The program, AI Leaders, is a workforce-oriented credential rooted in WordPress and open source contributions. Students are paid for their time, work on real WordPress projects, and gain hands-on experience applying AI in ways that are directly relevant to the WordPress ecosystem. This pilot represents a meaningful step forward in how the project supports learning, contribution, and career pathways.

Beginning in March 2026, AI Leaders launches its first cohort of 80 students from Illinois and Louisiana, with University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) students given priority to apply before enrollment expands to the public. Enrollees begin with an orientation covering generative AI tools and AI literacy. From there, 40 participants are selected for the full course experience. Ultimately, the program leads to the AI Leader WordPress Micro-Credential and an opportunity to pursue living-wage job pathways. Learners who complete the course also earn $1,000 (USD).

This pilot is the result of collaboration across several organizations, each playing a distinct role. The program is funded through the UIC Tech Solutions Open Source Fund, with support from the University of Illinois Chicago and Automattic. That funding supports program delivery, participant compensation, and the institutional infrastructure needed to run the pilot. Alongside that funding, the WordPress project and the WordPress Foundation will contribute to the development of the credential itself. This includes shaping the curriculum, grounding the work in real WordPress AI use cases, and ensuring alignment with open source values and public benefit.

This is the first WordPress Foundation-backed micro-credential, and it is intentionally being run as a pilot. We are exploring how the Foundation could support additional credentials over time, across different skill areas and partners, while maintaining clear governance, openness, and alignment with the WordPress project. It represents a step toward a future where WordPress contributors can more easily translate their skills into credentials, careers, and long-term opportunities.

WordPress offers a wide range of educational opportunities for people at every stage, from first steps to advanced contribution. Explore workshops, lesson plans, and community-created resources designed to help you build practical skills while connecting with others who are learning and contributing at WordPress.org/education/.

This minor release includes fixes for 49 bugs throughout Core and the Block Editor, addressing issues affecting multiple areas of WordPress including the block editor, mail, and classic themes. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the release candidate announcement.

WordPress 6.9.1 is a short-cycle maintenance release. The next major version of WordPress will be 7.0; it is scheduled for release on 9 April 2026 at WordCamp Asia.

If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.

You can download WordPress 6.9.1 from WordPress.org, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click “Updates”, and then click “Update Now”. For more information on this release, please visit the HelpHub site.

Thank you to these WordPress contributors

This release was led by Aaron Jorbin and Aki Hamano.

WordPress 6.9.1 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people. Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.

Aaron Jorbin, Aaron Robertshaw, acmoifr, Adam Silverstein, Adil Öztaşer, Aki Hamano, Alexander Bigga, amanandhishoe, Andrew Serong, Bernie Reiter, brumack, David Arenas, David Baumwald, Deepak Gupta, Deepak Prajapati, Dennis Snell, digitalblanket, Ella Van Durpe, Fabian Kaegy, George Mamadashvili, Hit Bhalodia, iflairwebtechnologies, Isabel Brison, Jaydeep Das, Jb Audras, Jeff Golenski, Jeffrey Paul, jhtjards, Joe Dolson, John Blackbourn, Jon Surrell, Jonathan Desrosiers, Jorge Costa, Justin Tadlock, Karthick, Kirtikumar Solanki, Lena Morita, luisherranz, Madhavi Shah, Manuel Camargo, Maud Royer, Mehraz Morshed, Monarobase, mrwweb, Mukesh Panchal, Muryam Sultana, mydesign78, Narendra Sishodiya, Nik Tsekouras, Ninos, Noruzzaman, Olga Gleckler, Ophelia Rose, Ov3rfly, Ozgur Sar, Paragon Initiative Enterprises, Pascal Birchler, Pavel Vybíral, Peter Wilson, pmbs, Presskopp, r1k0, ramonopoly, Riad Benguella, Ricardo S., Rolly Bueno, Sarah Norris, Scott Reilly, Sergey Biryukov, Shazzad Hossain Khan, siliconforks, Soyeb Salar, spielers, Stephen Bernhardt, studio_m, Takashi Irie, Takashi Kitajima, threadi, Tobias Bäthge, Tomoki Shimomura, Umesh Singh, Vania, Weston Ruter, WFMattR, wolf45, zoe20

How to contribute

To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, pick a ticket, and join the conversation in the #core channel. Need help? Check out the Core Contributor Handbook.

Props to @audrasjb, @davidbaumwald, @westonruter, @jeffpaul, @presskopp for proofreading.

AI code agents are getting better at writing WordPress plugins and themes, but testing can still be the slow part. WordPress contributor Brandon Payton has published wp-playground, a new AI agent skill designed to run WordPress via the Playground CLI, giving agents a fast, repeatable way to run WordPress and verify their work as they iterate.

“AI agents work better when they have a clear feedback loop. That’s why I made the wp-playground skill. It gives agents an easy way to test WordPress code and makes building and experimenting with WordPress a lot more accessible.”

