The Test Team helps manage testing and triage across the WordPress ecosystem. They focus on user testing of the editing experience and WordPress dashboard, replicating and documenting bug reports, and supporting a culture of review and triage across the project.
Please drop by any time in SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. with questions or to help out.
Hello and welcome to the 1st edition of Month in Test, the place where contributors of any skill level can find opportunities to contribute to WordPress through testing. You can find the Test Team in #core-test.
Table of Contents
Calls for Testing 📣
Calls for Testing can originate from any team, from themes to mobile apps to feature plugins. The following posts highlight features and releases that need special attention:
Merging of Test Handbook in GithubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/
For the last few weeks, a good number of test contributors embarked on the journey of reviewing our new Test Handbook based on GitHub. The Process has been concluded successfully with the merging.
We want to inform that the Test Handbook is officially synced. There might be a couple of bugs and things that are not looking good pending to be fixed.
Feel free to give it a check here, and if you find any bugs, go to the GitHub repository and report them.
You can send a PR with the fix, or simply send the issue, and we will check it
Here’s a roundup of active tickets that are ready for testing contributions. Did you know that contributions to the Test Team are also a fantastic way to level up your WordPress knowledge and skills? Dive in to contribute, and gain coveted props 😎 for a coming release.
1. WordPress CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Testing
a. Patch Testing 🩹
Who? All contributors (not just developers) who can set up a local testing environment. Why? It is necessary to apply proposed patches and test per the testing instructions in order to validate that a patch fixes the issue.
The following tickets (7) have been reviewed and a patch provided, and need testers to apply the patch and manually test, then provide feedback through a patch test report:
It is necessary to confirm if the bug is happening under multiple conditions and environments, using the bug reproduction report in order to validate the issue.
The following tickets (143) have been reviewed and milestoned, and need testers to check the instructions and manually test if the issue is reproducible, then provide a bug reproduction report:
2. GutenbergGutenbergThe Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ Testing
The following tickets (2) have been filed reporting a known bug and needs testers to manually test, then provide feedback through a bug reproduction report that the issue can be reproduced.
All contributors (not just developers) who can set up a local testing environment. Why? It is necessary to apply proposed patches and test per the testing instructions in order to validate that a patch fixes the issue.
The following tickets (1) have been reviewed, and a patch provided, and need testers to apply the patch and manually test, then provide feedback through a patch test report:
The team discussed changes to the monthly newsletter format. The decision was made to remove the “tests to be done” section and replace it with a new “call for testing” section that aggregates requests from other groups. Additionally, the newsletter will include announcements, news, and ideas from team members. @mosescursor will comment on the related GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue with further details.
New Triage Guide
@sirlouen presented the diagram proposed by @juanmaguitar in the “Add TracTracTrac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. Keyword Triage Guide for Test Team Members” initiative. During the discussion:
@ozgursar raised concerns about whether bug reproduction should be included, noting it could be confusing.
@r1k0 commented that the guidance on what to write for expected results is not clear enough.
@sirlouen requested that team members add more comments to the GitHub issue to help refine the new guide.
@sirlouen expressed hope that the team can move toward an automated testing protocol in the future. Several ideas were discussed around improving the onboarding experience for new contributors:
@shazzad suggested adding a special keyword to identify easy tickets for new test team members.
@supernovia suggested the name good-first-test for this keyword.
@sirlouen had some concerns looking at the triage workflow: when a new test ticket appears in chat, a team member should triage and review it, removing the needs-testing keyword if the ticket cannot be tested, but leaving it if it can be tested. Placing the good-first-test keyword on tickets doesn’t seem to find a good place in this workflow. Further refinement is required to confirm that this keyword will truly fit.
@shazzad will open a ticket in the GitHub test-handbook repository to formalize this idea.
The team also discussed the need for weekly test team updates on current Needs Reproduction and Needs Patch Testing tickets. @mosescursor will handle this responsibility until @nikunj returns.
@mosescursor asked if @r1k0 would be joining the contribution day in Uganda on March 14. @r1k0 will check his schedule and confirm.
@sirlouen reminded the team that any AI tools used during testing should be noted in the footnotes of test reports.
@mosescursor will request huddle permission from the metaMetaMeta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. team to facilitate future voice chats.
After one month of very intensive activity, we have finally reached the end of the test team program. We would like to thank all the participants for their dedication and hard work throughout this period. The program has been a great success in many areas, and we have gathered valuable insights and feedback that will help us improve our whole contribution onboarding process.
During the program, we started with a total of 9 participants, but after some expected dropouts, we ended with 6 members, with most participants doing a fantastic job during the entire process. They were involved in tasks such as testing, documentation improvements, leading meetings, and a lot of feedback to support the team’s growth.
