Stabilize never type (`!`)

[tomassedovic]

Metadata
Point of contact	@WaffleLapkin
Team(s)	lang, types
Goal document	2026/stabilize-never-type

Summary

Stabilize the never type aka !.

Tasks and status

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Note: we have updated the body to match the 2026 goal. Your original text is preserved below.

Details

Metadata
Point of contact	@WaffleLapkin
Team(s)	lang, types
Goal document	2026/stabilize-never-type

Summary

Stabilize the never type aka !.

Tasks and status

[tomassedovic]

This issue is intended for status updates only.

For general questions or comments, please contact the owner(s) directly.

[WaffleLapkin]

(unfortunately the bot that was supposed to remind me about making updates did not work as intended, so I was never notified before now... sorry everyone!)

I created a roadmap for never type stabilization:

There are currently 3 blockers of the never type stabilization. 2 of them have open PRs: rust-lang/rust#157820 and rust-lang/rust#156047.

Another blocker is itself blocked on low-priority impls. I'm making steady progress on implementing low-priority impls.

The unreachable_code lint rewrite is not a strict blocker, but could be nice to have. We'll see if we get to it before the stabilization.

[WaffleLapkin]

With rust-lang/rust#157820 and rust-lang/rust#156047 now merged, and to the best of my knowledge, the only blocker that is left for the never type stabilization is deciding what to do with the From<!> for T reservation impl.

I think that the reservation impl should be removed, which I'm proposing in rust-lang/rust#160705. When (if) that gets merged, we can stabilize the never type! :>

[WaffleLapkin]

The never type has been stabilized on nightly in rust-lang/rust#160705! 🎉

There have also been some follow up work: documentation rewrite in rust-lang/rust#158370, internal code cleanup in rust-lang/rust#161828 and rust-lang/rust#161974, and inline asm fix in rust-lang/rust#161781.

There is also an open T-types FCP in rust-lang/rust#161925, to double-check types team consensus on the never type.

_{(I will close this issue once the never type stabilization hits stable)}