Call for testing: WordPress 7.0 Beta

WordPress 7.0 Beta is now available for testing on VIP. This is the first release part of the WordPress 7.0 development cycle and can now be deployed to all non-production WordPress environments.

The current target for the final release is April 9, 2026

What’s new in WordPress 7.0

WordPress 7.0 is a milestone release with a big push into collaboration, AI infrastructure, and an enhanced editing experience. Here’s a preview of what’s coming–keep in mind that features might get dropped or be added until the final release on April 9:

Real-time Collaboration

Available on VIP since January, Real-Time Collaboration will be integrated into WordPress Core with 7.0. It allows multiple users to edit the same post or page simultaneously, with data syncing, block-level notes and live updates.

Developer features

  • WP AI Client: a provider-agnostic API giving plugins and themes a standardized way to call AI models through a consistent interface. No AI providers are bundled, and no AI calls are made by default.
  • Abilities & Workflows API improvements: hybrid abilities, client-side filtering and search, an improved command palette, and a new Abilities Explorer admin screen.
  • PHP-only block registration, no JavaScript required.
  • Block Bindings for custom dynamic blocks: pattern override support now extends to custom dynamic blocks for building flexible, data-driven content patterns.
  • Custom CSS per block instance.
  • Client-side media processing: media is now processed in the browser before uploading, speeding up media handling and reducing server-side overhead.

Admin experience

WordPress 7.0 ships with a fresh default color scheme and cleaner dashboard styles. These CSS-level changes bring the WordPress Admin experience closer to the Site Editor’s modern look while keeping the interface familiar.

Editing experience

  • Visual revisions: revisions now appear inline within the editor, allowing side-by-side visual comparisons
  • Pattern editing: new Spotlight mode (to isolate content within patterns and notes) and Isolated Editor mode (for editing synced patterns, template parts, and navigation).
  • Viewport-based block visibility: show or hide individual blocks based on screen size.
  • Font Library for all themes.
  • New blocks: Icons block, Breadcrumbs block (with support for archives, 404s, search pages, and pagination).
  • Block updates: Cover Block with video embed backgrounds, responsive controls for the Grid Block, Gallery Block with lightbox support, Navigation Block with customizable overlays, block variations for the Heading Block.

How to test the upgrade on a local environment

The quickest way to test locally is to use the VIP Local Development Environment.

To update an existing environment:

vip dev-env update -w=7.0 --slug=mytestsite

To create a new one:

vip dev-env create -w=7.0 --slug=mytestsite

How to test the upgrade on a VIP Platform environment

You can update your non-production environments by running the trunk version of WordPress from within the Software Management section of the VIP Dashboard or by running the vip config software update command with VIP-CLI.

For example:

vip @mytestsite.develop config software update wordpress trunk

WordPress 6.9.1 Maintenance Release

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.

If you have any questions related to this release, please open a support ticket and we will be happy to assist.

Now Available: WordPress 6.9

WordPress 6.9, “Gene”, has been released. In keeping with the WordPress version numbering convention, 6.9 is a major release.

WordPress 6.9 brings many enhancements, including:

  • Notes: Seamless, Block-Level Collaboration: 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: 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: 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: 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, and a new template enhancement output buffer that opens the door for more future optimizations.

Learn more about the highlights of WordPress 6.9.

For more details about this release (including specific changes), please see the announcement post and Field Guide.

Questions

If you have any questions about this release, please open a support ticket, and we will gladly assist.

Call for Testing: WordPress 6.9 RC1

The WordPress 6.9 Release Candidate 1 is now available on WordPress VIP. Use the Software Management page to update your non-production sites to WordPress 6.9 for testing.

WordPress 6.9 Release Candidate 1

What’s Changing?

