Author: wpnishat

Also: 7.0 RC2 drops, Gutenberg 22.9 ships, 6.9.2 lessons learned, ClassicPress 2.7.0.

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Hello WordPressers!

Welcome to this week’s WordPress roundup — WP More newsletter issue 40, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place.

WordPress 7.0 is close enough to touch and the ecosystem around it has been buzzing. This week we’re covering the final stretch of the 7.0 release cycle, a Gutenberg update packed with collaboration fixes, some hard lessons from the 6.9.2 security release, a challenger CMS that’s got everyone talking, and a quiet but solid update from ClassicPress.

Lots to dig into.

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In this Issue:

• WordPress 7.0 Is Almost Ready, Here’s How to Test It
• Gutenberg 22.9 Brings Gradient Overlays, Better Collaboration, and More
• The 6.9.2 Security Release Didn’t Go Smoothly, Here’s What the Team Learned
• Cloudflare Launched a “WordPress Spiritual Successor” and The Community Wasn’t Buying It
• ClassicPress 2.7.0 Is Out , With Speed Boosts You’ll Actually Notice

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WordPress 7.0 Is Almost Ready, Here’s How to Test It

The second Release Candidate for WordPress 7.0 is out, which means the final release is right around the corner. RC2 dropped ahead of the scheduled, and the core team is asking the community to help with one last round of testing before it ships.

You can test it four ways: install the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, download the RC2 zip directly, use WP-CLI (wp core update --version=7.0-RC2), or try it instantly in your browser via WordPress Playground — no setup required.

Two areas the team specifically wants eyes on: Real Time Collaboration and Pattern Editing with content-only interactivity. If you find a bug, report it on the support forums or directly on Trac.

This is also the point where plugin and theme authors should wrap up their compatibility testing and update the “Tested up to” value in their readme files to 7.0.

• RC2 marks a hard string freeze — translations need to be finalized now.
• WordPress Playground makes testing dead simple, even if you don’t have a test server handy.

Read the full blog on Official WordPress blog here.

Speaking of what’s going into 7.0, the Gutenberg project just shipped a release that gives us a clearer picture of what’s coming.

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Gutenberg 22.9 Brings Gradient Overlays, Better Collaboration, and More

Gutenberg 22.9 is out, and it’s a tidy release with a few highlights worth knowing about. The Group block now supports background gradients alongside background images, meaning you can finally layer a gradient overlay on top of a photo without workarounds. A new gradient picker appears in the Background panel and works independently of existing color controls.

The command palette (Cmd+K / Ctrl+K) is getting an experimental upgrade too: it now shows sections for recently used commands and contextual suggestions, making it easier to find actions quickly. To try it, enable “Workflow Palette” under WP-Admin > Gutenberg > Experiments.

Real-time collaboration also got meaningful stability improvements. Block comments now sync properly between editors without requiring a page refresh, and the “Join” button in the post list correctly reverts to “Edit” when a collaboration lock expires. A handful of behind-the-scenes fixes also prevent memory issues during collaborative sessions.

• 131 pull requests merged, with 5 first-time contributors.
• A new EmptyState component was added to the wordpress/ui package for consistent placeholder UI patterns.
• The experimental Forms block now supports hidden input fields.

Read the full blog on Official Make WordPress blog here.

Before we get too excited about what’s new, there’s an important post-mortem worth reading about what went wrong last month.

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The 6.9.2 Security Release Didn’t Go Smoothly, Here’s What the Team Learned

The WordPress 6.9.2 security release in March had a rough rollout, and the Security Team has published a candid retrospective about it. The short version: a bug fix triggered a fast-follow 6.9.3 release just eight hours later, three security commits were accidentally left out of the original 6.9.2 package (leading to a 6.9.4), and backporting fixes to 22 older branches turned out to be a slow, labor-intensive process.

The good news is that the team has identified concrete fixes. The minor release checklist will be updated to include double-verification of merge commits, clearer steps for releasing during a beta phase, and better documentation throughout. On the technical side, backport tooling and automation are being improved to reduce the manual burden.

There’s also a longer-term question on the table: Matt Mullenweg has asked what AI-assisted tooling could help review changes going into releases and improve quality control. No specifics yet, but it’s being explored.

• A checklist gap – no step to independently verify all commits made it into the branch, caused the missing fixes in 6.9.2.
• The 6.0 branch (version 6.0.12) remains unreleased at the time of writing due to an unresolved build issue.
• Backporting to 22 branches is increasingly unsustainable without better automation.

Read the full blog on Official Make WordPress blog here.

While the WordPress team was working through its own growing pains, a newcomer arrived claiming to pick up WordPress’s mantle and the community had thoughts.

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Cloudflare Launched a “WordPress Spiritual Successor” and The Community Wasn’t Buying It

Cloudflare released a new CMS called EmDash on April 1, not a joke, billing it as a “spiritual successor to WordPress.” Built on TypeScript and Astro 6.0, running serverless on Cloudflare Workers, and licensed under MIT, it was built in roughly two months with heavy AI assistance. Its headline claim: plugins run in isolated sandboxes, solving the plugin security problem.

Matt Mullenweg pushed back firmly, arguing that WordPress’s spirit is about democratization, running anywhere, on any host, with no lock-in. Critics across the community echoed that point: EmDash’s sandboxed plugin model only works on Cloudflare’s infrastructure, which is a hard limit for anyone hoping to see it adopted at WordPress’s scale.

Others pointed out that the editing interface felt dated (it uses TipTap, not Gutenberg), that it lacks site editing capabilities, and that it’s built almost entirely for developers, leaving out the bloggers, small business owners, and content managers who make up most of WordPress’s actual user base.

• Joost de Valk (Yoast founder) praised EmDash as a CMS “built for 2026,” particularly for AI-assisted development workflows.
• WordPress CMS market share has dipped below 43% for the first time since 2022, making the broader conversation about alternatives more relevant.
• Mullenweg said he expects plugin security to be addressed in WordPress itself within 18 months, with the help of AI.

Read the full report on The Repository here.

Other reports from The Repository you might like to read:

• The Admin Bar’s 2026 Agency Survey Shows Growth Slowing and Passive Marketing at Its Limit
• The WP Community Collective Publishes Open Source Contributor Pay Standard
• Roots Launches WP Composer as Open Source Alternative to WPackagist

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

And finally, a quieter but genuinely useful update from the WordPress fork that keeps things classic.

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ClassicPress 2.7.0 Is Out , With Speed Boosts You’ll Actually Notice

ClassicPress, the community fork of WordPress that dropped Gutenberg in favor of the classic editor, released version 2.7.0 in late March, and it’s a practical update focused on speed and reliability.

The two headline features are view transitions in the admin (navigation between pages now feels smoother, closer to a single-page app experience) and a built-in object cache option under Settings > Reading. When enabled, the object cache reduces database queries significantly and speeds up your site for both logged-in and logged-out users, something page caching alone can’t do. It requires your host to support the APCu module, and ClassicPress will tell you if yours doesn’t.

The Text widget was also completely rewritten in vanilla JavaScript, dropping jQuery and Backbone.js dependencies. That’s part of ClassicPress’s ongoing effort to remove outdated libraries and improve performance across the board. Translation loading also got faster, which will be noticeable on non-English sites.

• Object caching works alongside other caching methods like OpCache and page caching, they’re not mutually exclusive.
• The jQuery removal in the Text widget is part of a longer-term modernization project.
• Version 2.7.0 also includes security fixes and library dependency updates.

Read the full announcement on Official blog here.

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WordPress Must Read

→ WordPress 7.0 AI Connectors: Pros, Cons, and What the Ecosystem Needs to Get Right (vapvarun.com)

→ WooCommerce Data Insights, 2026 Edition (studiowombat.com)

→ WordPress 7.0 Source of Truth (gutenbergtimes.com)

→ The Lifespan Of SSL Certificates Is Shrinking, And Agencies Must Adapt (forbes.com)

→ State of the WordPress Agency 2026 (theadminbar.com)

→ WordPress Is Colliding With AI — and Nobody Had ‘None’ on Their Bingo Card (therepository.email)

→ Do you need a CMS? (joost.blog)

→ The Risk of Software Dependency (zant.com)

→ Building WordPress plugins in context (mattcohen.co)

→ AI Featured Images (darinkotter.com)

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On other WordPress News

→ @wordpress/build, the next generation of WordPress plugin build tooling (developer.wordpress.org)

→ Monthly Education Buzz Report – March 2026 (make.wordpress.org)

→ Introducing the WordPress Facilitator Training Program (make.wordpress.org)

→ Community Summit alongside a flagship event for 2027 or 2028 (make.wordpress.org)

→ Building a custom sync provider for real-time collaboration (make.wordpress.org)

→ How WordPress 7.0 Is Building the Foundation for AI-Powered Sites (wordpress.com)

→ New in WordPress Studio: Studio CLI on npm & phpMyAdmin Access (wordpress.com)

→ The Path Forward for WordPress 7.0 (make.wordpress.org)

→ 2026 Community Team Reps (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress Studio now has an independently installable CLI (x.com)

→ Announcing the Training Team Cohort: “Block Theme Development in WordPress” (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordCamp Creator Studio, Sponsored by WordPress.com: Available for Sign Ups Now! (asia.wordcamp.org)

→ Rethinking Left Navigation (make.wordpress.org)

→ Plugin Directory MCP Server (make.wordpress.org)

→ Guidelines Lands in Gutenberg 22.7 (make.wordpress.org)

→ What’s new in AI 0.6.0 (20 MAR 2026)? (make.wordpress.org)

→ Call for Testing: Community AI Connector Plugins (make.wordpress.org)

→ Contribute to the Plugins Team! (make.wordpress.org)

→ Introducing the Connectors API in WordPress 7.0 (make.wordpress.org)

→ Twenty Twenty-Seven default theme: Call for Volunteers (make.wordpress.org)

→ Connect AI coding agents to WordPress Playground with MCP (make.wordpress.org)

→ Plugin Directory: Local Development Environment (make.wordpress.org)

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From WordPress Community

→ Checkout Summit {Reloaded} – The first independent online conference for WooCommerce builders, founders, and agencies (checkoutsummit.com)

→ Alina Kakshapati receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community (yoast.com)

→ Joan Namunina receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community (yoast.com)

→ WP Packages is Working the Way Open Source Should (wordpress.org)

→ WP Engine Announces DE{CODE} 2026: Shape What’s Next (wpengine.com)

→ Akramul Hasan receives the Yoast Care fund for his contribution to the WordPress community (yoast.com)

→ Organizing Asia’s Biggest WordPress Gathering: A Conversation with the WordCamp Asia 2026 Event Leads (wp-content.co)

→ #WCEU2026 – Community That Shapes WordCamp Europe (youtube.com)

→ WordPress Campus Connect Jinja 2025 Recap: Piloting Africa’s First and Largest Campus Connect Program Across 12 Campuses in Eastern Uganda (central.wordcamp.org)

→ Introducing EmDash — the spiritual successor to WordPress that solves plugin security (cloudflare.com)

→ EmDash Feedback (ma.tt)

→ AI for Nearly a Billion (j.cv)

→ #209 – Simon Pollard on Navigating the New Normal for WordPress Community and Events (wptavern.com)

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Conclusion

That’s your WP More roundup for this week. Whether you’re testing WordPress 7.0 RC2, watching the EmDash conversation unfold, or just quietly appreciating a ClassicPress object cache, there’s a lot happening in this corner of the web.

