Z.ai Open-Sources GLM-4.7, a New Generation Large Language Model Built for Real Development Workflows

SINGAPORE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec 24, 2025--

Z.ai released GLM-4.7 ahead of Christmas, marking the latest iteration of its GLM large language model family. As open-source models move beyond chat-based applications and into production environments, they are increasingly expected to handle long-running tasks. GLM-4.7 has been developed with these requirements in mind.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251223393714/en/

Unlike earlier systems focused on single-turn interactions, GLM-4.7 targets development environments that involve longer task cycles, frequent tool use, and higher demands for stability and consistency.

Built on GLM-4.6 with a focus on engineering use

Building on GLM-4.6, GLM-4.7 represents a clear step forward, with a design that leans more firmly toward engineering use. Support for coding workflows, complex reasoning, and agent-style execution has been strengthened, giving the model greater consistency even in long, multi-step tasks, as well as more stable behaviour when interacting with external tools. For developers, this translates into something practical: a model that can be used in everyday engineering work with greater confidence.

The improvements extend beyond technical performance. In conversational, writing, and role-playing settings, GLM-4.7 produces output that is more natural and economical, with a tone closer to everyday communication. Together, these changes point to GLM evolving into a more coherent open-source system, rather than a loose collection of related models. In an ecosystem where many projects remain fragmented or narrowly scoped, that coherence stands out.

Designed for real development workflows

As artificial-intelligence systems move beyond chat-centred applications, developers are facing a new set of challenges, and expectations for model quality have become more exacting. A capable model must do more than understand requirements or follow structured plans. It also needs to call external tools correctly and remain consistent across long, multi-step tasks. As task cycles lengthen, even minor errors can accumulate quickly, driving up debugging costs and stretching delivery timelines. GLM-4.7 was trained and evaluated with these real-world constraints in mind.

In multi-language programming and terminal-based agent environments, the model shows greater stability across extended workflows. It already supports “think-then-act” execution patterns within widely used coding frameworks such as Claude Code, Cline, Roo Code, TRAE and Kilo Code, aligning more closely with how developers approach complex tasks in practice.

Z.ai evaluated GLM-4.7 on 100 real programming tasks in a Claude Code-based development environment, covering frontend, backend and instruction-following scenarios. Compared with GLM-4.6, the new model delivers clear gains in task completion rates and behavioural consistency. This reduces the need for repeated prompt adjustments and allows developers to focus more directly on delivery. On the basis of these results, GLM-4.7 has been selected as the default model for the GLM Coding Plan.

Reliable performance across tool use and coding benchmarks

Across a range of public benchmarks related to code generation and tool use, GLM-4.7 delivers solid and competitive overall performance. On BrowseComp, a benchmark focused on web-based tasks, the model scores 67.5. On τ²-Bench, which evaluates interactive tool use, GLM-4.7 achieves a score of 87.4, the highest reported result among publicly available open-source models to date.

In major programming benchmarks including SWE-bench Verified, LiveCodeBench v6, and Terminal Bench 2.0, GLM-4.7 performs at or above the level of Claude Sonnet 4.5, while showing clear improvements over GLM-4.6 across multiple dimensions.

On Code Arena, a large-scale blind evaluation platform with more than one million participants, GLM-4.7 ranks first among open-source models and also holds the top position among models developed in China. Z.ai has emerged as a serious contender in the global open-source AI landscape, particularly in areas where reliability in real coding scenarios matters most.

More predictable and controllable reasoning

GLM-4.7 introduces more fine-grained control over how the model reasons through long-running and complex tasks. As artificial-intelligence systems move steadily into production, such capabilities have become an increasing focus for developers. The model is able to maintain consistency in its reasoning across multiple interactions, while also adjusting the depth of reasoning according to task complexity. This makes its behaviour within agent systems more predictable over time.

Whether a model can be deployed reliably at scale has become a central question for teams building production-grade AI. It is a question that Z.ai continues to examine and refine as it develops the GLM series.

Improvements in front-end generation and general capabilities

Beyond functional correctness, GLM-4.7 shows a noticeably more mature understanding of visual structure and established front-end design conventions. In tasks such as generating web pages or presentation materials, the model tends to produce layouts with more consistent spacing, clearer hierarchy, and more coherent styling, reducing the need for manual adjustment downstream.

At the same time, improvements in conversational quality and writing style have broadened the model’s range of use cases. These changes make GLM-4.7 more adaptable to creative and interactive applications, extending its role beyond purely engineering-focused scenarios.

Ecosystem integration and open access

GLM-4.7 is available via the BigModel.cn API and is fully integrated into the z.ai full-stack development environment. Developers and partners across the global ecosystem have already incorporated the GLM Coding Plan into their tools, including platforms such as TRAE, Cerebras, YouWare, Vercel, OpenRouter and CodeBuddy. Adoption across developer tools, infrastructure providers and application platforms suggests that GLM-4.7 is beginning to move beyond research settings and into wider engineering and product use.

With GLM-4.7, Z.ai continues its long-standing approach to open-source large language models: building systems that can be used reliably in real projects. The team aims to make advanced AI more practical and dependable for developers and enterprises worldwide. As open-source models take on a more prominent role in the global technology ecosystem, Z.ai’s progress offers a clear indication of how such systems may continue to evolve, and what they might enable next.