Site Editor improvements and Refined content creation

  • Ability to hide blocks
  • New blocks
  • Notes on blocks
  • Universal command palette in wp-admin

Developer updates

  • Updates to dataviews and dataforms components
  • New abilities API
  • Updates to interactivity API
  • Updates to block binding API

Performance Improvements

  • Improved script and style handling
  • Optimized queries and caching
  • Added ability to handle “fetchpriority” in ES Modules and Import Maps
  • Standardizing output buffering

Testing this release candidate is the next step in preparing your site for the WordPress 6.9 release slated for December 2nd 2025.

How to test WordPress 6.9

Local Environment

Ensure VIP-CLI is updated:
npm update -g @automattic/vip

Update environment:
vip dev-env update --slug SITENAME

Non-production

Alternatively, you may update a non-production site to WordPress 6.9 RC1 now.

Within the Software Management section of the VIP Dashboard, you can select your non-production environment and change the WordPress version to “6.9″ within the “Testing” section.

Testing is vital to polishing the release during the Release Candidate and is a great way to contribute. ✨

Not for Production Environments

WordPress VIP does not recommend using Release Candidate or Beta versions in production environments. Any sites that have managed updates will automatically be updated to WordPress 6.9 when it is released on December 2nd 2025.

Questions?

If you have testing feedback or questions related to this release, please open a support ticket, and we will be happy to assist.

Call for Testing: WordPress 6.9 Beta

WordPress 6.9 Beta is now available. This is the first beta released as part of the 6.9 development cycle and can be deployed to non-production environments in your WordPress VIP dashboard.

The current target for the final release is December 2, 2025

What is being added or changed?

Here’s a glimpse of what’s coming:

Content Creation & Editor Features

  • Notes: Notes can now be attached to individual blocks. This enables asynchronous collaboration and more efficient editorial workflows. This was formerly known as ‘Block Comments’.
  • Hide Blocks on Frontend: You can hide blocks from the frontend while leaving them editable in the backend—supporting staging, alternate design explorations, and non-destructive workflows.
  • New Blocks: Accordion, Terms Query, Math block and Time to Read. The ‘Fit text’ formatting option is now available for paragraph and heading blocks, providing more flexibility for site building.
  • Drag and drop block experience: Instead of dragging a copy, users now move the actual block itself within the editor while rearranging content. The result is a visually enhanced and accessible editing experience for all users

Command Palette

  • Command Palette (Press Ctrl+K or Command+K anywhere in the dashboard to use the command palette) is available across both the Editor and the Dashboard, making navigation and actions faster and easier. Simply type in the Command Palette to search, jump to specific screens, or trigger actions directly. This also lays the groundwork for future integrations with the new Abilities API.

Developer & API Updates

  • New Abilities API: A unified registry of callable WordPress capabilities with defined inputs and outputs, built for AI integrations and developer automation.
  • Interactivity API Improvements: A new algorithm powers client-side navigation, enabling instant search and better asset management. Includes support for conditional asset loading, region-specific content, and opt-in full-page navigation.
  • DataViews & DataForm components: The release introduces support for more field types & new layouts. DataViews now offers infinite scroll for large datasets and allows for locked filters and improved multi-selection via the new DataViewsPicker.
  • HTML API: These upgrades make parsing, transforming, and validating HTML safer and more efficient across blocks, site editor, and custom plugins, boosting programmatic HTML manipulation accuracy.
  • Block Binding API: Date block supports block bindings, image block allows binding the caption, an improved and extensible user interface that allows custom sources in the bindings editor.

Performance

  • Introduced the “template enhancement output buffer” to unlock new optimization opportunities.
  • Block styles loaded on demand in classic themes to reduce overall CSS used.
  • Support for fetchpriority on scripts and script modules.
  • Support for printing script modules in the footer.
  • Increased inlining of stylesheets to reduce render blocking.
  • Minification of stylesheets in core block themes.
  • Scripts and styles for hidden blocks omitted by default.
  • Emoji detection script converted to a script module and moved to footer.
  • Database query optimizations and caching.
  • Cron spawned at shutdown instead of init to reduce impact on TTFB.
  • Improvements to RSS feed caching.
  • UTF-8 processing optimizations.