If something here sparked a thought, hit reply; we read every message. And if a friend or colleague would find this useful, feel free to pass it along.

Nishat, WP More

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

From WordPress 7.0 Beta 5 and Gutenberg 22.7 to WooCommerce 10.6, the WPackagist acquisition controversy, and a long-overdue conversation about self-censorship in the WordPress ecosystem.

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Hello WordPressers!

Welcome to this week’s WP More roundup — WP More newsletter issue 39, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place.

It’s been a busy couple of weeks in WordPress land. A major release is closing in, the block editor keeps getting smarter, WooCommerce stores are getting faster, and underneath all the product news, a conversation is brewing about who gets to speak up in this community and what happens when they do.

Here’s what you need to know.

Thanks for reading WP More! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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WP More In this Issue:

• WordPress 7.0 Is Getting Close, Here’s What’s New in Beta 5
• Gutenberg 22.7: Real-Time Collaboration, AI Connectors, and More
• WooCommerce 10.6 is here: Smarter Product Blocks, Cleaner Cart, Faster Everything
• WP Engine Acquires WPackagist and Gets Called a “Parasite” for It
• The Silence in WordPress, One Developer Finally Breaks It

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WordPress 7.0 Is Getting Close, Here’s What’s New in Beta 5

WordPress 7.0 is on track for an April 9, 2026 release, and Beta 5 is now available for testing. This round brings over 101 updates and bug fixes since Beta 3 and one genuinely useful new feature.

Logged-in editors will now see a Command Palette shortcut in the admin bar (look for the ⌘K or Ctrl+K symbol). Click it and you get instant access to navigation, customization tools, and more without hunting through menus. It’s a small change that should noticeably speed up day-to-day editing.

The WordPress team is asking for help testing before the final release. You can jump in using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, a direct download, WP-CLI, or even right in your browser via WordPress Playground, no setup needed.

• The final release date is April 9, 2026.
• Beta 5 includes 101+ fixes since Beta 3.
• The new Command Palette shortcut (⌘K / Ctrl+K) is available to logged-in editors from anywhere on the site.

Read the full blog on Official WordPress.org blog here.

The block editor powering 7.0 also got its own major update — and there’s a lot to unpack there too.

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Gutenberg 22.7: Real-Time Collaboration, AI Connectors, and More

Gutenberg 22.7 dropped on March 11 with a handful of changes that matter for everyday users and developers alike.

The headline feature: Real-Time Collaboration is now enabled by default. Multiple people can now edit the same post simultaneously without any extra setup. There’s also a new Connectors screen under Settings that lets you manage external integrations, starting with an OpenAI connector demo, with hooks for plugins to add their own.

On the design side, the Grid block Visualizer now updates live as you adjust columns, making layout work much more intuitive. The Playlist block gains a waveform visualizer so your audio content has a visual presence. And style variation transforms now show a preview before you commit, a small but welcome addition for anyone who switches themes or styles.

For developers, there’s phpMyAdmin support in wp-env, custom CSS selector support in block.json, and a new experimental Content Guidelines API for managing site-wide content rules.

• Real-Time Collaboration is now on by default, no plugin or config needed.
• A new Connectors screen lays the groundwork for AI and third-party integrations.
• Style variation previews and a live Grid Visualizer make visual editing smoother.

Read the full blog on Official Make WordPress blog here.

Speaking of smoother experiences, WooCommerce 10.6 has some welcome improvements for store owners too.

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WooCommerce 10.6 is here: Smarter Product Blocks, Cleaner Cart, Faster Everything

Released March 10, 2026, WooCommerce 10.6 is a solid quality-of-life update with 299 commits from 80 contributors. Note that this release includes a database update.

Product Collections now start with a proper picker; choose your products, brand, tag, or category right at the beginning instead of hunting for settings after the block is placed. It’s a workflow fix that saves real time.

The Cart and Checkout Blocks got visual polish: the remove button now uses a trash icon, price savings badges are repositioned alongside individual item prices, and spacing throughout is tighter and cleaner.

Under the hood, 10.6 is notably faster. The Recent Reviews widget now loads asynchronously (fixing admin slowdowns), SQL queries are reduced across product, cart, and admin pages, and smarter caching cuts down redundant database calls.

There’s also a new filter for tax-inclusive shipping pricing; important for EU merchants who need to display fixed shipping costs regardless of VAT rates.

• Product Collection blocks now launch with a picker, making setup much more intuitive.
• Cart and Checkout Blocks have improved visuals and layout.
• Multiple SQL optimizations improve performance across the admin and storefront.

Read the full blog on Official WooCOmmerce Developer blog here.

While those product updates are encouraging, not everyone in the WordPress ecosystem is feeling great right now and that brings us to some harder news.

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WP Engine Acquires WPackagist and Gets Called a “Parasite” for It

On March 12, WP Engine announced it had acquired WPackagist, a free service that lets developers install and manage WordPress plugins and themes via Composer. It’s been maintained since 2013 by UK digital cooperative Outlandish, and it handles millions of requests weekly. WP Engine said the service will remain free.

Much of the community welcomed the news. Several developers praised WP Engine for stepping up to maintain critical infrastructure that Outlandish had kept running largely on goodwill.

The official WordPress X account, widely understood to be controlled by co-founder Matt Mullenweg, did not. It called WP Engine “a parasite” and “cancer,” echoing language Mullenweg used publicly in September 2024 that kicked off an ongoing legal dispute between the two companies. A jury trial is currently scheduled for June 2027.

Yoast founder Joost de Valk acknowledged WP Engine’s contribution but raised a pointed concern: what happens to WPackagist if WP Engine loses its court case? He also noted that WPackagist only exists because WordPress.org never built a proper Composer registry and now a private company, currently involved in litigation, owns a critical piece of developer infrastructure.

• WPackagist will continue to operate as a free service under WP Engine.
• Community reaction was largely positive; the official WordPress account was not.
• The acquisition highlights an ongoing gap: the WordPress project has no community-owned Composer registry.

Read the full report on The Repository here.

Other reports from The Repository you might like to read:

• WordPress Launches Playground-Powered Personal Workspace, but Reception Is Mixed
• WordPress Ships Two Releases in One Day as 6.9.2 Security Update Triggers Blank Screen Bug
• WordPress 6.9.4 Arrives as Security Team Discovers Incomplete Fixes From Tuesday’s Releases
• From Experimental Tool to AI Infrastructure: Adam Zieliński’s Vision for WordPress Playground in 2026
• AI Experiments Plugin Gets Two Updates in a Week, With WordPress 7.0 Now the Focus

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

That tension between official leadership and the broader community points to something a long-time WordPress developer has been sitting with and finally decided to say out loud.

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The Silence in WordPress, One Developer Finally Breaks It

Coen Jacobs has been part of the WordPress ecosystem for nearly twenty years. He was one of the first developers on the WooCommerce team, has contributed to core, and has spoken at WordCamps. And for a long time, he kept his opinions to himself, even when he had plenty to say.

In a recent post, Jacobs writes honestly about the culture of self-censorship that has developed in the WordPress ecosystem. The worry isn’t just fear of consequences, he argues, it’s something quieter: the belief that your voice doesn’t matter enough to justify the discomfort of using it.

He points to a concrete example. When several community members publicly called for governance reform, proposing a foundation with a diverse board and shared ownership of community assets, their WordPress.org accounts were deactivated within hours. Not for forking the project or causing disruption. For suggesting things should work differently.

That kind of response, Jacobs argues, shapes who speaks and who stays quiet. And when the only voices that get heard are the ones with the least to lose, the community loses one of its most important feedback mechanisms.

He’s not calling for a fight. He’s making a quiet case that the ecosystem gets better when more people show up to it, honestly.

• A culture of self-censorship exists in WordPress, driven partly by real risks.
• Developers who proposed governance reform had their WordPress.org accounts deactivated.
• Jacobs argues that more voices, including uncertain, unpopular ones, make the ecosystem healthier.

Read the full blog on coenjacobs.com blog here.

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WordPress Must Read

→ We’re Building Google Docs Inside WordPress While the AI Opportunity Slips Away (therepository.email)

→ How CloudFest Is Becoming the Most Important WordPress Business Event Nobody’s Talking About (therepository.email)

→ A year of reinvention as we turn 17 (rtcamp.com)

→ AI optimization is replaying early SEO, just faster (joost.blog)

→ Gone (Almost) Phishin’ (ma.tt)

→ I shipped a WordPress theme I couldn’t build a year ago (derekhanson.blog)

→ What it costs to run Drupal’s infrastructure (dri.es)

Share

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On other WordPress News

→ What’s new for developers? (March 2026) (developer.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress 7 AI Revealed | Here’s What Actually Works (youtube.com)

→ WordPress Studio: New Debugging Tools for Local Development (wordpress.com)

→ Join us for WooCommerce “Building Ecommerce Community” Live Event (developer.woocommerce.com/)

→ WordPress 7.0 Release on Contributor Day (asia.wordcamp.org)

→ WordCamp Canada 2026 Heads West to Vancouver (canada.wordcamp.org)

→ How WordPress Playground cut PHP.wasm binary sizes by 122 MB (make.wordpress.org)

→ March 2026 stats for the WordPress Photo Directory (make.wordpress.org)

→ Monthly Education Buzz Report – February 2026 (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress debuts a private workspace that runs in your browser via a new service, my.WordPress.net (techcrunch.com)

→ WordPress VIP Launches Advanced Professional WordPress Developer Certification (therepository.email)

→ How to Generate a WordPress Theme with Telex (wordpress.com)

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From WordPress Community

→ International Women’s Day 2026: The Women of WebDevStudios (webdevstudios.com)

→ Did AI just kill WordPress? Let’s chat about it. (youtube.com)

→ WordPress Community Raises ₹3,50,000 to Honor Zeel Thakkar With Memorial Scholarship (therepository.email/)

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Conclusion

That’s your WP More for this issue, new features to look forward to, tools to test, and some honest questions about where WordPress is headed. If something here sparked a thought, hit reply and tell us. And if you know someone who’d find this useful, we’d love it if you passed it along. See you next time.