Default Model for Coding Plan: https://z.ai/subscribe

Try it now: https://chat.z.ai/

Weights: https://huggingface.co/zai-org/GLM-4.7

Technical blog: https://z.ai/blog/glm-4.7

GLM-4.7 ranks #6 in WebDev and is the #1 open model.

The 18-year-old suspect in a shooting at a Northern California library did a walkthrough of the building, then went to his vehicle, got a shotgun and fatally shot a man at the main door and another inside, law enforcement said Tuesday.

Chico Police Chief Billy Aldridge said gunshots and screams could be heard on a 911 call Monday evening from the Chico branch of the Butte County Library. Officers arrived within two minutes of the call, he said.

“From the first 911 call to having him in custody was less than 4 minutes,” Aldridge said, praising officers for stemming the loss of life.

The suspect shot a man at the entrance of the library in the leg and then shot him in the head before firing multiple shots inside and shooting another man in the head, said Sid Patel, special agent in charge in the FBI’s Sacramento office.

“Yesterday’s violent attack was horrific,” Patel said. “The full force of the FBI is assisting this investigation.”

Authorities identified the men who died as 46-year-old Jacob Hull and 74-year-old Robert Johnson.

A child was taken to a hospital with a minor injury, Aldridge said. Her name was not released.

The suspect fled out the back of the library as officers entered, but additional law enforcement personnel behind the building took the man into custody, Aldridge said during a news conference after the arrest.

“The incident this evening was obviously very sad, traumatic for a lot of people. Very traumatic for our community,” Aldridge said.

Officers recovered a shotgun from the floor of the library and two other guns from the suspect’s car. The weapons were registered to the suspect’s family, the police chief said, without providing any other information.

The shooting in Chico — a city of about 100,000 people, is 150 miles (240 kilometers) northeast of San Francisco and home to California State University, Chico — shocked the community in the foothills of the Sierra Nevada and led authorities to say they will add security personnel at each library location.

There have been at least three fatal attacks at libraries in the last nine years.

A man in Tulsa, Oklahoma, was sentenced to life in prison after pleading guilty to fatally shooting a man in a library and another man in a convenience store in 2023. In 2020, a suspect was sent to a mental health facility after he pleaded guilty to fatally stabbing a library security guard in Spring Valley, New York. A teenager who pleaded guilty to fatally shooting two public library employees in Clovis, New Mexico, in 2017 was also sentenced to life in prison.

“A library should be a place of joy,” said Misty Wright, director of public libraries in Butte County. “Most of all it should be a place that feels safe. Yesterday that safety was shattered.”

Wright said that before the shooting, the libraries were visited by “mobile patrols” and that she she wasn't sure if they are armed.

A video from the scene shows police patrol cars surrounding the one-story, brick building and officers pointing their rifles at the building. Another video shows a man face down on the ground being handcuffed by a police officer who then picks him up and hands him to another officer who walks him away from the building.

The streets around the library were closed temporarily and a family reunification center was set up for the people who were inside the building.

Police later determined the suspect acted alone and identified him as Bradley Scott Sayer of Chico. Sayer graduated from Chico High School on June 5, Patel said.

He was booked into the Butte County Jail on suspicion of two counts of murder. There was no indication he had any prior relationship with or connection to the victims, police said.

Officials said Tuesday that Sayer's family has retained an attorney, but didn't release the lawyer's name. A search Tuesday of Butte County court records did not show Sayer’s name.

At the time of the shooting, Sayer was wearing a white T-shirt inscribed with the words “natural selection,” mimicking a T-shirt with the same slogan worn by Eric Harris, one of two shooters in the 1999 Columbine massacre in Colorado, Patel said.

“He had been a fan, and a fan for a long time” of the Columbine shootings on social media, Butte County District Attorney Michael Ramsey said.

Sayer is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday, he said.

Jeannie Lee Schroeder was on a city bus that stopped near the library when she noticed the large police presence. As officers carrying guns marched toward the street, the bus driver started driving away. Schroeder began recording video on her phone.

“And as we were driving, and I’m filming, I see a person in a light-colored shirt running toward the street, toward where the bus was at,” Schroeder said Tuesday. “And then there was an officer behind him, and another officer coming at the side of him, and that’s when they tackled him down. And then they apprehended him.”

Police said the Butte County Sheriff's Office and the FBI are assisting in the investigation.

All Butte County library branches were to be closed Tuesday, officials said.

Associated Press writers Claudia Lauer in Philadelphia and Kathy McCormack in Concord, New Hampshire, also contributed.

Flowers are placed outside the Chico branch of the Butte County Library a day after a shooting on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 in Chico, Calif. (Michael Weber/Chico Enterprise-Record via AP)

The inside of the Chico branch of the Butte County Library is seen a day after a shooting on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 in Chico, Calif. (Michael Weber/Chico Enterprise-Record via AP)

A sign is posted outside of the Chico branch of the Butte County Library a day after a shooting on Tuesday, June 23, 2026 in Chico, Calif. (Michael Weber/Chico Enterprise-Record via AP)

This undated booking photo provided by Butte County Sheriff's Office on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, shows Bradley Scott Sayer. (Butte County Sheriff's Office via AP)

Law enforcement personnel block East First Avenue between Sherman Avenue and Sheridan Avenue following a shooting at the Chico Library, Monday, June 22, 2026 in Chico, Calif. (Michael Weber/The Chico Enterprise-Record via AP)

This image made from video provided by KRCR-TV shows Butte County Library, Chico branch, in Chico, Calif., Monday, June 22, 2026. (KRCR-TV via AP)