(Credit: Screenshot by Jason Cipriani/CNET)

In a sweet treat for modders and developers, Google has released the source code for Android 4.1, aka Jelly Bean.

The source code for the latest version of Google's mobile operating system was released today as part of the Android Open Source Project, Jean-Baptiste M. "JBQ" Queru, lead engineer on the project, said in a company blog post.

"We recommend that you create new clients, even if you're working in the master branch," Queru said. "It'll make your clients smaller and faster to sync."

In addition, he noted that proprietary binaries are also now available for the Nexus 7 and Galaxy Nexus. Binaries for Nexus S and Xoom will follow.

Android 4.1, which the Web giant unveiled last month at the Google I/O developers conference, features a more responsive user interface, better voice transcription, overhauled search, and a major new feature called Google Now that tries to anticipate what a person needs to know at any given moment.