Nishat, WP More

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

What’s new AI features in the works? WP 7.0 nearly there! Faster WooCommerce, Hidden Plugins Finally Surfacing in the WordPress.org plugin pages.

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Hello WordPressers!

Welcome to this week’s WP More roundup — WP More newsletter issue 38, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place.

WordPress is moving quickly right now and not just in one direction. This week we’ve got AI features landing in the editor, a long-overdue fix to plugin discovery, a major version inching toward release, a new WooCommerce update packed with performance improvements, and a candid post-mortem on a governance experiment that didn’t pan out. A lot to cover, so let’s get into it.

Thanks for reading WP More! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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In this Issue:

• WordPress AI Experiments 0.4.0 Brings Image Generation to the Editor
• WordPress 7.0 Beta 3 Is Out and Needs Your Testing
• WooCommerce 10.6 Focuses on Performance and Better Defaults
• The WordPress Plugin Featured Tab Is Finally Rotating Again
• FAIR Winds Down Its WordPress Ambitions

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WordPress AI Experiments 0.4.0 Brings Image Generation to the Editor

The AI Experiments plugin just hit version 0.4.0, and this release is focused on two things: helping you create images without leaving WordPress, and giving editors smarter feedback on their content.

The new Generate Image workflow lets authors create images from a text prompt directly inside the block editor, no need to hunt for stock photos or switch to another tool. You can tweak the prompt, generate variations, and insert your chosen image straight into the post. The same functionality is also available in the Media Library, so generated images go directly into your site’s collection for reuse later.

The other big addition is Generate Review Notes. This experiment analyzes your content and surfaces AI-generated suggestions, things like missing alt text, readability issues, grammar corrections, and SEO improvements, right inside the editor, either for the full post or individual blocks.

• Image generation works both in the editor and the Media Library
• Review Notes can flag accessibility, readability, grammar, and SEO issues
• Next up in 0.5.0: image editing, contextual tagging, and deeper WordPress 7.0 integration

Read the full blog on Official Make WordPress blog here.

Speaking of WordPress 7.0, that release is getting closer and Beta 3 just dropped.

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WordPress 7.0 Beta 3 Is Out and Needs Your Testing

WordPress 7.0 Beta 3 is available, and the final release is scheduled for April 9, 2026. This beta includes more than 148 fixes and updates since Beta 2, 70 in the editor and 78 in core, making it a meaningful step forward in stability.

One notable improvement in Beta 3: the WP AI Client Connectors screen now dynamically pulls in providers from the WP AI Client registry, beyond the three default options. That means more flexibility when connecting AI tools to your WordPress site.

This is not a release to run on a live site, but testing it on a staging environment is genuinely useful. You can try it via the WordPress Beta Tester plugin, a direct download, WP-CLI, or WordPress Playground right in your browser — no setup required.

• Beta 3 has 148+ fixes across the editor and core
• AI provider setup is more flexible with dynamic registry support
• WordPress Playground makes it easy to test with zero installation

Read the full blog on Official WordPress blog here.

WooCommerce users have their own update to look forward to; version 10.6 is almost here too.

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WooCommerce 10.6 Focuses on Performance and Better Defaults

WooCommerce 10.6 was scheduled to be released in March 2026, and it brings a solid set of improvements across performance, UX, and developer tooling.

On the performance side, checkout pages now run fewer SQL queries thanks to deferred transient deletion, and cache priming has been consolidated across product data stores to reduce redundant queries. The Recent Reviews widget now loads asynchronously, which prevents admin lockouts when review data causes errors.

For store builders, the Product Collection blocks get a noticeable UX upgrade. Instead of seeing an empty “no products” placeholder when inserting hand-picked products or category-filtered collections, you now see a searchable picker right away. Brands also get dedicated first-class support with a new collection type. In the cart and checkout, the remove item button has been redesigned as a trash icon, and sale badges and product variations now display more compactly.

• Fewer SQL queries on checkout and admin pages
• Product Collection blocks are now open with a searchable interface instead of empty states
• New tax-inclusive shipping filter for EU compliance

Read the full blog on Official WooCommerce Developer blog here.

While WooCommerce keeps shipping improvements, a different part of the ecosystem is rethinking how plugins get discovered in the first place.

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The WordPress Plugin Featured Tab Is Finally Rotating Again

For roughly eight years, the Featured Plugins tab inside the WordPress admin showed the same static list. That’s changed. Contributor Nick Hamze has launched an experiment that rotates eight plugins every two weeks, specifically targeting newer plugins with fewer than 10,000 installs that have been released in the past year.

The curation isn’t just automated filtering; there’s a human layer. Hamze looks at whether a plugin solves a real problem, whether the developer is active in support forums, and whether the UX feels like someone actually cared. Plugins also need to meet a quality baseline: real, readable code with proper security practices, a useful readme, and no unnecessary feature bloat.

The impact showed up fast. Ollie Menu Designer, one of the first eight featured plugins, roughly doubled its install count within hours of appearing on the list. That’s the kind of distribution most small plugin developers can’t generate on their own.

• Eight plugins rotate every two weeks, all under 10,000 installs and under 12 months old
• Human curation beyond automated criteria determines the final picks
• Featured placement can dramatically accelerate growth for smaller plugins

Read the full report on The Repository here.

Other reports from The Repository you might like to read:

• Joost de Valk and Karim Marucchi Step Away from FAIR as Project Pivots to TYPO3
• After FAIR’s Co-Founders Step Back, the WordPress Community Weighs In
• WordPress Contributor Dashboard Pilot Now Live, Team Proposes Next Phase
• WordPress 7.0 Beta 2 Ships With Connectors UI, Delivering on Mullenweg’s AI Vision
• Yoast Launches Schema Aggregation in Partnership with Microsoft, Giving AI a Site-Wide View of WordPress Content
• CloudFest Hackathon 2026: A Record Year for Projects, a New Schedule, and an AI Art Experiment
• PressConf Returns to Tempe with a New Mission: Challenge the WordPress Community
• Automattic Again Seeks to Dismiss WP Engine’s Latest Complaint, Moves to Drop WooCommerce From Case

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

Not everything in the WordPress ecosystem is moving forward, though — sometimes it’s just as important to know when to step back.

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FAIR Winds Down Its WordPress Ambitions

Karim Marucchi and Joost de Valk, two long-time WordPress voices, have announced they’re stepping away from FAIR, the neutral package management initiative they launched under the Linux Foundation to address WordPress governance concerns.

The technical work was real and functional. FAIR was a working alternative to the existing infrastructure, not just a concept. But after months of conversations with hosting companies and major ecosystem players, the conclusion was clear: no one was willing to fund it. Hosts acknowledged the problems but weren’t ready to invest in a solution that required shared commitment and financial risk.

Marucchi and de Valk are candid about what this revealed. The very reluctance of large players to step up actually clarified something Matt Mullenweg has pointed to for years, that the ecosystem’s incentive structure is misaligned, with many companies benefiting from WordPress without contributing proportionally. That doesn’t mean they agree with how he’s handled it, but they see the economic reality more clearly now.

FAIR itself will continue in a different direction: the TYPO3 community has embraced the project, particularly given European interest in digital sovereignty and federated package management.

• FAIR was technically viable but couldn’t secure ecosystem funding to move forward
• The experience gave its founders more empathy for the underlying economic tension, even if not the methods
• The project lives on with TYPO3

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WordPress Must Read

→ FAIR: Successes, Lessons, and What’s Next (halfelf.org)

→ Mike Little: the British co-founder of WordPress you’ve probably never heard of (but should)… (netribution.co.uk)

→ WordPress Faces an Event Horizon, Not a Sunset (therepository.email)

→ WordPress, AI, plugins, future of software engineering (ma.tt)

→ Building FAIR, and Letting Go of What Could Have Been (carriedils.com)

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On other WordPress News

→ WooCommerce 10.5.3: Dot release (developer.woocommerce.com)

→ Real-Time Collaboration in the Block Editor (make.wordpress.org)

→ Call For Feedback: Increasing Value of Release Party Testing Phase (make.wordpress.org)

→ Retiring the WordPress Campus Connect–Specific Mentor Program (make.wordpress.org)

→ Store API Vulnerability Patched in WooCommerce 5.4+ – What You Need To Know (developer.woocommerce.com)

→ What’s new in Gutenberg 22.6? (25 February) (make.wordpress.org)

→ Bringing WordPress Campus Connect to Malaysia: A Milestone for Open-Source Education at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (make.wordpress.org)

→ Introducing Core Team Reps for 2026 (make.wordpress.org)

→ Developer documentation restored. (make.wordpress.org)

→ Transparency Report Update: July – December 2025 (transparency.automattic.com)

→ Elemnetor launches agency survey for WordPress pros (elementor.com)

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From WordPress Community

→ WPPT Follow Up with Nick Hamze (youtube.com)

→ Contribute to the first-ever Checkout Summit edition even if you can’t attend. (checkoutsummit.com)

→ Meet Wapuulika: The Official Mascot of WordCamp Asia 2026 (asia.wordcamp.or)

→ What GoDaddy learned from talking to hundreds of web designers and developers in 2025 (godaddy.com)

→ Iterating on Notes in WordPress (nomad.blog)

→ Gutenberg Changelog #127 – WordPress 7.0 Beta and Gutenberg 22.6 (gutenbergtimes.com)

→ Hostinger posts fourth consecutive year of 50%+ growth, driven by platform-wide AI agent use (hostinger.com)

→ What Automattic’s AI Enablement Training Means for WordPress (automattic.com)

→ SudoWP Initiative Launched to Secure Abandoned WordPress Plugins (wp-content.co)

→ Jonathan Desrosiers on WordPress Sustainability, Community Engagement, and Release Strategies (wptavern.com)

→ How WordPress Is Reaching the Next Generation of Contributors (thewpminute.com)

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Conclusion

That’s a full week in WordPress; AI tools getting practical, a major version nearly ready, performance gains in WooCommerce, a small but meaningful fix to plugin discovery, and an honest look at why a governance effort didn’t take root.