— Brandon Payton, WordPress Contributor

What the Playground skill does

When launched, the skill starts WordPress and detects where the current code should live inside a WordPress install. For example, it can mount a plugin into wp-content/plugins or a theme into wp-content/themes by recognizing common file signatures (such as plugin headers or a theme’s style.css). This helps agents move from “generated code” to “running site” with fewer manual steps.

Early results and testing workflow

In testing, agents were able to start WordPress, build playful plugins, and validate behavior in a tight feedback loop. Once Playground was running, the agent alternated between tools such as curl and Playwright to interact with WordPress, verify results, apply fixes when needed, and then re-verify with Playground.

Faster startup and smoother iteration

Helper scripts handle startup and shutdown, so an agent doesn’t waste time guessing when WordPress is ready. Using helper scripts reduced the “ready to test” moment from roughly a minute to a few seconds on the author’s machine. The Playground CLI can also log in automatically for easier WP-Admin access during testing.

Install and try it now

For those who want to try it in Claude Code, Codex, or another AI agent, installation requires Node.js and npm and looks like this:

# Run this in a project directory to install the skills for that project 
npx openskills install WordPress/agent-skills

# Make skills available to non-Claude agents
npx openskills sync

A new repo for WordPress agent skills

This release also comes with a new home for this kind of work:
https://github.com/WordPress/agent-skills. 

It’s an early step in exploring how AI agents can collaborate with WordPress tooling, and contributions from the community are welcome. Future additions being explored include persistent Playground sites based on the current directory, running commands against an existing Playground instance (including wp-cli), and Blueprint generation.

In 2025, more than 1,400 attendees from 71 countries gathered in person, with nearly 15,000 more joining online for WordCamp Asia 2025. With notable guests like WordPress Co-founder Matt Mullenweg and Gutenberg Lead Architect Matías Ventura, and a diverse lineup of speakers and panelists from across the ecosystem, WordCamp Asia 2025 brought together a community actively shaping the future of the open web.

It’s the people. It’s the friendships and the stories.

Matt Mullenweg, WordPress Cofounder

WordCamp isn’t just about sessions and schedules. It’s about connection. It’s about learning directly from people who are building, scaling, and sustaining WordPress in the real world. It’s about sharing ideas, debating the future of the open web, and leaving with renewed energy for the work ahead. And in 2026, that spirit returns stronger than ever.

Tickets for WordCamp Asia 2026 are on sale now, and this is the moment to secure your spot. WordCamps are intentionally priced to remain accessible, and early ticket sales help organizers plan an inclusive, high-quality experience for everyone.

Join 3,000+ Web Professionals

April 9 – 11, 2026 | Jio World Convention Centre, Mumbai, India

Get Your Event Pass

WordCamp Asia is also made possible by the organizations that step up to support it. Sponsorship plays a critical role in keeping the event accessible, supporting contributors and volunteers, and ensuring the experience reflects the values of the WordPress project. For sponsors, WordCamp Asia 2026 offers a rare opportunity to connect with a highly engaged, global audience in a setting built on trust, collaboration, and shared purpose.

Sponsorship packages are designed to support a wide range of organizations, from local companies to global businesses building products and services on WordPress. Beyond visibility, sponsors become part of the story—helping sustain the ecosystem and invest directly in the community that makes WordPress possible.

At every level, WordCamp Asia is powered by people. Organizers, volunteers, speakers, sponsors, and attendees all contribute to an experience that reflects WordPress’s shared values of openness and collaboration. It’s a place where new voices are welcomed, long-time contributors reconnect, and ideas move from conversation to action.

WordCamp Asia 2026 is more than an event—it’s a moment to come together, reflect on where we are, and help shape what comes next. Whether you’re attending for the first time, returning for another year, or supporting the event as a sponsor, your involvement helps strengthen the WordPress ecosystem and the global community behind it.

We’ll see you in Mumbai.

With hands-on initiatives and supportive communities, participants can grow new skills and take their first steps as contributors. Across campuses and communities worldwide, learners publish real projects, build practical experience, and gain confidence as part of open source creation.

A clearer path into the WordPress ecosystem

WordPress Education is designed to help students turn knowledge into practice, discover their strengths, and understand how their contributions can make a real impact through three core programs: WordPress Campus Connect, WordPress Credits, and WordPress Student Clubs.

Through hands-on campus events, such as WordPress Campus Connect, on-campus groups like WordPress Student Clubs, and a practice-based program called WordPress Credits, participants can gain practical experience, publish real-world projects, and build confidence as contributors to a global culture of open-source creation.

At its heart, these WordPress education programs are about three simple ideas:

Learn. Build. Connect.

This update brings WordPress education programs together in one place, with an easy way to explore initiatives, understand how they work, and take the next step.

You will find:

• A home for WordPress Education programs and updates
• Clear “how to get involved” paths for students, educators, mentors, organizers, and sponsors
• Stories, highlights, and examples of real projects created through the programs
• Links to the Education Handbook for program guidelines and resources

Support This Growing Movement

Help spread the word, and let friends, students, and others know how they can contribute to this growing effort, including a widely expanding translation effort. WordPress Education has already been translated into 10 new languages. WordPress Education is powered by people who believe in open learning and the power of collaboration.

