Vitess 18 is now generally available, offering various enhancements for usability, performance, and MySQL compatibility. The new release introduces support for foreign key constraints within shards, allowing for easier data import from existing MySQL databases with foreign keys. Additionally, the query planner has been significantly enhanced to provide better support for complex aggregations and derived tables. Other notable improvements include the migration of Vitess CLI to cobra, enabling auto-generated reference documentation and shell completion, as well as the introduction of VReplication and online DDL, which enable near-zero downtime data migrations and improved progress estimates. The release also includes features like tablet throttler with gRPC communication, a revamped benchmarking system, and point-in-time recoveries without relying on external binlog servers. Users are encouraged to try out the new release and provide feedback via GitHub issues or the Vitess Slack channel.