If any of these stories sparked a thought, hit reply. We’d love to hear what’s on your mind. And if a fellow WordPress user would find this useful, feel free to pass it along.

Nishat, WP More

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

Big updates across the WordPress world this week. Matt Mullenweg shaking up core Make WordPress groups with actions. Apply for WordPress scholarship before the deadline!

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Hello WordPressers!

Welcome to this week’s WP More roundup — WP More newsletter issue 37, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place.

The WordPress world rarely sits still, and this week is no exception. From a major new release entering beta to a lawsuit revealing some eyebrow-raising internal conversations, there’s plenty to dig into. We’ve also got a scholarship opportunity with a deadline coming up fast, so read on.

Thanks for reading WPMore!! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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In this Issue:

• WordPress 7.0 Beta 1 Is Here — and It’s Packed
• Apply Now: The Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship for WordCamp Europe 2026
• Matt Mullenweg Wants WordPress Slack to Feel Less Like a Ghost Town
• The First WooCommerce Conference in Nearly a Decade Is Happening in April
• WP Engine’s Lawsuit Against Automattic Gets More Revealing

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WordPress 7.0 Beta 1 Is Here — and It’s Packed

The first beta of WordPress 7.0 dropped this week, and the feature list is substantial. The headline addition is real-time collaboration: multiple users can now edit the same post or page simultaneously, with offline syncing and a default HTTP polling provider built in. It’s opt-in during the beta period while the team gathers feedback.

On the design side, the admin experience is getting a visual refresh, new default color scheme, a cleaner dashboard, and smooth view transitions as you move between screens. Visual revision comparisons are also new, so you can see exactly what changed between versions at a glance.

For builders, there are several new blocks (Icons, Breadcrumbs, and Heading variations), an updated Navigation block, responsive visibility controls to show or hide blocks by screen size, and video backgrounds in the Cover block. Developers get a new WP AI Client in Core, a Client Side Abilities API, and PHP-only block registration with auto-generated inspector controls.

Key takeaway:

• Real-time collaboration is the biggest workflow change for teams.
• New blocks and responsive controls give designers more flexibility out of the box.
• The final release is scheduled for April 9, 2026; test now at wordpress.org/beta-tester.

Read the full blog on Official WordPress blog here.

With so much changing under the hood, it’s a good time to spin up a test environment and kick the tires before it ships.

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Apply Now: The Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship for WordCamp Europe 2026

If you’re an active WordPress contributor who identifies as a woman and has never attended WordCamp Europe, this one’s for you and the application deadline is March 15, 2026.

The Kim Parsell Memorial Scholarship, supported by the WordPress Foundation, covers your ticket, round-trip airfare, and lodging for WordCamp Europe 2026. It exists to remove financial barriers for contributors who might otherwise miss one of the community’s most important annual gatherings.

The scholarship honors Kim Parsell, a beloved community member who passed away in 2015. Known warmly as #wpmom, Kim contributed countless volunteer hours to the documentation team and to supporting women entering tech. The scholarship continues her legacy of inclusivity and encouragement.

Eligible contributors span every corner of the ecosystem: core, translations, documentation, design, community events, and more. If you meet the criteria, the organizers want to hear from you. All applicants will be notified by April 15, 2026.

Key takeaway:

• Applications close March 15, 2026; don’t wait.
• Coverage includes ticket, flights, and accommodation.
• Open to any active contributor who identifies as a woman and hasn’t attended WCEU before.

Read the full blog on Official WordCamp Europe blog here.

The scholarship is a reminder of how much the community invests in making WordPress a space where everyone can show up — which connects nicely to the next story.

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Matt Mullenweg Wants WordPress Slack to Feel Less Like a Ghost Town

In a February 18 post, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg called for consolidating WordCamp Slack groups; currently spread across separate workspaces for WCUS, WCEU, and WCAsia into the main WordPress.org Slack. The idea is to reduce fragmentation, make collaboration easier, and give the community a livelier shared space.

Mullenweg also floated more social channels to make the Slack feel less like a pure work tool. He’s already created channels like #dogs, #cats, #today-i-learned, and #games to get things started.

The proposal prompted a healthy back-and-forth in the comments. Organizers from flagship events raised legitimate questions: What happens to existing workflows and app integrations? How do you keep sponsor discussions and surprise announcements private? What about local Slack communities where most conversation isn’t WordPress-related at all?

No final decision has been announced. Dion Hulse noted that Slack’s permission model has improved enough to deputize more people to manage channels, and Mary Hubbard suggested date-stamping private channels to keep things tidy over time.

Key takeaway:

• This is a proposal, not a done deal; community feedback is actively shaping it.
• Flagship event organizers have real workflow concerns that will need addressing.
• More channels and better onboarding could make WordPress Slack genuinely useful for more people.

Read the full blog on Official Make WordPress blog here.

The Slack conversation reflects a broader question the WordPress community is working through: how do you build infrastructure that brings people together without creating new headaches for the volunteers running events?

Share

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The First WooCommerce Conference in Nearly a Decade Is Happening in April

WooConf, WooCommerce’s own conference series, went dark after 2017. Since then, WooCommerce has had a presence at WordCamps but no dedicated event of its own. Rodolfo Melogli — the person behind Business Bloomer, a long-running WooCommerce resource site — decided to change that.

Checkout Summit takes place April 23–24, 2026 in Palermo, Sicily. It’s capped at 150 attendees, features 12 speakers over two days, and nothing will be recorded or livestreamed. That last part is intentional: Melogli wants speakers to speak freely, without cameras running.

The lineup includes James Kemp, Woo’s Core Product Manager, delivering a keynote titled WooCommerce Unfiltered: Inside the Decisions Shaping the Platform. Other talks cover a WooCommerce-to-Shopify migration post-mortem, what building Shopify apps taught one WooCommerce developer, MCP integration, and a security breakdown of 20+ WooCommerce hosts tested against real exploits.

Melogli has been building the event in public, leaning on community support at every stage. WooCommerce signed on as headline sponsor. Tickets are €399 and all-inclusive. Around 70–80 of 150 spots have sold as of publication, and an inclusion grant is available for attendees who need help with costs.

Key takeaway:

• Checkout Summit is the only dedicated in-person WooCommerce event since WooConf ended in 2017.
• The no-recording policy is a deliberate choice to encourage candid conversation.
• An inclusion grant covers ticket, flights, and accommodation for those who need it.

Find more: https://checkoutsummit.com

Read the full Report on The Repository here.

Melogli’s event may be small, but it’s already sparked a larger conversation — including from Automattic’s own leadership about whether it’s time to bring WooConf back.

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WP Engine’s Lawsuit Against Automattic Gets More Revealing

WP Engine filed a third amended complaint in its ongoing lawsuit against Automattic and CEO Matt Mullenweg this week, and newly unsealed passages make it one of the more detailed public accounts yet of what allegedly went on behind the scenes.

The complaint claims internal Automattic documents categorized competing hosting companies into tiers — from “friends” who pay substantial licensing fees, to “charlatans” described as “free game” who should have “every single WP site” stolen from them if they refused to engage. WP Engine alleges that in early 2024, Automattic devised a plan to offer trademark licensing deals to at least 10 competing hosts, with a stated approach of either closing a deal or “start stealing their sites.”

The filing also alleges that Mullenweg emailed a Stripe executive in October 2024 — days after WP Engine filed its initial lawsuit — urging Stripe to cut ties with WP Engine, with a threat to exit Automattic’s own contracts if Stripe didn’t comply.

Automattic has called the amended complaint legally insufficient and says it will file a renewed motion to dismiss. The next court hearing is scheduled for June 4, 2026, with a jury trial set for June 2027.

Key takeaway:

• The unsealed documents include alleged internal language about “destroying competition” and pressuring third-party services.
• Automattic disputes the legal sufficiency of the claims and is seeking dismissal.
• The case won’t go to trial until June 2027 — this will be a long-running story.

Read the full report on The Repository Here.

Other reports from The Repository you might like to read:

• WordPress 7.0 Beta 1 Ships After Delay as Project Leadership Realigns Release Around AI and Milestone Story
• Automattic, Mullenweg Ask Court to Keep Details of WordPress.org Hosting Negotiations Private
• The WP Community Collective President Resigns Over Board’s “Tolerance for Risk and Discomfort”
• Inside WordCamp Asia 2026: Planning for 3,000+ Attendees and a Live WordPress 7.0 Release
• Matt Mullenweg: Global Sponsors’ Products Should Be “Fair Game” For WordCamp Talks
• Mullenweg Calls for Markdown Endpoints on WordPress.org as He Pushes “Web OS” Vision

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

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WordPress Must Read

→ The WordPress Interface Is Disappearing: What Comes After Gutenberg? (pootlepress.com)

→ API is the UI (rich.blog)

→ Open source has a big AI slop problem (leaddev.com)

→ A Modest Server-Centric Development Proposal (automattic.com)

Share

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On other WordPress News

→ Another wave of brilliant minds is joining the stage at WordCamp Asia 2026 (asia.wordcamp.org)

→ WordCamp Europe 2026 needs volunteers to help make this event unforgettable! Become a Volunteer! (europe.wordcamp.org)

→ Monthly Education Buzz Report – January 2026 (make.wordpress.org)

→ Matt Mullenweg Asked on polyglots: Where are we going? (make.wordpress.org)

→ What’s new for developers? (February 2026) (developer.wordpress.org)

→ What’s new in AI Experiments 0.3.0 (9 FEB 2026)? (make.wordpress.org)

→ Telex Updates: From Napkin Sketch to WordPress Block (and More) (wordpress.com)

→ WordPress Campus Connect: January 2026 Feedback Highlights (make.wordpress.org)

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From WordPress Community

→ Sandeep Kumar receives the Yoast Care fund for his contribution to the WordPress community (yoast.com)

→ WordPress Studio MCP (youtube.com)

→ The Best Image Compression Tools for WordPress Websites: Agency owners share the image optimization tools they trust — from WordPress plugins to local apps and server-level solutions. (theadminbar.com)

→ Matt Mullenweg CEO of Automattic: What is The Future of WordPress in a World of AI? (youtube.com)

→ The WP Community Collective Expands Board, Chris Reynolds Named Interim President (therepository.email)

→ Preserving the Open Web: Inside the New Wayback Machine Plugin for WordPress (blog.archive.org)

→ Leadership at the Peak (ma.tt)

→ #WPGivesAHand 2025: A Recap of Impact and Growth (wpgivesahand.com)

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Conclusion

That’s the week in WordPress, a major beta to test, a scholarship deadline to act on, and a legal case that keeps getting more complicated. If something here caught your attention, hit reply and let us know what you’re watching. And if a friend or colleague would find this useful, send it their way. See you next week.