From faster load times to broader plugin support, the throughline is clear: Playground is moving beyond quick demos and into workflows that help developers and educators test, iterate, and share WordPress experiences more easily.

Reliable Plugin Previews and Experimentation

A headline update from 2025 is the focus on compatibility. In testing with the top 1,000 plugins from the WordPress plugin directory, 99% installed and activated successfully. That matters because it raises confidence in what Playground is best known for: letting people try things quickly, without a complex setup, and with fewer surprises.

This highlighted that Playground is increasingly useful as a general-purpose PHP sandbox. Alongside WordPress, it can support standard PHP tools and projects, which makes it easier to explore how WordPress fits into broader development workflows and to share reproducible environments with others.

If you try something new and unexpected in Playground, the update encourages you to share what you learn in the #playground Slack channel, so the community can build a clearer picture of what works well today and what is improving next.

Faster Load Times

Speed was a central theme in 2025. A recent year-in-review report revealed a 42% reduction in average response time, and this is not just a single change. A series of improvements make Playground feel quicker in the moments people notice most, such as loading WordPress, opening wp-admin, and switching between tasks.

Several behind-the-scenes updates were described in plain terms as “less waiting”: checks happen earlier, parts of the experience load in a smarter order, and more content is reused from cache, so repeat actions are snappier.

For people using Playground to review a plugin, validate a bug fix, or teach a class, these improvements mean the same thing: faster feedback loops, with fewer pauses that break concentration.

Better Tooling and Compatibility

In 2025, Playground also became more “toolbox-like” in the browser. The update highlighted features that reduce context switching, such as editing files on the page, building and testing starter configurations (Blueprints) in a dedicated editor, and launching database tools such as phpMyAdmin and Adminer with a single click.

On the database side, a significant compatibility upgrade was introduced to improve support for more complex database behavior. The practical outcome is that more WordPress sites and plugins behave as expected in Playground, and more developer tools can run inside the environment.

Blueprints also advanced in ways that benefit both builders and sharers. The updates focus on making starter setups easier to create, browse, and reuse, especially when a demo requires content, media, or a specific configuration that should launch consistently.

One of the clearest ways to see that progress is the WordPress Blueprints Gallery, a community library of ready-to-launch WordPress environments. From practical “building block” examples (such as starting with a specific login role) to demos that automatically install themes and plugins, to richer setups that generate posts and featured images via WP-CLI, the gallery demonstrates how quickly an idea can become a fully functional site that you can browse and share.

Examples:

For anyone who wants to experience the power of WordPress without the setup, the gallery serves as a strong reminder of what Playground makes possible: shareable, repeatable site experiences that work the same way every time — ideal for demos, workshops, testing, and “try it now” links. 

Clear adoption signals back all of this. The review reports 1.4 million uses globally, documentation translations in multiple languages, and growing integration across the plugin directory through Playground-powered previews. It also points to a steady increase in community contribution, from documentation and support to talks and real-world workflows built on top of Playground.

A huge thank you to everyone who tried Playground over the past year,  whether you launched a quick demo, tested a change, taught a workshop, or helped make the documentation more accessible in your language. And if there’s anything that would make Playground even more helpful for your day-to-day work, the project actively welcomes ideas and feature requests via the WordPress Playground GitHub issues tracker.

Looking Ahead

As we closed out 2025 and now look forward to 2026, we can see several forward-looking initiatives, including work on MySQL binary protocol support (to enhance broader compatibility with MySQL tools) and continued exploration of debugging enhancements, such as expanded XDebug access.

For anyone who last tried Playground as a quick demo environment, 2025’s updates suggested a shift in direction: Playground is increasingly positioned as a practical layer for testing, teaching, previewing, and reviewing WordPress, both in the browser and in local workflows.

Why Choose Global Sponsorship?

Instead of managing multiple individual sponsorships, this streamlined program consolidates your efforts into one efficient and impactful partnership.

Efficiency and Simplified Administration

Skip the complexity of coordinating invoice payments with numerous volunteer teams. Our centralized approach saves time and resources. In 2026, sponsors will benefit from:

• A dedicated Slack channel for direct communication with the WordPress Community Support team and Community Program Managers
• Monthly updates listing upcoming WordPress events, their current planning stages, and scheduled dates

Expanded Reach and Impact

Your sponsorship amplifies your presence worldwide, ensuring consistent visibility across global WordPress community events.

Stability and Reliability

Your commitment strengthens locally organized events by providing predictable funding that supports venues, logistics, and growth.

Flexible Branding Options

Adapt across your portfolio—Global Sponsors can represent different brands at different events (subject to approval and advance notice).