In a dedicated SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel, we have been able to work very closely with the participants, gathering information about their experience through the process and also sharing the progress of this program. There was no clear starting program structure, but one happened to begin shaping as weeks went by that could be described as follows for the record:
Program Weekly Structure
The first week was focused on onboarding all members on the testing protocol as soon as possible, because one of the main targets was to go through a significant amount of tickets through the program period.
During the second week, we started introducing the meeting protocols, both for patch testing scrubbing and how to run the weekly test meetings with the corresponding agenda and summary post publishing. We also started to gather feedback on the testing protocol because the initial test results started to pop up.
For the third week, we switched the focus to documentation improvements, and we started to gather feedback on the meeting protocols and keep it up on the testing part. The contributor pathway video program began to come together.
Finally, for the last week, we tried to clear up all the final questions and analyze the current state of WordPress in correlation with the testing team to set future goals for the coming months.
Program Results
Overall, the program has exceeded our expectations in terms of engagement and results. Some goals were shared with the participants in the first interview, but from the experience we had from past programs, we knew that generally these goals were challenging to meet and could not be met. However, in this case, we have been able to achieve most of the goals and even exceed some of them. Here are some of the key results we have achieved:
Testing Reports
At the beginning of the program, there were a total of 487 tickets with the needs-testing label. By the end of the program, this number has dropped to 264, which is a significant decrease of almost 50%. This is by far one of the biggest achievements. We are pleased to observe that the protocol has been refined to a point that members were able to go through tickets at an excellent pace, understanding the whole process with proficiency. This will probably translate into a more efficient process in the future.
Documentation Improvements
Improving internal protocol documentation is something that requires more experience and time inside the team. However, we have been able to gather a lot of feedback and proposals for documentation improvements in our GitHub repository, which is a great starting point for the future. We have already started working on some proposals, and we hope to have them published in the following weeks.
The Crown Jewel: Test Contributor Pathway in Progress
One of the main goals of this program was to create a video training with a clear pathway for future contributors. We are delighted to announce that the program is almost completed, and we are planning to have it ready in a couple of weeks. A lot of feedback has been gathered through the program, and soon there will be an announcement in case anyone wants to join the “betaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. program” to test the training and provide feedback before the official launch.
Participant Engagement Analysis as a Blueprint for Future Test Team Aspirants
We believe that sharing the results of the program participants could be useful for future WordPress contributors to understand which level of engagement is expected from them if they want to be part of the Test Team. And furthermore, to discover the different ways they can contribute to the team.
1. Ozgur (@ozgursar): Worked on a total of 68 testing reports, drove a test-chat and started leading to a documentation improvement regarding email testing. For the next few weeks, we expect the docs page to get published and a patch testing scrubbing meeting to be led to complete the whole circle. He is the first participant proposed to join the Test Team and continue his journey with us.
2. Huzaifa (@huzaifaalmesbah): Worked on a whopping total of 89 testing reports, which has been massive, and also proposed a documentation improvement regarding the `Getting started for testing` page structure. The only thing he has missed is leading some different meeting sessions, but there is already one scheduled for next week, and we are sure that with all the knowledge he has now, he is more than ready to lead more sessions in the future. He is the second participant suggested for joining the team.
3. Juanma (@juanmaguitar): He has been extremely active leading proposals for documentation improvements and providing a ton of feedback during all sessions, including a triaging guide, test-chat protocol guide, and some tips on post-tag improvement during a test-chat session. He has also led one test-chat session, but the only downside is that he has only been involved in testing 3 tickets, clearly the only weaker point that we hope could be improved in the following weeks to be somewhat on par with the rest of the participants. He is the third participant proposed for joining the team, and we are sure that with a bit more involvement in the reporting part, he can be a great asset for the team.
4. Erick (@r1k0): He worked through a grand total of 52 testing reports and also led one of the patch testing scrubs. There is only one thing that he has missed to go through the whole process, and it is the documentation improvement work and jumping into a couple more meeting leading sessions, but we are sure that he is more than ready to do it in the following weeks. He is the fourth participant recommended for joining the team, and we hope he jumps into the documentation part as soon as possible to be able to be on the team with a more complete profile.
5. Shazzad (@sajib1223): He was already active as a test team contributor before the program, but during the program, he has been able to consolidate many doubts he had about the test team protocols. He was able to run a patch testing scrub, but still in the other areas he has been lagging a bit. With no documentation proposals yet, only 10 tickets, and no test-chat sessions, we hope he can get quickly up to speed in the following weeks to be able to join the Test Team officially.
6. Mohammed (@mohkatz): He has been the last participant that has attended the whole program sessions, but unfortunately, he has not met the minimal requirements. With no testing reports, no documentation proposals, and no meeting-leading sessions. Hopefully, if he gives the team more time, he can get up to speed in the following weeks and be able to join the Test Team in the near future.