Nishat, WPMore

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

5 WordPress updates: new dev tools, 6.9.1 release, AI infrastructure plans, community goals, and FAIR’s roadmap.

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Hello WordPressers!

Welcome to this week’s WPMore roundup — WPMore newsletter issue 36, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place.

WordPress is evolving fast in 2026, and this week brings updates that touch every part of the ecosystem. From new AI development tools to community-building efforts and infrastructure debates, these stories show where WordPress is headed and what it means for you as a site owner, developer, or community member.

Thanks for reading WPMore!! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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In this Issue:

• AI Agents Get a WordPress Testing Playground
• WordPress 6.9.1 Fixes 49 Bugs Across Core and Block Editor
• WordPress 7.0 May Bundle AI Infrastructure (But No AI by Default)
• WordPress Meetups Are Getting a Major Revamp in 2026
• FAIR Plans to Rebundle Top 10,000 WordPress Plugins by Year’s End

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AI Agents Get a WordPress Testing Playground

AI code agents are getting better at writing WordPress plugins and themes, but testing has been the bottleneck. WordPress contributor Brandon Payton just released wp-playground, a new AI agent skill that uses the Playground CLI to give AI agents a fast, repeatable way to run WordPress and verify their code as they build.

The skill automatically detects where code belongs, mounting plugins into wp-content/plugins or themes into wp-content/themes by recognizing file signatures like plugin headers. This cuts the “ready to test” time from about a minute down to just a few seconds. Agents can now alternate between tools like curl and Playwright to interact with WordPress, verify results, apply fixes, and re-test quickly.

• Install via: npx openskills install WordPress/agent-skills
• New repo launched at github.com/WordPress/agent-skills for community contributions
• Future plans include persistent Playground sites and wp-cli command support

Read the full official blog on WordPress.org here.

This development tool might seem niche, but it signals how AI is becoming part of the WordPress development workflow.

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WordPress 6.9.1 Fixes 49 Bugs Across Core and Block Editor

WordPress 6.9.1 is now available as a short-cycle maintenance release. This minor update addresses 49 bugs affecting the block editor, mail functionality, and classic themes. Sites with automatic background updates enabled will update automatically, or you can manually update through your WordPress Dashboard.

The release was led by Aaron Jorbin and Aki Hamano, with contributions from over 80 community members. It’s a testament to the WordPress community’s ability to coordinate asynchronous fixes into stable releases.

• Next major version: WordPress 7.0, scheduled for April 9, 2026 at WordCamp Asia
• Download available at WordPress.org or via Dashboard > Updates
• Full bug fix list in the release candidate announcement

Read the full blog on WordPress.org here.

Speaking of WordPress 7.0, there’s a significant proposal on the table for that release.

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WordPress 7.0 May Bundle AI Infrastructure (But No AI by Default)

A proposal is on the table to merge the WP AI Client into WordPress 7.0, providing developer infrastructure for AI features without actually enabling any AI functionality by default. This is about laying groundwork, not shipping AI to every WordPress site.

The WP AI Client is a provider-agnostic API that lets WordPress code call generative AI models through a consistent interface. It includes WordPress integrations for HTTP transport, event handling, caching, credentials, and a REST/JS layer. Crucially, without explicit configuration and explicit calling code, WordPress won’t send any prompts or data to external services.

What this means for you: WordPress won’t automatically use AI. Site owners will install plugins to enable specific AI providers, and plugins can detect whether AI is configured before offering AI features. The goal is to reduce duplicated SDKs and settings pages while giving the ecosystem a stable foundation.

• Security: REST/JS execution is capability-gated; secrets won’t leak
• Privacy: No outbound AI calls by default
• Performance: Minimal footprint when unused

Feedback is being collected via comments and a Trac ticket. Testing instructions will be available when a pull request opens.

Read the full official blog on Make WordPress here.

While WordPress Core explores AI infrastructure, the community team is focusing on something more human.

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WordPress Meetups Are Getting a Major Revamp in 2026

Meetups have been explicitly called out as “the primary front door to the WordPress community” in the 2026 Big Picture Goals, and the Community Team is planning a significant evolution. With WordPress Credits and Campus Connect scaling quickly, meetups need to be ready to welcome newcomers and turn curiosity into active participation.

The focus is on adding hands-on, issue-focused sessions alongside the presentations and social gatherings meetups already do well. This means working together on real WordPress problems, expanding learning opportunities tied to actual WordPress needs, and providing clear paths from meetup participation to contribution on Make teams.

The Community Team’s Q1-Q2 priorities include:

• Auditing the Meetup Organizer Handbook for guidance on hands-on sessions
• Reaching out to all existing meetup groups to assess activity and offer support
• Creating templates for contribution-focused meetup formats
• Highlighting meetups already running successful hands-on sessions

They’ll also work to strengthen the meetup-to-contribution pipeline by coordinating with Make team reps and improving visibility of “good first issues” that groups can tackle together.

Read the official blog on Make WordPress here.

While WordPress.org strengthens its community infrastructure, an alternative distribution network continues to gain momentum.

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FAIR Plans to Rebundle Top 10,000 WordPress Plugins by Year’s End

The FAIR project has published its 2026 roadmap with an ambitious plan: rebundle the top 5,000 to 10,000 WordPress.org plugins by December, reformatted to meet FAIR Protocol specifications with added metadata and cryptographic package signing.

FAIR’s roadmap is structured around three quarterly milestones. The first (April 26) focuses on trust systems and verification infrastructure. The second (August 16) targets direct engagement with commercial plugin publishers to build authenticated API endpoints for payment gateways and license validation, letting site admins purchase licenses and manage subscriptions from within their WordPress dashboard. The third (December 6) shifts to infrastructure scaling and sustainability.

What this means: FAIR is positioning itself as a viable alternative to WordPress.org’s centralized repository, with federated distribution and a focus on security verification. The project acknowledges it will need significantly more contributors to handle package vetting at this scale.

• Six months after launch, FAIR has nine software projects in active development
• November 2025 hackathon with Patchstack delivered vulnerability information directly to WordPress dashboards
• Board and committee member announcements are underway but not yet scheduled

Read the full report on The Repository here.

Other reports from The Repository you might like to read:

• WordPress 6.9.1 Released with Fixes for 49 Bugs in Core and Block Editor
• WordPress AI Experiments Plugin Tests Eight New Features, Including Type-Ahead and Comment Moderation
• WP Engine Wins Approval to Add WooCommerce as Defendant as Court Signals Frustration with Lengthy Filings
• WordPress Meetups to Add Hands-On Contribution Sessions Alongside Traditional Formats

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing, hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

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WordPress Must Read

→ How We Waste Great Talks at WordCamps (And How to Fix This) (checkoutsummit.com)

→ Wordfence Bug Bounty Program Monthly Report – December 2025 (wordfence.com)

→ My 7-Year-Old Wanted to Build a Website. Should I Still Teach Him WordPress? (wpmayor.com)

→ Marketing Lessons from WordCamp Asia (make.wordpress.org)

→ Content Guidelines: A Gutenberg Experiment (make.wordpress.org)

→ In the past week, there has been an explosion of visible AI progress in the WordPress project (j.cv)

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On other WordPress News

→ Hosting Team Reps 2026 (make.wordpress.org)

→ Automattic Backs University of Illinois Chicago Program Set to Pay Students for WordPress-Based AI Training (therepository.email)

→ It’s official: WordPress.com has a Claude Connector (wordpress.com)

→ WordCamp Asia 2026 WP Campus Connect Scholarship Sponsor Applications Now Open (wp-content.co)

→ New concept: National Championships at WordCamps (make.wordpress.org)

→ Proposal: Monthly Office Hour Meeting for Make WordPress Training (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress Studio 1.7.0: Meet the New Studio CLI (wordpress.com)

→ Call for testing: Experimental REST API Caching in WooCommerce 10.5 (developer.woocommerce.com)

→ Apply for Scholarships to Attend WordCamp Asia 2026 (asia.wordcamp.org)

→ Recap: WordPress 6.9 “Gene” Retrospective (make.wordpress.org)

→ Call for Testing – Customizable Navigation (“Mobile”) Overlays (make.wordpress.org)

→ Call for Scholarship Sponsors: Support Student Participation through WordPress Campus Connect (make.wordpress.org)

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From WordPress Community

→ The right time: Leaving Automattic (nickdiego.com)

→ WP Engine Launches Newsroom, a Publishing Platform Built on Big Bite’s Newsroom Expertise (therepository.email)

→ #202 – Charly Leetham on Using WordPress to Enable a Digital Nomad Life (wptavern.com)

→ Luke and Jonathan catch up with Jeff Paul, VP of Open Source Solutions at Fueled and an active contributor to the WordPress project for the past decade. They discuss Jeff’s contribution journey, their shared agency experiences, and thoughts on the upcoming 7.0 release. (crossword.fm)

→ Hackathons and jam sessions for WordPress builders (pluginjam.com)

→ Underfunded PHP Tools: A Global Business Threat (openchannels.fm)

→ Excerpt Talks Episode #6 – WP Credits Panel Discussion (wpbakery.com)

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Conclusion

WordPress in 2026 is shaping up to be a year of foundational changes, some technical, some cultural, all significant. Whether you’re building sites, writing code, or just keeping up with the ecosystem, these shifts will affect how you work with WordPress.