Program Benefits

	Global Leader	Regional Powerhouse	Community Builder
Best for:	Established brands seeking global reach and year-round visibility.	Companies aiming for regional dominance and strong brand recognition.	Organizations supporting the next generation of WordPress education.
Sponsorship payable in full or through quarterly installments	$180,000	$110,000	$60,000
Top tier sponsorship benefits at all local WordCamp events (excludes flagships) with priority access to claim a sponsor table at in-person WordPress events
Option to feature multiple brands across events
Dedicated sponsor landing page
Complimentary WordPress event tickets for your team
Recognition across all WordPress events
Sponsor Spotlight post on WordPress.org/news featuring highlights from recent WordCamps	Quarterly	Annually
Inclusion of your company logo in signage and materials for WordPress Campus Connect events	All signage & materials for the year (digital and printed)	Signage & materials for 5 events per year (printed only)	All signage & materials for the year (digital and printed)
Opportunity to be featured in an exclusive digital binder for WordPress Campus Connect event organizers	Priority placement (logos & text)	Feature listing (text only)	Feature listing (text only)
Regular recognition in monthly education buzz report

How Sponsorship Funds Are Used

Global Sponsorship funds directly support:

• Local WordPress events worldwide (venue rental, catering, A/V, and more)
• Meetup.com license fees for over 671 WordPress Meetup groups globally
• Administrative costs like insurance, banking, and annual financial audits that ensure transparent operations

Your partnership helps sustain the community that powers more than 43% of the web. Together, we can keep the WordPress project thriving and expanding for years to come.

If you’d like to go one step further, please consider donating directly to the WordPress Foundation. We operate lean—every dollar goes toward keeping WordPress free, supporting education, and funding the community that makes the web a better place. In short, your donation helps us keep the lights on and the mission alive.

State of the Word 2025 brought the WordPress community together for an afternoon that felt both reflective and forward-moving, blending stories of global growth with technical milestones and glimpses of the future. This year also marked the twentieth State of the Word since the first address in 2006, a milestone noted in the WordPress history book Milestones: The Story of WordPress as the beginning of a tradition that has helped the project tell its own story.

From the outset, the keynote carried a sense of momentum shaped by thousands of contributors, educators, students, and creators whose steady participation continues to define the open web. It was a reminder that WordPress is more than software. It is a community writing its future together.

What we have is more than code. It’s momentum, it’s culture, and it’s a system that lets people learn by doing and lead by showing up.  — Mary Hubbard, WordPress Executive Director

Mary opened the evening by reflecting on her first full year as Executive Director, a year spent listening deeply and seeing firsthand how people across regions learn, contribute, and lead. Her remarks grounded the keynote in the lived reality of a community that grows because people invest in one another, teach openly, and build trust through contribution.

I’ve met people using WordPress to unlock new careers. I’ve met contributors who started a single translation or forum post and are now leading major pieces of the project. In LatAm, Europe, and the States, I’ve seen students get access to WordPress tools and start building faster than we could have ever imagined. I’ve watched communities build in public, resolve disagreements in the open, and collaborate across languages and time zones.

That reflection offered a clear reminder of what makes WordPress resilient through change: a culture of showing up, learning by doing, and supporting others along the way. The project moves forward because people choose to participate in ways both large and small, strengthening the foundation that has carried WordPress for more than two decades.

With that foundation in place, the keynote moved through a series of stories and demonstrations that highlighted where WordPress stands today and where it is headed next — from a historic live release of WordPress 6.9 to expanding global education pathways, emerging AI capabilities, and deeper collaboration across the entire ecosystem.

WordPress by the Numbers

Project Cofounder Matt Mullenweg began with a wide-angle view of the project’s growth. WordPress powers over 43% of the web, with 60.5% of the CMS market. Shopify, its nearest competitor, holds 6.8%. Among the top 1,000 websites, WordPress’s share climbed to 49.4%, up 2.3% from the previous year.

Multilingual usage continued its strong rise. Over 56% of WordPress sites now run in languages other than English. Japan stood out, with WordPress powering 58.5% of all Japanese websites and 83% of the CMS market. Japanese became the second most-used language on WordPress at 5.82%. Spanish followed, then German, French, and Brazilian Portuguese.

The plugin ecosystem saw explosive growth. The directory surpassed 60,000 plugins, and plugin downloads were on pace to reach 2.1 billion by year-end. Over 1,500 themes have been released this year as well.

Contributors also hit new highs. The 6.8 release included 921 contributors, the largest group yet. WordPress 6.8 saw 79.5 million downloads, up 13%, and WordPress 6.9 included contributions from 230 first-time contributors and more than 340 enhancements and fixes.

A Release Moment to Remember

This year’s keynote delivered something WordPress had never attempted before: a live on-stage release of WordPress 6.9.

Mary set the moment up earlier in the program, calling WordPress 6.9 “fast, polished, and built for collaboration.” She explained that it reflected a year of intentional iteration, improved workflows, and deeper cross-team participation. 

Matt took the stage with some of the release leads, the release button in hand. The room counted down, and then WordPress 6.9 shipped live, instantly updating millions of sites around the world. It was both a celebration and a testament to the reliability and trust the WordPress community has built into its release processes. Shipping a major version of WordPress in real time, on stage, without drama, is something the early contributors could hardly have imagined.

