Midjourney August 2026 Update: New EDIT Model | How it Works and What It Can Do
August brought a very exciting release from Midjourney: the new EDIT model! Here's a rundown of everything that happened this month.
Want to watch instead of read? Check out the full video on my YouTube.
New Midjourney Edit Model
The biggest news this month is the release of Midjourney's new Edit model!
This new Edit mode is sort of a combination of the old Editor and Omni-Reference (OREF), rolled into one instruction-based tool. Instead of writing a normal Midjourney prompt describing an image from scratch, you give it an existing image (or multiple) plus instructions for what you want changed.
It works with HD mode, SREFs, Moodboards, and your Personalization profiles!
There are five ways to access it:
Quick Edit from an image’s lightbox, which drops your image into the Attach to Prompt box
Open Editor from an image’s lightbox - best for traditional inpainting, outpainting, erasing, or changing aspect ratio
Directly on the Create Page, by adding images in the Attach to Prompt box and typing instructions
The Edit tab - best for when you want to use layers
The new --edit parameter on Discord
A few things you can do with it: change camera angle, change color or style (similar to Retexture), create product mockups, place multiple characters into the same scene, try different hairstyles on the same character, test interior design ideas, build out comics or story panels, fix or add text to an image, and so much more!
I share a ton of example prompts in the video above.
One of the most impressive things about this new Edit mode is the character consistency. I think it’s a significant upgrade compared to OREF in V7.
The team is planning to release more updates to this model which will keep making it better!
Check out my more recent YouTube videos and my Patreon community where I’ll be posting more about how to edit with Midjourney.
Alpha Website
Midjourney has been testing a UI redesign on the Alpha website, and it's continuing to change quickly based on community feedback. Please treat the Alpha website as a testing ground. Things can change quickly and things can break. I do not recommend using the Alpha website for your every day prompting.
Recent additions include redesigned sidebars, menus and editable settings pills in the prompt bar. More and bigger changes are still on the way.
Upcoming Models
V9 training was paused briefly while the team works on their dataset. The team has also been heavily focused on getting the Edit model out, so that also slowed down the V9 timeline a bit. There's a small chance we could see an interim V8.3 release before V9 arrives.
Niji 8 is getting close to release, and the next V2 video model is still a while out (after V9).
For monthly prompt guides and deeper Midjourney tutorials, come join my Patreon community. There's a free tier to get started!
And if you're new to Midjourney and want a structured foundation, my Midjourney Beginner Course is now available at the $25 Patreon tier.