Have thoughts on any of these stories? Hit reply, I’d love to hear what you think.

Nishat, WP More

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

AI features, meetup priorities, security gaps, and ongoing drama—here’s what’s shaping WordPress this week.

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Hello WordPress enthusiasts!

Welcome to this week’s WPMore roundup — WPMore newsletter issue 35, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place.

WordPress is stepping into 2026 with ambitious plans and unresolved tensions. This week brought clarity on where the project is headed: real-time collaboration, AI integration, and revitalized meetups, but also reminders of the challenges it still faces. From security gaps that should worry every site owner to community friction that won’t seem to fade, here’s what you need to know.

Thanks for reading WPMore!! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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In this Issue:

• WordPress 7.0 Aims for Google Docs-Style Collaboration
• AI Experiments Plugin Adds Excerpt Generation and Developer Tools
• Official WordPress.org X Account Mocks FAIR Project, Draws Backlash
• Most Hosts Can’t Block WordPress Vulnerabilities—74% of Attacks Succeed
• WP Engine Customers Refile Class Action After Court Dismissal

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WordPress 7.0 Aims for Google Docs-Style Collaboration

WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard outlined the project’s 2026 roadmap, and WordPress 7.0 is the centerpiece. Set to coincide with WordCamp Asia, the release will focus on Phase 3: Collaboration, bringing real-time co-editing directly into the block editor; think Google Docs, but for WordPress.

Beyond collaboration, 7.0 will introduce a Command Palette powered by the Abilities API, client-side media processing to reduce server load and speed up uploads, and responsive editing controls that let you customize mobile menus and hide blocks by viewport. New blocks like Tabs and Icon round out the creative toolkit.

The update also continues WordPress’s intentional push into AI. Hubbard emphasized AI will remain opt-in and plugin-based, with no automatic features injected into sites. The Core AI team is developing project-wide guidelines focused on transparency, user control, and data responsibility; guardrails designed to keep AI helpful without overstepping.

• Key takeaway: WordPress 7.0 aims to make the editor more collaborative, faster, and smarter, without forcing AI on anyone.
• For site owners: Expect smoother uploads and better mobile customization tools once 7.0 drops.

Hubbard also stressed the importance of revitalizing meetups as the “primary front door” to the WordPress community, encouraging hands-on learning and clearer onboarding for new contributors, especially students arriving through programs like Campus Connect and WordPress Credits.

Read the full blog on Make WordPress Here.

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AI Experiments Plugin Adds Excerpt Generation and Developer Tools

The AI Experiments plugin hit version 0.2.0, bringing AI-powered excerpt generation to WordPress editors. Instead of leaving excerpts blank or writing them last, authors can now generate a first draft directly from post content, then review and edit as needed.

The release also introduces the Abilities Explorer, a new admin screen that surfaces all registered AI capabilities within the plugin. It’s designed to help developers understand what AI-powered actions are available and how they’re exposed in the system, a foundation for making the Abilities framework more extensible as new features roll out.

Looking ahead, version 0.3.0 is already in progress with content summarization, featured image generation, alt text generation, and a refactored Abilities Explorer built on TypeScript and DataViews. These experiments are meant to inform future core AI discussions, not replace editorial judgment.

• Key takeaway: AI in WordPress is evolving carefully, with tools that assist rather than automate away editorial control.
• For editors: Excerpt generation could save time on archives and feeds, but you’re still in charge of what gets published.

The plugin remains experimental, but the direction is clear: practical, optional, and transparent AI features that fit into existing workflows.

Read the full blog on Make WordPress here.

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Official WordPress.org X Account Mocks FAIR Project, Draws Backlash

The official WordPress.org X account sparked backlash last week after posting a mocking reply about the FAIR project, a federated, independent repository initiative launched by developers who were previously banned from WordPress.org.

The controversy started when Nicholas Garofalo, Director of Marketing for WordPress.org at Automattic, mentioned his personal site got stuck in maintenance mode after updating a FAIR Connect plugin. The WordPress.org account replied: “Looks like the Federated and Independent Repository project is going great… Maybe they need some REST.” The “REST” reference was widely interpreted as a jab at Ryan McCue, creator of the WordPress REST API and a FAIR co-chair who was among those banned in 2024.

Community reaction was swift. Several developers and leaders criticized the post as unprofessional and out of step with WordPress leadership’s stated goal of rebuilding trust after last year’s moderation controversies. Some critical replies were later hidden by the account, raising further concerns about how dissent is handled on official channels.

• Key takeaway: The post felt like a return to last year’s drama, at a time when the community wants to move forward.
• For the community: It’s unclear who authored the post, but it highlighted ongoing tensions around governance, moderation, and tone.

WordPress Executive Director Mary Hubbard outlined moderation reforms in May, but this episode suggests the reset is still a work in progress.

Read the full report on The Repository Here.

Share

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Most Hosts Can’t Block WordPress Vulnerabilities—74% of Attacks Succeed

A new security study from Patchstack tested 30 known WordPress vulnerabilities across multiple hosting companies and the results are alarming. Even after expanding the experiment to include more hosts and more generic attack types, 74% of exploit attempts still succeeded.

The study found that hosts performed better against non-WordPress-specific vulnerabilities like SQL injection or directory traversal, but struggled badly with WordPress-specific attacks like privilege escalation (blocked only 12% of the time). Once an attacker gains admin privileges, they can access customer data, edit content, or upload malicious files, often bypassing other protections entirely.

Even hosts advertising commercial web application firewalls showed inconsistent results. The best performers were hosts with in-house firewall solutions, suggesting that investing in custom security infrastructure matters more than relying on third-party tools. Notably, the study also retested 10 vulnerabilities from an earlier experiment and many hosts still hadn’t addressed them months later.

• Key takeaway: “Secure hosting” marketing doesn’t guarantee protection against WordPress vulnerabilities.
• For site owners: Don’t assume your host has you covered. Layer your security with a dedicated plugin like Patchstack, Wordfence, or Sucuri.
• For hosts: If you’re serious about WordPress security, generic WAFs won’t cut it.

The study confirms what many security researchers already knew: WordPress vulnerability mitigation remains largely unsolved, and vibe-coding practices are only making it worse.

Read the full report on Patchstack here.

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WP Engine Customers Refile Class Action After Court Dismissal

WP Engine customers Ryan Keller and Sharon Schanzer have filed an amended class action lawsuit against Automattic and CEO Matt Mullenweg, seeking to revive claims a judge dismissed last month for insufficient detail.

The original lawsuit alleged Automattic intentionally interfered with their WP Engine contracts during the late-2024 standoff, when WordPress.org access was cut off and the Advanced Custom Fields plugin was taken over. Judge Araceli Martínez-Olguín ruled they hadn’t shown Automattic knew about their specific contracts or pointed to concrete lost business opportunities.

The amended complaint adds fresh evidence, including the WordPress Engine Tracker website, which publicly listed over 842,000 WP Engine-hosted sites alongside promotional links to competing hosts like Automattic-owned Pressable. A 6,584-page CSV of those sites is filed with the complaint as proof Automattic could identify specific customers. The filing also details technical impacts, arguing that WordPress.org access is hard-coded into the software and couldn’t simply be rerouted.

• Key takeaway: The legal battle over last year’s WP Engine conflict is far from over.
• For WP Engine users: This case could have implications for how disputes between platform owners and third-party hosts are handled in the future.

A hearing date hasn’t been set, but the case continues to unfold as a central piece of fallout from 2024’s most contentious WordPress dispute.

Read the full report on The Repository here.

Other reports from The Repository you might like to read:

• Matías Ventura Named WordPress 7.0 Release Lead as Contributors Close In on Real-Time Collaboration Approach
• Inside WordCamp Europe 2026: Lead Organizers on Getting More People to Kraków and This Year’s Education Focus
• WordPress.org Launches New Education Hub Highlighting Campus Connect, Credits, and Student Clubs
• WordPress 7.0 Planning Continues With Call for Release Squad Volunteers
• WordPress Plugins Team Reviewed Record 12,713 Plugins in 2025 as Submissions Doubled
• Misunderstandings Over AI Use Fuel Confusion Around WordPress.org Plugin Reviews
• WordPress to Drop PHP 7.2 and 7.3 Support With WordPress 7.0

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

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WordPress Must Read

→ PHP can AI: WordPress.com Agentic Infrastructure (piszek.com)

→ Why WordPress Needs to Plug Into the Agentic Web (wpengine.com)

→ I Dug Through 6,162 WordPress Plugins From 2025. Let’s Talk About What’s Missing—And Why 2026 Could Be Different (regionallyfamous.com)

→ Market analysis: WordPress in 2026 (humanmade.com)

→ Matt Mullenweg on WooCommerce’s Existential Threat, AI Hype, and Why Breaking Sites Makes Him Furious (therepository.email)

→ Happy Birthday Drupal! (jonathandesrosiers.com)

Share

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On other WordPress News

→ WordPress Community Team Encourages Women-Centric Events for International Women’s Day 2026 (therepository.email)

→ New: Request a video message from Matt for your WordCamp (make.wordpress.org)

→ What’s new in Gutenberg 22.4? (20 January) (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress 6.9.1 Release Schedule (make.wordpress.org)

→ Three New UI Updates to WordPress Playground from December 2025 (make.wordpress.org)

→ Nominations for Core Team Reps: 2026 Edition (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress Studio 1.7.0: Meet the New Studio CLI (wordpress.com)

→ Product Permalink Changes Coming in WooCommerce 10.5 (developer.woocommerce.com)

→ What’s new for developers? (January 2026) (developer.wordpress.org)

→ Introducing WP-Bench: A WordPress AI Benchmark (make.wordpress.org)

→ WC REST API fixes for product variation attributes with special characters in WooCommerce 10.5 (developer.woocommerce.com)

→ A New Home for WordPress Education Programs (wordpress.org)

→ Sample text Five (domain.com)

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From WordPress Community

→ Exploring work in progress for WordPress 7.0 (nomad.blog)

→ Ohia ᚛ᚈᚐᚂᚐᚋᚆ᚜ receives the Yoast Care fund for her contribution to the WordPress community (yoast.com)