As I commented in the beginning, the other 3 participants that were selected dropped out in the beginning of the program for different reasons, and we hope that they can get involved in the future if they’d like to.
Future Directions and Organizer Personal Thoughts
As the organizer, I can’t stress anymore that this program has gone great, but simultaneously, I have to acknowledge that it has been very exhausting to organize. Running future programs like this is uncertain, and probably more organization and resource gathering will be required to be able to make it happen again in the following months. The dedication required from the organizers and participants is very high. Not only the two hours required for the live weekly sessions, but also the time to go through questions in the Slack chat, manually review most of the reports done and the documentation proposals, and also the time to create the training ideas.
Results of a program like this are proven to be excellent, but we need to find a way to make it more sustainable for the future. Luckily, now we have a couple of members onboarding in the team now and some additional ones probably soon, and we hope that they can take some of the leading load that has been driven by the current members in all testing areas, including, maybe, running future programs like this one.
Note-taker and facilitator for the meeting We encourage all members to contribute to the team chat, and we now welcome Note Takers and Facilitators. This is a great time to get involved in the coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. test team. Have you recently joined, and you don’t know where to go? Start here (No Skills Required)
@sirlouen presented a proposal to archive old test reports that do not belong to the test team or are obsolete with the new structure. The goal is to move toward newer versions of the test reports structure.
Key GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issues requiring team review:
A proposed new version of the test reports pluginPluginA plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party is being tested and is available at:
The team can test using WordPress Playground or download and install as a plugin to a local WordPress develop environment. @sirlouen aims to finalize the version before February and will send a PR once feedback is received. @nikunj8866 will also review and share feedback.
Officialize the two test reports
This was a major agenda item focused on making official decisions about test reports structure. Currently there are two official reports:
Proposal discussed: Two alternatives were presented:
Option 1: Make needs-reproduction report official
Add it to homepage with a correct slug (/needs-reproduction)
Fix the filterFilterFilters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. parameters
Option 2: Unify into a single report that will include both Patch Testing and Needs Reproduction
Rationale for unification: Since anyone can add the needs-testing keyword to tickets, without solid principles on how to identify if a test needs reproduction or patch testing, confusion is inevitable. Testers need to do full analysis work regardless of keywords assigned to tickets, as the keywords cannot be reliably trusted.
Vote results: 5 to 1 in favor of having a single unified report
Next steps: Team members can comment on the handbook ticket until Monday. @sirlouen will send the final decision to metaMetaMeta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress..
4. Open Floor
WordCampWordCampWordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Asia 2026 Contributor DayContributor DayContributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/.
Anyone attending WordCamp Asia 2026 in person and interested in leading the Test Team table should reply in the thread or reach out to @nikunj8866 directly. The handbook provides guidance on the role and responsibilities.
“betaBetaA pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. testers” for the new Test Contributor Pathway course
@sirlouen announced that the Test Contributor Pathway course will be launching on the Learn site in the coming weeks. The team is looking for beta testers to review the videos and provide feedback. Community members interested should contact @sirlouen directly for private access.
Creating a new page in the handbook with a “template” for Test Chats
The team discussed creating documentation for facilitating test chat meetings. @sirlouen explained the goal is to document templates and guidance so anyone can run a test chat. @juanmaguitar noted he’s currently following steps from a previous meeting.
Contributors can submit pull requests to the test-handbook GitHub repository, or open issues with ideas if a full PR feels too daunting.
Add labels to posts that are regularly posted on make.wordpress.orgWordPress.orgThe community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org//test
The discussion focused on tags vs categories. The main advantage of tags is they persist when duplicating posts or using templates, while categories can be forgotten. However, categories are prominently displayed in the sidebarSidebarA sidebar in WordPress is referred to a widget-ready area used by WordPress themes to display information that is not a part of the main content. It is not always a vertical column on the side. It can be a horizontal rectangle below or above the content area, footer, header, or any where in the theme.. @mosescursor noted the “Kibble” default categoryCategoryThe 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. is misconfigured.
@juanmaguitar will open a GitHubGitHubGitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issue (#109) to continue the discussion. The topic requires more thinking and will be revisited once there’s more consensus.
Call for help, building the SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. bot for coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.
@sirlouen requested help building a Slack bot for Core testing announcements, similar to the existing Gutenberg announcer. The goal is to automatically notify #core-test whenever a needs-testing tag is added to a Core ticket.
PHPPHPPHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/preface.php. scripts that interact with TracTracTrac is the place where contributors create issues for bugs or feature requests much like GitHub.https://core.trac.wordpress.org/. already exist at meta.trac.wordpress.org. More details are available in Trac ticket #8157. @juanmaguitar expressed interest in helping with this.
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