That reflection connected back to WordPress’s origin story. Matt talked about discovering the B2 forums, asking questions, and eventually reaching the point where he could answer someone else’s. That transition from learner to contributor remains at the heart of the project today. Two decades later, WordPress has grown from those early interactions into a platform that can ship a major release in front of the world, powered by thousands of contributors building together.

WordPress and the Future of AI

As the keynote shifted toward the future, Matt acknowledged what has become an essential truth of the moment: it would be impossible to talk about the next chapter of WordPress without talking about AI. He reminded the audience that in 2022, long before ChatGPT entered global conversation, he encouraged the community to “learn AI deeply.” The speed of change since then, he said, has exceeded every expectation, and WordPress has been preparing for it in ways both visible and behind the scenes.

Matt introduced one of the most important architectural developments of the year: the Abilities API and the MCP adapter. The Abilities API defines what WordPress can do in a structured way that AI systems can interpret, while the MCP adapter exposes those abilities through a shared protocol. This means AI agents — whether built by individuals, companies, or larger platforms — can understand and interact with WordPress safely and predictably. Instead of relying on one-off integrations or brittle interfaces, WordPress now participates in a broader ecosystem of tools that can query its capabilities and perform tasks using a standard, governed approach.

Matt then highlighted how developers are already using AI in their everyday work through tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and next-generation CLIs. These tools can explore entire codebases, generate documentation, produce tests, refactor large components, and even coordinate sequences of WP-CLI commands. For many developers, they expand what a single person can accomplish in an afternoon. They don’t eliminate the need for human judgment — they amplify it.

With that foundation laid, Matt turned the audience’s attention to Telex, the experimental environment designed to turn natural-language prompts into Gutenberg Blocks. Telex has already moved beyond experimentation and into real use. Matt showed examples from community creator Nick Hamze, who uses Telex to power micro-business tools that represent practical, revenue-generating workflows that previously required custom engineering.

Matt then widened the lens to show what companies across the ecosystem are building with AI. Hostinger’s Kodee can generate a complete WordPress site from a single description. Elementor AI demonstrated similarly rapid creation inside its own editor, producing full sections and layouts in seconds. WordPress.com showcased how its AI tools help users draft, rewrite, and refine content while keeping language aligned with the site’s voice. Yoast demonstrated how AI can support SEO workflows by generating structured suggestions and improving readability. Together, these examples illustrated that AI is not arriving in one place — it is arriving everywhere.

Experimental browsers can navigate WP Admin autonomously, performing tasks such as clicking buttons, opening menus, changing settings, and performing multi-step tasks without requiring any custom plugins or APIs. This raised a key question that Matt encouraged the community to consider: Which AI capabilities should live inside WordPress itself, and which should remain external, operating through the browser or operating system?

Matt closed the section by discussing WordPress-specific AI benchmarks and evaluation suites. These shared tests will measure how well AI systems understand and execute WordPress tasks, from enabling plugins to navigating WP Admin to modifying content and settings. The goal is to create a foundation where future AI tools behave predictably and responsibly across the entire ecosystem, giving creators confidence that intelligent tools understand the platform deeply.

A Global Community Growing Together

Mary then returned to the stage to celebrate the ecosystem that supports WordPress’s growth. Across continents, diverse groups of people have hosted WordPress events, training new contributors and welcoming newcomers into the project. WordCamp growth in 2025 reflected that: more than 81 WordCamps across 39 countries, powered by over 5,000 volunteers and attended by nearly 100,000 people, with sixteen more events still underway.

Education played a major role in this community expansion. Learn.WordPress.org served over 1.5 million learners this year, with clearer pathways into more structured programs like Campus Connect and WordPress Credits. This bridging was deliberate. Many learners arrive through tutorials or workshops but need clearer guidance on how to deepen their skills. By reshaping navigation and improving wayfinding across WordPress.org, the project began closing that gap.

She spotlighted Costa Rica’s Universidad Fidélitas, where WordPress moved beyond extracurricular interest into formal academic integration. Long before signing an agreement with the WordPress Foundation, their students were hosting WordCamp San José, forming student clubs, and treating WordPress as a crucial part of digital literacy and professional development.

Wapuu appeared across events as a familiar companion and a cultural thread running through contributor tools and community projects. Its presence was a reminder that creativity and playfulness are as essential to open source as documentation or code.

Matt highlighted the story of Youth Day in Managua, Nicaragua. Seventy-five young people spent a full day building their first WordPress sites. Sessions were taught by teenagers, for teenagers. They learned to pick themes, customize layouts, create contact forms, and publish content. Contribution often starts with a simple moment of confidence, and those early sparks can shape entire careers.

Together, these moments illustrated a project expanding not just in numbers, but in depth, diversity, and global reach. WordPress is growing because communities are finding their own ways to embrace it.

What’s New in WordPress 6.9

Joining virtually, WordPress Lead Architect, Matías Ventura, shifted the keynote from vision to practice. Matías offered a detailed walkthrough of what makes WordPress 6.9 one of the most refined, collaborative, and forward-looking releases the project has shipped in years. He returned to the four familiar lenses of creation — writing, designing, building, and developing — and showed how each evolved in this release cycle.