Additional Notes

  • No new default theme in 6.9: There is no bundled theme shipping with 6.9; the focus is on enhancing the editor experience, API support and performance.
  • Early Preview Plugins: MCP Adapter, and PHP AI Client are launching as canonical packages and plugins alongside 6.9, but are not part of Core.
    • The MCP Adaptor  turns WordPress Abilities into MCP Tools that can be used by AI agents.
    • The PHP AI Client allows WordPress to connect to LLMS for AI powered content creation.

How to test the upgrade on a local environment

The quickest way to test locally is to use the VIP Local Development Environment.

To update an existing environment:

vip dev-env update -w=6.9-beta1 --slug=mytestsite

To create a new one:

vip dev-env create -w=6.9-beta1 --slug=mytestsite

How to test the upgrade on a VIP Platform environment

You can update your non-production environments by running the trunk version of WordPress from within the Software Management section of the VIP Dashboard or by running the vip config software update command with VIP-CLI.

For example:

vip @mytestsite.develop config software update wordpress trunk

WordPress 6.8.3 Security Release

WordPress 6.8.3, a security release, has been pushed out to all VIP sites running WordPress 6.8.2. The security patches have also been back-ported to sites running older WordPress versions.

This release fixes 2 security issues.

To see the details of the changes, please visit the 6.8.3 documentation page.

Have questions?

If you have any questions related to this release, please open a support ticket, and we will be happy to assist.

WordPress 6.8.2 Maintenance Release

This minor release includes fixes for 20 Core tickets and 15 Block Editor issues. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the release candidate announcement.

WordPress 6.8.2 is a short-cycle maintenance release. More maintenance releases may be made available throughout 2025.

If you have any questions related to this release, please open a support ticket and we will be happy to assist.

WordPress 6.8.1 Maintenance Release

This minor release features 15 bug fixes throughout Core and the Block Editor addressing issues affecting multiple areas of WordPress including the block editor, multisite, and REST API. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the release candidate announcement.

WordPress 6.8.1 is a short-cycle release. More maintenance releases will be made available throughout 2025.

If you have any questions related to this release, please open a support ticket and we will be happy to assist.

Now Available: WordPress 6.8

WordPress 6.8, “Cecil”, has been released. In keeping with the WordPress version numbering convention, 6.8 is a major release.

WordPress 6.8 brings many enhancements, including:

  • Style Book Enhancements: The Style Book now features a structured layout with clearer labels, making it easier to edit site styles like colors and typography. It also supports Classic themes that include editor-styles or a theme.json file, allowing users to preview theme changes under Appearance > Design.
  • Editor Improvements: Users can now more easily navigate Data Views and have the option to exclude sticky posts from the Query Loop. Numerous minor enhancements have been made to streamline the editing process.​
  • Speculative Loading: This feature preloads pages when users hover over or click links, resulting in faster page loads. It’s compatible with modern browsers and can be customized via plugins or code.​
  • Enhanced Password Security with bcrypt: Passwords are now hashed using bcrypt, making them more resistant to cracking and enhancing overall site security.​
  • Accessibility Improvements: Over 100 accessibility fixes have been implemented, affecting bundled themes, navigation menu management, the customizer, and labeling. The Block Editor alone received more than 70 improvements to blocks, DataViews, and overall user experience.​
  • Performance Updates: Beyond speculative loading, WordPress 6.8 includes performance optimizations in the block editor, block type registration, and query caching. The introduction of the Interactivity API aims to reduce interaction latency to under 50 milliseconds.​

Learn more about the highlights of WordPress 6.8.

For more details about this release (including specific changes), please see the announcement post and Field Guide.

Questions

If you have any questions about this release, please open a support ticket, and we will gladly assist.