→ $3 Millions in Sales Later – 2025 Review (seopress.org)

→ Funding Open Source for Digital Sovereignty (dri.es)

→ Overall adoption HTTP Archive measurements show that CMS-driven sites account for over 54% of observed websites in 2025, reinforcing CMSs as the default infrastructure for the web. (almanac.httparchive.org)

→ WordPress is moving fast on AI, and plugin builders need to keep up. WP Product Talk sits down with Jason Adams, Core AI Team Lead at Automattic, to unpack how plugins WordPress AI efforts are shaping what’s possible right now. (youtube.com)

→ Is There a WordPress Replacement in 2026? I Went Looking (jeangalea.com)

→ BuddyPress Is Fading: Why We Must Act Now to Save It (vapvarun.com)

→ The Future of The Web, What does the Open Web look like in an AI future? How will websites change? (j.cv)

→ Closing the door (for now) on Content Creators slack channel (nomad.blog)

→ The silence is deafening: Google’s “agentic” future leaves the WordPress economy behind (joost.blog)

→ Aditya Kane reflects on his 11 years of WordPress contribution journey (bombaypirate.com)

→ Matt Mullenweg on WooCommerce’s Future and Competitive Strengths in Online Commerce (openchannels.fm)

→ Product Thinking in Practice: The Choices Behind Synced Pattern Popups (mattcromwell.com)

→ Checkout Summit: A Conference for WooCommerce Devs ft. Rodolfo Melogli (webmasters.fm)

→ Growing Agency Success with People-Centric Values and Open Source Education (openchannels.fm)

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Conclusion

That’s the week in WordPress: big plans, real risks, and unresolved tensions. Whether you’re excited about 7.0’s collaboration features or concerned about security gaps and governance drama, one thing is clear: 2026 is shaping up to be a pivotal year.

Got thoughts? Hit reply, I’d love to hear from you. And if you found this useful, share it with a fellow WordPress user who could use the update.

Nishat, WPMore

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

PHP 7.2/7.3 support ends in April, plugin sales down 80%, security deep-dive, and Make WordPress team updates.

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Hello WordPressers!

Welcome to this week’s WPMore roundup — WPMore newsletter issue 34, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place.

We’re covering some major moves in the WordPress ecosystem: a long-awaited PHP version bump, the sobering reality of plugin sales in 2025, and practical security insights you can use today. Plus, updates from the Plugins and Test teams on how AI is reshaping workflows. Let’s dive in.

Thanks for reading WPMore!! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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In this Issue:

• WordPress 7.0 Waves Goodbye to PHP 7.2 and 7.3
• Plugin Sales Took a Hit in 2025, Here’s What the Data Shows
• The Plugins Team Doubled Its Workload And Leveled Up With AI
• The Test Team Is Rebuilding With Training and Clearer Expectations
• A Deep Dive Into WordPress Security: From Foundations to Hardening

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WordPress 7.0 Waves Goodbye to PHP 7.2 and 7.3

WordPress 7.0, scheduled for April 2026, will drop support for PHP 7.2 and 7.3. The new minimum supported version will be PHP 7.4.0, while the recommended version remains PHP 8.3. Usage of PHP 7.2 and 7.3 has fallen below 4% of monitored WordPress installs, well under the project’s 5% threshold for retirement.

This shift aims to keep WordPress maintainable for the long haul. Over time, raising the minimum PHP version benefits the plugin and theme ecosystem, improves tooling and libraries (including AI integrations), and strengthens the project’s developer relations. WordPress core is already fully compatible with PHP 8.0–8.3 and beta compatible with PHP 8.4 and 8.5.

Sites still running PHP 7.2 or 7.3 will stay on the WordPress 6.9 branch once 7.0 launches. Security fixes will be backported to WordPress 4.7 when possible, even though only one branch officially receives updates. The Gutenberg plugin will also bump its minimum PHP version to 7.4.

• Key takeaway: If you’re still on PHP 7.2 or 7.3, now’s the time to upgrade. Contact your host if you need help.
• What’s next: No set schedule for future PHP bumps, usage and the 5% threshold will guide decisions going forward.

Read from the Official Make WordPress Blog here.

This move keeps WordPress modern and sustainable, but it also means plugin developers and site owners need to stay current.

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Plugin Sales Took a Hit in 2025, Here’s What the Data Shows

Plugin sales were tough in 2025. Katie Keith at Barn2 saw new plugin sales drop 17.8%, with revenue up only 0.65% thanks to renewals. A poll of plugin companies revealed that 80% experienced flat or declining sales compared to 2024. A follow-up survey dug deeper, and the patterns were striking.

Replaceability mattered most. Plugins that are hard to replace saw two-thirds reporting growth, regardless of how “essential” they were. Partially replaceable plugins struggled, with many down 15–29% or worse. Easy-to-replace plugins were hit hardest; competition, AI-generated alternatives, and theme features are pulling customers away.

Organic search took a beating. Companies relying heavily on SEO saw the biggest declines. AI tools are changing how people discover plugins, and fewer clicks are converting into sales. Freemium and marketplace listings showed mixed results, but partnerships and affiliates held steadier; being embedded in someone else’s workflow provided a buffer.

What founders can do in 2026:

• Make your plugin irreplaceable, own a clear outcome and solve a problem no one else does quite as well.
• Reduce dependence on SEO by diversifying into YouTube, partnerships, email, and direct outreach.
• Be explicit about why paying is worth it; support alone isn’t enough; emphasize reliability, updates, and peace of mind.
• Market consistently, not occasionally. Growth stories came from deliberate visibility, not passive discovery.

Read the full report on WP Product Talk Here.

The WordPress plugin market is shifting fast, and adapting now will separate the winners from the rest.

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The Plugins Team Doubled Its Workload And Leveled Up With AI

The WordPress Plugins Team reviewed 12,713 plugins in 2025, a 40.6% increase over 2024. Weekly submissions surged from 150 to over 330, and the team kept the queue under one week despite the volume. How? By heavily upgrading their tools with AI-assisted checks and automation.

The Internal Scanner now tackles repetitive tasks like verifying plugin names, checking branding compliance, and confirming ownership, adding over 80 new features and 100 improvements in 2025. The Plugin Check Plugin (PCP) evolved into a security-focused tool, with five major releases adding nonce verification, forbidden function checks, localhost detection, and enhanced PHP 8.1+ compatibility. In October, PCP started running automatic security scans on every plugin update, reports are internal for now, but authors will soon receive feedback to improve their plugins proactively.

Despite the progress, challenges remain. Nearly 39% of reviewed plugins received no reply from authors, a drop from 2024 but still a drain on volunteer time. Approvals rose to 69.5% (up from 63.4% in 2024), and the average number of issues per plugin declined, showing submissions are better prepared. AI is lowering barriers to entry without compromising quality, the approval bar hasn’t dropped, but more people are building plugins than ever before.

• Key takeaway: The team is scaling through smarter tools, not just more people. Plugin authors should use PCP in their workflows to catch issues early.
• What’s ahead: Scaling the team and processes in 2026 to handle record-breaking submissions while maintaining standards.

The Plugins Team is proving that AI can amplify human effort without sacrificing quality.

Read from the Official Make WordPress Blog here.

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The Test Team Is Rebuilding With Training and Clearer Expectations

The WordPress Test Team is restructuring in 2026 to address resource bottlenecks and clarify what it means to be a team member. Historically, joining was either easy (as a yearly representative, often without real contribution) or extremely hard (through exceptional effort like triaging hundreds of tickets). Moving forward, earning “emeritus” status will require sustained, consistent contribution over time, not short-term or symbolic involvement.

The new approach lowers the barrier to join “the hard way” while phasing out representatives as the sole entry path. Representatives were meant to support the team for a year, but the role often attracted badge-seekers rather than committed contributors. The new system emphasizes duty over accomplishment, and non-emeritus members who don’t meet consistent expectations will be removed.

To support this shift, the Test Team is launching a four-week Training Program starting in January 2026. It covers handbook development, collaboration, testing fundamentals, and meeting management. Participants need to invest at least 20 hours (two-hour live sessions plus three hours of weekly practice). Graduating doesn’t guarantee a team spot, but it provides clear guidance on how to get there. The program is capped at five participants, selected by technical skill level if demand exceeds capacity.

• Key takeaway: The Test Team is prioritizing active, long-term contributors over short-term participation.
• Sign up: Live sessions start January 8 or 15, held around 3–4 PM GMT on Tuesdays and Thursdays.

This restructuring aims to build a more sustainable, engaged team that can handle WordPress testing at scale.

Read from the Official Make WordPress Blog here.

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A Deep Dive Into WordPress Security: From Foundations to Hardening

Tài Hoàng published a comprehensive handbook on WordPress security, covering everything from the platform’s layered security model to actionable hardening techniques. The guide emphasizes that WordPress itself isn’t insecure, 96% of vulnerabilities in 2025 were found in plugins and themes, not core. The real problem is mismanagement: outdated plugins, weak server configs, poor passwords, and neglected maintenance.

The security model visualizes WordPress as four layers: server/infrastructure (foundation), WordPress core (application), plugins/themes (extension), and edge/network (CDN/WAF like Cloudflare). Each layer reinforces the others, but a failure in one—like a vulnerable plugin—weakens the whole system.

Best practices include choosing a reliable VPS host, reducing your attack surface by keeping your plugin stack lean, controlling access with proper file permissions and 2FA, disabling unnecessary features (XML-RPC, file editor, WP-Cron), and building a long-term security culture with regular audits and documentation. The handbook also covers practical steps like hiding PHP and Nginx versions, blocking direct IP access to bypass Cloudflare, securing wp-config.php, changing the default login URL, limiting login attempts, and using Nginx rules to block malicious requests.

Key tools mentioned:

• Admin and Site Enhancements (ASE) plugin for login URL changes and login attempt limits
• Two-Factor plugin for 2FA
• UpdraftPlus for backups following the 3-2-1 rule (three copies, two media types, one offsite)
• Key takeaway: Security isn’t a plugin you install, it’s a discipline. Harden every layer, from server to edge, and maintain it consistently.

Read the Full Guide here.

This guide is a must-read for anyone serious about keeping their WordPress sites secure in 2026 and beyond.