He began with notes in the Block Editor, one of the most anticipated features. Notes allow collaborators to comment directly on individual blocks in a post or page. When a note is selected, the surrounding content subtly fades, helping contributors stay focused on context. Because notes are built on WordPress’s native comment system, they integrate seamlessly with existing communication workflows, including email notifications. Matías highlighted that notes development exemplified collaboration at its best, with contributors from various companies working together to bring the feature to life.

From there, he turned to refinements across the writing and design experience. Editor interactions feel smoother and more consistent. Patterns behave more predictably. Spacing and typography controls are clearer, more organized, and more intuitive. Together these capabilioties make the experience of writing and designing inside WordPress calmer, more reliable, and more empowering.

Block bindings now provide a more intuitive, visual way to connect blocks to dynamic data sources. Users can switch or remove bindings with a single click, and developers can register additional sources to support custom workflows. This work lays the foundation for a future where dynamic data flows more naturally through blocks, enabling site creators to build richer interfaces without writing code.

On the developer front, Matías focused on three foundational upgrades that represent major steps forward in how WordPress will evolve over the coming years.

• The first was the Abilities API, a unified registry that describes what WordPress can do — across PHP, REST endpoints, the command palette, and future AI-driven interactions.
• The HTML API introduces new ways of working with and modifying HTML server-side. The API ensures safer, more reliable handling, lowering the barrier for theme and block developers who work with dynamic or structured markup.
• The Interactivity API delivers smoother, faster interactions without requiring heavy JavaScript frameworks. Improved routing, better state management, and clearer conventions help developers create rich, modern interfaces without leaving the WordPress philosophy of simplicity and flexibility.

After Matías wrapped his presentation, Matt stepped back in to highlight several developments that build on the foundations of 6.9 and strengthen the overall WordPress ecosystem. He pointed first to the Plugin Check Plugin, a tool designed to help developers align with current WordPress standards and catch common issues early, making plugins more reliable for users and easier to maintain over time. Matt then spoke about ongoing progress in Data Liberation, noting improvements to the WordPress importer that make it easier for people to bring their content into WordPress without disruption or loss, an important step toward ensuring the open web remains portable and resilient. He also highlighted advances across the Playground ecosystem, including WordPress Studio, the Playground CLI, and an expanding set of Blueprints. These allow developers and learners to spin up complete WordPress environments in seconds, test ideas, and experiment without servers or configuration. Matt closed this portion by emphasizing work on safer updates, which help WordPress avoid partial installs and ensure that updates complete smoothly even in less predictable hosting conditions, reinforcing WordPress’s commitment to stability as the platform continues to grow.

Matt emphasized that WordPress 6.9 is not defined by any single headline feature, but by a broad spectrum of refinements across the entire experience. It is a release that deepens reliability, expands capability, and sets the stage for future innovation.

Insights from the AI Panel

The keynote transitioned into a live AI panel moderated by Mary Hubbard. The panel brought together four perspectives from across the ecosystem: James LePage (Automattic), Felix Arntz (Google), and Jeff Paul (Fueled, FKA 10up), and Matt Mullenweg. Their conversation touched on the philosophy, practice, and future of AI inside WordPress — not as a distant trend, but as an active part of the project’s evolution.

A central theme was AI’s ability to amplify human creativity. James LePage put it plainly:

It’s not that we’re going to just add sparkle buttons everywhere. We’re going to do some crazy stuff here — things we’re going to build into the way you interact with creating content, with expressing yourself digitally. We want to give you more power, more control, and make you more effective at creating.

Jeff Paul echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that AI should make developers more productive by handling repetitive work and freeing them to focus on higher-level decisions. Felix Arntz expanded the idea further, describing how Google sees AI as a way to make the web more accessible and intuitive, especially for new creators who may not have formal technical training.

Looking ahead, the panelists predicted deeper contextual integrations, AI-assisted debugging and scaffolding for developers, and workflows where agents can take on sequences of tasks while remaining directed by human decisions. They also highlighted the importance of standards, shared protocols, and privacy-focused design as essential components of WordPress’s long-term approach.

The next 20 years looks like WordPress remaining what it is today, which is the center of the open web.

The panel closed on a forward-looking but steady note. AI is accelerating, but WordPress is designing its foundations with flexibility and values that endure. The tools may change, but the commitment to openness, agency, and creative freedom remains the compass.

Questions That Push Us Forward

Matt introduced the Q&A as one of his favorite parts of State of the Word because it reveals what people are imagining, struggling with, or eager to build.

The first question addressed the growing interconnectedness of today’s web. What happens, a participant asked, when a major provider like Cloudflare goes down? As tools and agents rely more heavily on external services, failures can cascade. Matt acknowledged that outages are increasingly visible, but also argued that each one strengthens the system.

“Every failure, every edge case, everything that you never imagined is just another opportunity to find that new edge case,” he said. Resilience is not avoidance of failure, but the ability to grow stronger after it.

