever support unknown. Page loaded without version info; GitHub fetch failed. unverified
TotemTimers Retail only, last updated December 2020. verified
HealBot No Forever flavor. verified

Dead on this API

Section titled “Dead on this API”
Addon Why
WeakAuras The team dropped Midnight support and has no path back. verified
Hekili Ended January 20, 2026. verified
Grid2, VuhDo, Cell (as healing frames) Cannot render health, percentages or low-health warnings under secret values. Blizzard’s raid frames work. verified
Clique and any click-casting through secure snippets loadstring_untainted missing. Possibly a bug; not fixed as of the beta report. verified
Third-party threat meters Threat is hidden. ThreatClassic2 has no Forever flavor and could not work anyway. verified
Execute-range and “Mend Pet at 40%” style helpers Anything that does math on unit health. The default frames still show percentages, so you watch the bar. verified
Classic energy-tick trackers from Wago Will not load. verified
GTFO Reported broken, but only by boost-site sources. unverified

Addon managers

Section titled “Addon managers”
Manager Platforms Forever support Tag
WowUp-CF Windows, Mac, native Linux AppImage (2.23.1, Sep 1, 2026) 2.24.0 beta notes say “More WoW Forever integrations” verified
CurseForge app Windows, Mac, Linux per search results; page loaded empty Whether Forever shows in the game list comes from a fan wiki only partially verified
instawow CLI and GUI, pulls from CurseForge, Wago, GitHub and Tukui Forever not mentioned verified
Wago App Page loaded empty Unknown unverified

On Linux, run the WowUp-CF AppImage or instawow natively and point it at the AddOns folder inside your Wine or Proton prefix. Full walkthrough on Playing on Linux.

Scam warning

Section titled “Scam warning”

How to install

Section titled “How to install”
  1. Pick a manager from the table above, or install by hand.
  2. Find the folder. The beta installs to World of Warcraft/_classic_beta_/, and the Steam or Proton launch flag is --game=wow_classic_beta. The live folder name is unconfirmed. One wiki written before the beta claims Forever shares _retail_. Check what the launcher creates on November 4 before you point a manager at it. verified
  3. Manual install: unzip the addon so its folder sits at <flavor>/Interface/AddOns/<AddonName>/, then /reload in game or restart the client.
  4. Manager install: add the Forever install as a game client, choose the Forever flavor if the manager offers one, then search and install. If the manager only lists Retail or Classic for that install, expect breakage.
  5. Check the tag first. Open the CurseForge page and look for the Forever flavor before installing anything not on the list above.
  6. Report errors with BugSack. Paste the error in the guild’s addon thread with the addon name and version.
Section titled “Recommended guild UI kit by role”

The principle from the guild’s standards review: built-in first, then only Forever-flagged CurseForge projects. verified

Role Install Do not install Notes
Everyone DBM (BigWigs acceptable), Leatrix Plus, Baganator + Syndicator or Bagnon, Platynator, BugSack + BugGrabber WeakAuras, Hekili, ElvUI, Details!, TSM, any threat meter Turn on the built-in damage meter and cooldown manager.
Tank The kit above ThreatClassic2, Omen, any threat display No threat meter exists on this API. Watch the default target frame and nameplates. Mouseover Taunt macro on Macros.
Healer The kit above, plus mouseover macros (see HoverCraft) VuhDo, Cell, Grid2, HealBot, Clique Heal on Blizzard’s raid frames. Try the built-in Mouseover Cast option. unverified
Melee DPS The kit above, Forever Cooldown Manager CP trackers, energy-tick trackers Rogues: use the default target frame combo point display.
Caster DPS The kit above, Forever Cooldown Manager Proc trackers, DoT timers not Forever-flagged Blizzard’s spell-activation overlay (the glowing button) handles procs. The default UI shows your own DoT durations on the target frame. Execute logic is impossible in addons; read the bar.
Leveling Questie Forever (unofficial) or the Enhanced preset’s built-in quest markers, Leatrix Maps Official Questie, TomTom RestedXP Forever guides are paid and unfinished.
Economy Auctionator TSM
Old-school look Forever ClassicUI, Chattynator Optional.
Loot officers Nothing yet Gargul, RCLootCouncil until flagged Soft-res in a Discord thread plus /roll and a pinned sheet. See Guild tools and Loot rules.

Class-specific addon and macro notes live on each class page: Warrior, Paladin, Hunter, Rogue, Priest, Shaman, Mage, Warlock, Druid.

Re-check date

Section titled “Re-check date”

This page reflects the CurseForge audit of 2026-09-19 plus class-research updates through 09-22. Re-check every flavor tag in the week of October 28 to November 3, and again on December 1 for the loot tools (Gargul, RCLootCouncil, softres.it) and Details! before the December 9 raid opening. See the launch timeline.

Unknown as of 2026-09-24

Section titled “Unknown as of 2026-09-24”
  • The live addon folder name (_classic_beta_ in beta; _retail_ claimed by one pre-beta wiki).
  • Whether a published banned-addon list ever appears.
  • Whether loadstring_untainted returns, which would fix Clique and click casting.
  • Whether combo points, Energy and threat stay secret at launch.
  • ElvUI Forever status.
  • Whether the built-in swing timer and cooldown manager ship complete on day one.
  • Whether Details!, Gargul or RCLootCouncil gain a Forever flavor before December 9.
  • Any Forever-flavored totem addon (none found) or pet-frame addon (pet health is a secret value; pets were not tested in the breakage report).
  • Whether the CurseForge app lists Forever as a game flavor.

Sources

Section titled “Sources”