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WordPress Must Read

→ From installation to integration: Making plugins “agent-ready” (joost.blog)

→ When a WordPress Site Needs a Rehab Instead of a Full Redesign (speckyboy.com)

→ Automattic AI, 2025 (j.cv)

Share

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On other WordPress News

→ WordPress 7.0 Call for Volunteers (make.wordpress.org)

→ Plugin teams’ eviews are not AI generated (reddit.com)

→ Introducing new Themes Team representatives for the 2026 (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress Vulnerability Report — December 31, 2025 (solidwp.com)

→ WP Engine Acquires Big Bite (wp-content.co)

→ Seahawk Media Partners with Patchstack to Strengthen WordPress Security (patchstack.com)

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From WordPress Community

→ Support Inclusion in Tech (SiNC) Opens Applications for 2026 WordPress Contributor Funding Program (wp-content.co)

→ Matt 4.2 (ma.tt)

→ My 2025 recap (by the Numbers) (pootlepress.com)

→ On Being Vegetarian (sunitarai.com.np)

→ 2025 year in review & transparency report (barn2.com)

→ 2025: My Year in Review (elliotsowersby.com)

→ Wombat Plugins 2025 Year in Review (studiowombat.com)

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Conclusion

That’s a wrap for this edition of WPMore. Whether you’re upgrading PHP, rethinking your plugin strategy, or tightening security, there’s no shortage of work ahead, but the tools and knowledge are there to help you succeed.

Have thoughts on any of these stories? Hit reply and let me know. And if you found this useful, share it with a fellow WordPress user who could benefit. See you next time!

Nishat, WPMore

Follow → X.com | LinkedIn | BlueSky | Facebook

Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

Major updates planned, contributor dashboard arriving, and why bot traffic matters for your site.

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Hello WordPressers!

Welcome to this year’s final WPMore newsletter, issue 33, where you get curated news about WordPress and the WordPress community all in one place. I hope your holidays are going great and that your New Year’s plans are still intact.

WordPress is gearing up for a busy 2026. The project has announced three major releases timed with flagship WordCamps, launched a pilot dashboard to track contributor engagement, and shipped Gutenberg 22.3 with a dedicated Fonts page. Meanwhile, new data reveals how bot traffic and security practices are reshaping website performance across the globe. Here’s what you need to know.

Thanks for reading WPMore!! Subscribe for free to receive new posts and support my work.

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WordPress In this Issue:

• WordPress 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2: Your 2026 Release Roadmap
• A New Dashboard to Track Contributor Journeys
• Gutenberg 22.3 Brings a Dedicated Fonts Page and Better Image Editing
• Bots Now Drive Up to 70% of Web Traffic (and Why That Matters)
• The WordPress Stories That Shaped 2025

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WordPress 7.0, 7.1, and 7.2: Your 2026 Release Roadmap

WordPress is returning to a three-releases-per-year cadence in 2026, with each major version launching during a flagship WordCamp event. WordPress 7.0 is scheduled for April 9th during WordCamp Asia, 7.1 lands August 19th at WordCamp US, and 7.2 wraps up the year around December 8–10th during State of the Word.

The four-month spacing gives contributors enough time to build quality features while encouraging iterative shipping over chasing perfection. It also creates unique teaching opportunities; newer contributors can watch or even help with live releases at WordCamps, learning the process firsthand.

A few practical notes: you don’t need to attend in person to be involved, all coordination happens in Slack, and the 7.0 Release Squad call for volunteers goes out the week of January 4th. The dates may shift slightly based on community feedback, but the overall rhythm is set.

This schedule also leaves room for minor releases between major ones, giving teams breathing space to deliver improvements with confidence.

Read the official Make WordPress blogpost here.

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A New Dashboard to Track Contributor Journeys

WordPress is piloting a Contributor Dashboard to map how people join, participate, and grow across Make teams. The dashboard uses a five-stage ladder – Connect, Contribute, Engage, Perform, Lead- to describe participation patterns without ranking contributors or suggesting that some work matters more than others.

The goal is simple: help teams understand engagement, spot where support is needed, and improve the contributor experience over time. Right now, contribution activity is scattered across many tools, and non-code work often lacks visibility. This pilot aims to change that.

The dashboard will launch at the end of February 2026 with a limited multi-team pilot. It uses a custom plugin to map existing activity from WordPress.org systems to ladder stages, so it won’t require new infrastructure or place new demands on contributors. It also respects privacy—no personal or sensitive information gets displayed.

If you’re interested in helping test or refine the dashboard, you can comment on the project thread or join the conversation in the #five-for-the-future Slack channel.

This work builds on years of community requests for better contributor recognition and visibility.

Read the official Make WordPress blogpost here.

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Gutenberg 22.3 Brings a Dedicated Fonts Page and Better Image Editing

The latest Gutenberg release, 22.3, introduces a dedicated Fonts page under the Appearance menu for block themes. Until now, managing fonts meant digging through several panels inside Global Styles. The new page centralizes typography management, letting you browse, install, and preview fonts in one place. Support for classic themes is coming next.

The image cropper also got a rebuild. It works the same way, but now aspect ratios and zoom levels stay put when you rotate images – a small fix that clears up a long-standing frustration. This update also sets the stage for more image-editing improvements down the road.

Other highlights include email notifications for Notes (so collaborators get alerts when someone leaves feedback), alignment support for the Breadcrumbs block, and a responsive Grid block that adapts layouts across screen sizes. The editor also now shows clearer error messages when you lose connection.

• Fonts page simplifies typography management for block themes
• Image cropper improvements fix rotation issues
• Grid block now responds to different screen sizes automatically

These changes make everyday editing smoother without forcing you to rethink your workflow.

Read the official Make WordPress blogpost here.

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Bots Now Drive Up to 70% of Web Traffic (and Why That Matters)

WP Engine’s 2025 Website Traffic Trends Report reveals that automated, non-human traffic now accounts for nearly one in three web requests globally. AI-driven bots consume up to 70% of the most resource-heavy operations like hosting and performance, turning traffic management into a financial priority. Unverified bot traffic is growing 76% worldwide, yet only 38% of sites use dedicated bot-mitigation tools.

Security practices now directly affect speed and cost. Sites that fully adopt HTTPS and proactive bot mitigation load 1–5 seconds faster in Largest Contentful Paint (LCP) than those using HTTP. Larger organizations show near-universal use of two-factor authentication and HTTPS, while smaller teams lag by about 25%.

Geography and mobile also matter more than ever. North America and Europe still post the strongest performance, while high-growth regions like Asia and Latin America are slowing down because traffic is rising faster than optimization efforts. About 50% of the top 10 million sites still don’t use a CDN, even though doing so improves LCP by roughly 20%. Mobile performance consistently trails desktop despite mobile being the dominant traffic source.

• Bot traffic now represents nearly 1 in 3 web requests
• HTTPS adoption improves LCP by 1–5 seconds
• 50% of top sites still lack a CDN, missing 20% performance gains

If your site feels slower or you’re seeing unusual traffic patterns, these trends might explain why.

Read the full report on WP Engine here.

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The WordPress Stories That Shaped 2025

The Repository wrapped up the year by revisiting the most-read WordPress stories of 2025. The list reflects a year marked by conflict, but also by grassroots efforts to move the project forward. The top story was the abrupt shutdown of the WordPress Sustainability Team in January, which sparked backlash over how volunteer work was dismissed. Other highly read stories included the launch of the FAIR project to decentralize WordPress.org services, a class action lawsuit against Automattic over the WP Engine dispute, and Automattic’s layoffs affecting 16% of its workforce.

But 2025 wasn’t only about friction. Quieter developments like WordPress Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, and the launch of the WordPress AI Team showed contributors continuing to build, organize, and experiment despite the tension. One bright spot was Ollie’s Menu Designer being flagged for potential inclusion in WordPress core, with Automattic developers offering to help guide the work forward.

As 2026 begins, most people have moved on from the conflicts to focus on their work, teams, and businesses. Long-time contributors say they’re glad tensions have eased so they can contribute again, while new contributors are already getting involved through initiatives like Credits.

The year was messy, but it also showed that people keep showing up to build, even when things get hard.

Read the full report on The Repository here.

Don’t forget to subscribe & support them, they do some amazing, hard-hitting WordPress journalism.

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On other WordPress News

→ WooCommerce 10.4.3: Dot Release (developer.woocommerce.com)

→ WordPress 6.9 Release Retrospective (make.wordpress.org)

→ WordPress 7.0 – What to Expect in 2026 (Current Situation and Possibilities) (fluentforms.com)

→ WooWeekly #579: Traffic Down, Community Up (wcwkly.com)

→ Introducing CSS Grid Lanes (webkit.org)

→ WordPress Vulnerability Report — December 24, 2025 (solidwp.com)

→ Bringing Back Women-Centric WordPress Events for International Women’s Day (make.wordpress.org)

→ WP Plugin Info Card 6.2.0 Released with WordPress.org Profile Badges and Screenshots Block Improvements (dlxplugins.com)

→ Plugin Check (PCP) got new update (wordpress.org)

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From WordPress Community

→ SiteOrigin Page Builder is proof that steady progress can still win (X.com)

→ WordCamp Nepal 2026 is 24 days to go! The ticket is still available! (nepal.wordcamp.org)

→ Freemius 2025 Year in Review (freemius.com)

→ Lessons Learned, Course Building Edition (remkusdevries.com)

And just like that, the curtains fall on WordCamp Bhopal 2025

We came as developers, designers & creators—and leave as a stronger family. Because the best thing we build isn’t just websites or apps, it’s community🤍

Huge thanks to every attendee, speaker, volunteer & sponsor!! pic.twitter.com/tUFOL4lxr8

— WordPress Bhopal | (@wcbhopal) December 22, 2025

→ InfluenceWP December Journal (influencewp.com)

→ Etch Review: My Web Dev Journey from Angelfire, to WordPress to Etch. (youtube.com)

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Conclusion

That’s the latest from WordPress as we head into 2026.

Whether you’re planning for new releases, tracking contributor growth, or just trying to keep your site fast and secure, there’s a lot to keep an eye on.

Got thoughts on any of these updates? Hit reply, we’d love to hear from you. And if you found this useful, share it with someone who’d appreciate it.

— Nishat, WPMore

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Join Our Community → Sub-Reddit | X Community

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