Another question focused on the longevity of web content. With platforms shutting down or links breaking over time, how can creators ensure their work endures? Matt pointed to the Internet Archive as one of the great stabilizers of the open web. He highlighted a new plugin that automatically scans posts and replaces dead links with archived versions, helping preserve the historical fabric of the web even as individual services come and go.

The next question turned to real-time collaboration inside WordPress. A participant asked how co-editing fits into the future of WordPress and how these tools might help creators work more confidently. Matt talked about how collaboration tools can support people who are just starting their creative journeys — whether they are entrepreneurs, students, or first-time site builders. He described real-time editing as part of a broader vision of WordPress “just doing the work for you” in high-pressure or early-stage creative moments.

The final question considered long-term decision-making. Matt noted that predicting what will change is difficult, but identifying what will remain the same is much easier. For WordPress, he said, the invariant is clear: people will always want agency, openness, and the ability to publish on their own terms. These values guide decisions not only in the present, but across decades of future evolution.

TBPN Podcast Appearance

After the Q&A, the keynote shifted gears with a live crossover segment featuring TBPN (the Technology Business Programming Network), a tech-focused podcast. The segment introduced a lively, unscripted energy into the room.

The hosts kicked things off by asking Matt what the “word of the year” should be. He chose “freedom”, connecting it directly to the core philosophy of open source. He described open source licenses as a kind of “bill of rights for software,” giving users inalienable rights that no company can revoke. In a world increasingly shaped by software platforms and digital ecosystems, these freedoms form the heart of what keeps the web open and accessible.

Conversation then moved to Beeper, the multi-network messaging client. Asked whether Beeper aims to “tear down walled gardens,” Matt rejected that framing. Instead, he offered a more collaborative metaphor: bringing gardens together. Most people have friends and colleagues scattered across WhatsApp, Instagram, LinkedIn, Messenger, and SMS. Beeper doesn’t replace those apps — it brings messages together into a unified interface..

The conversation eventually returned to publishing. Matt referenced the same principle he noted earlier: the importance of identifying what won’t change. For WordPress, he said, that means doubling down on freedom, agency, and the ability to publish without gatekeepers. Even as AI evolves, even as platforms shift, even as new tools emerge, these are the values that will guide the project forward.

Building the Web We Believe In

As the keynote drew to a close, Matt returned to a message that had threaded through every section of the evening. The future of WordPress is not arriving from outside forces — it is being crafted, questioned, tested, and expanded by the people who show up. Contributors, students, educators, community organizers, designers, developers, business owners, and first-time site builders all play a role in shaping the platform.

He spoke about the opportunities ahead: new tools that expand what creators can build, collaborative features that make teamwork feel natural, and AI systems that enhance creativity rather than diminish it. Across continents, generations, and skill levels, people are discovering WordPress as a path to learning, empowerment, and expression.

The values that brought the project this far remain the ones that will carry it forward: freedom, participation, learning, and community. These aren’t abstract principles. They are lived every day in the decisions contributors make, the ideas they pursue, and the care they bring to the work.

Future Events

If you’re feeling inspired to revisit past moments from the project’s annual address, the State of the Word YouTube playlist offers a look back at years of community milestones and product progress. The excitement continues into 2026, with major WordPress events already on the horizon: WordCamp Asia in Mumbai, India,WordCamp Europe in Kraków, Poland, and WordCamp US in Phoenix. We hope to see you there as the community continues building what comes next.

Each WordPress release celebrates an artist who has made an indelible mark on the world of music. WordPress 6.9, code-named “Gene,” honors the American Jazz pianist Gene Harris. 

A piano veteran, self taught at the age of six, Harris infused mainstream jazz with elements of soul, blues, and gospel, creating a warm, signature sound that is both elegant and iconic. Harris’ bluesy jazz lived at the intersection of worlds, weaving a rich landscape of texture and mood, with a thread of soulfulness that ignited listeners.

Welcome to WordPress 6.9

WordPress 6.9 brings major upgrades to how teams collaborate and create. The new Notes feature introduces block-level commenting when writing posts and pages that streamlines reviews, while the expanded Command Palette makes it faster for power users to navigate and operate across the entire dashboard. The new Abilities API provides a standardized, machine-readable permissions system that opens the door for next generation AI-powered and automated workflows. This release also delivers notable performance improvements for faster page loads and adds several practical new blocks alongside a more visual drag and drop to help creators build richer, more dynamic content.

Download WordPress 6.9 “Gene”

Introducing Notes: Seamless, Block-Level Collaboration

Collaborate Smarter : Leave Feedback Right Where You’re Working

With notes attached directly to blocks in the post editor, your team can stay aligned, track changes, and turn feedback into action all in one place. Whether you’re working on copy or refining design in your posts or pages, collaboration happens seamlessly on the canvas itself.

Command Palette Throughout the Dashboard

Your tools are always at hand.

Access the Command Palette from any part of the dashboard, whether you’re writing your latest post, deep in design in the Site Editor, or browsing your plugins. Everything you need, just a few keystrokes away.

Fit text to container

Content that adapts.

There’s a new typography option for text-based blocks that’s been added to the Paragraph and Heading blocks. This new option automatically adjusts font size to fill its container perfectly, making it ideal for banners, callouts, and standout moments in your design.

The Abilities API

Unlocking the next generation of site interactions.

WordPress 6.9 lays the groundwork for the future of automation with the unified Abilities API. By creating a standardized registry for site functionality, developers can now register, validate, and execute actions consistently across any context—from PHP and REST endpoints to AI agents—paving the way for smarter, more connected WordPress experiences.

Accessibility Improvements

More than 30 accessibility fixes sharpen the core WordPress experience. These updates improve screen reader announcements, hide unnecessary CSS-generated content from assistive tech, fix cursor placement issues, and make sure typing focus stays put even when users click an autocomplete suggestion.

Performance enhancements

WordPress 6.9 delivers significant frontend performance enhancements, optimizing the site loading experience for visitors. 6.9 boasts an improved LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) through on-demand block styles for classic themes, minifying block theme styles, and increasing the limit for inline styles – removing blockages to page rendering and clearing the rendering path by deprioritizing non-critical scripts. This release comes with many more performance boosts, including optimized database queries, refined caching, improved spawning of WP Cron, and a new template enhancement output buffer that opens the door for more future optimizations.

And much more

For a comprehensive overview of all the new features and enhancements in WordPress 6.9, please visit the feature-showcase website.

Check out What’s New

Learn more about WordPress 6.9

Learn WordPress is a free resource for new and experienced WordPress users. Learn is stocked with how-to videos on using various features in WordPress, interactive workshops for exploring topics in-depth, and lesson plans for diving deep into specific areas of WordPress.

Read the WordPress 6.9 Release Notes for information on installation, enhancements, fixed issues, release contributors, learning resources, and the list of file changes.

Explore the WordPress 6.9 Field Guide. Learn about the changes in this release with detailed developer notes to help you build with WordPress.

The 6.9 release squad

Every release comes to you from a dedicated team of enthusiastic contributors who help keep things on track and moving smoothly. The team that has led 6.9 is a cross-functional group of contributors who are always ready to champion ideas, remove blockers, and resolve issues.

• Release Lead: Matt Mullenweg
• Release Coordination: Akshaya Rane, Amy Kamala
• Tech Leads: David Baumwald, Ella van Durpe, Héctor Prieto
• Design Lead: Francisco Vera
• Triage Leads: Aki Hamano, Ryan Welcher
• Test Leads: Jonathan Bossenger, Krupa Nanda

Thank you, contributors

The mission of WordPress is to democratize publishing and embody the freedoms that come with open source. A global and diverse community of people collaborating to strengthen the software supports this effort.

WordPress 6.9 reflects the tireless efforts and passion of more than 900+ contributors in countries all over the world. This release also welcomed over 279 first-time contributors!

Their collaboration delivered more than 340 enhancements and fixes, ensuring a stable release for all – a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress open source community.

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More than 71 locales have fully translated WordPress 6.9 into their language. Community translators are working hard to ensure more translations are on their way. Thank you to everyone who helps make WordPress available in 200+ languages.

Last but not least, thanks to the volunteers who contribute to the support forums by answering questions from WordPress users worldwide.

Get involved

Participation in WordPress goes far beyond coding. And learning more and getting involved is easy.  Discover the teams that come together to Make WordPress and use this interactive tool to help you decide which is right for you.

This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC3 on a test server and site.

Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.9 is the highest quality possible.

You can test WordPress 6.9 RC3 in four ways:

The scheduled final release date for WordPress 6.9 is December 2, 2025. The full release schedule can be found here. Your help testing RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible.

Please continue checking the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.9-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.

What’s in WordPress 6.9 RC3?

Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? Take a look at the WordPress 6.9 Field Guide. For technical information related to issues addressed since RC2, you can browse the following links:

• Gutenberg commits for 6.9 since November 18
• Closed WordPress Core Trac tickets since November 18

How you can contribute

WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can get involved with the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.

Get involved in testing

Testing for issues is crucial to the development of any software. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. 

Your help testing the WordPress 6.9 RC3 prerelease is key to ensuring that the final release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.9. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.

If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta/RC area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.

Curious about testing releases in general?  Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack..

Update your theme or plugin

For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.

Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.9 prereleases. If you haven’t yet, please conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your theme and plugin readme files to 6.9.

If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information in the support forum.

Test on your hosting platforms

Web hosts provide vital infrastructure for supporting WordPress and its users. Testing on hosting systems helps inform the development process while ensuring that WordPress and hosting platforms are fully compatible, free of errors, optimized for the best possible user experience, and that updates roll out to customer sites without issue.

Want to test WordPress on your hosting system? Get started with configuring distributed hosting tests here. 

Help translate WordPress

Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本語? हिन्दी? বাংলা? मराठी? ಕನ್ನಡ? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages.

An RC3 haiku

Some folks make money,

some folks make time to travel,

and we Make WordPress.

Props to @akshayar, @davidbaumwald, @westonruter, @ellatrix, @mobarak and @tacoverdo for proofreading and review.