WordPress dev chat agenda: 6.9.1 fixes and the 7.0 kickoff
Notes from the January 28, 2026 WordPress dev chat: the 6.9.1 maintenance release on February 3, the 7.0 release squad and bug scrubs, and pattern overrides in Gutenberg 22.4.
Category: Core Updates
WordPress AI core: what has to land before 7.0 Beta 1
Notes from the AI contributor meeting: AI Experiments 0.2.0 is out, the Core Post Management abilities PR is under review, PHP AI Client v0.4.0 shipped, and the MCP Adapter stays a canonical plugin. February 19 is the Beta 1 cutoff.
WordPress 7.0 release squad needs core volunteers
Nominations for the WordPress 7.0 release squad are open until January 16, with the final release set for April 9, 2026. Here is the beta schedule and what the four lead roles actually involve.
WordPress 7.0 bug scrub schedule and how to join
The WordPress 7.0 bug scrubs run twice a week from late January to April 8, moving from alpha triage to hunting regressions. Here are the dates, the Slack channels, and what it takes to lead a session.
WordPress AI Client: what changed on the road to 7.0
The WordPress AI Client is being lined up for a core inclusion proposal. January 2026 contributor notes cover streaming leaving the PHP client, a kill switch filter for locked-down sites, and MCP for tool discovery.
Testing WordPress 7.0’s customizable navigation overlays
WordPress 7.0 turns the mobile menu overlay into a block-based template part, so a logo or a button goes in without CSS overrides. Here is what to test, plus the open argument about where the markup belongs in the HTML.
WordPress PHP support: 7.2 and 7.3 are on the way out
The core team confirmed at Dev Chat that WordPress 7.0 drops PHP 7.2 and 7.3 support. Notes on what that leaves for the 22% of sites still running 7.4, plus where the 6.9.1 maintenance release fits in.
WooCommerce 10.5 fixes the ActionScheduler analytics backlog
WooCommerce 10.5 swaps per-order analytics jobs for batched scheduled imports, which is the fix for bloated ActionScheduler tables. Also inside: experimental product object caching, a new shipping tax filter, and the add to cart fix.
The 12 WordPress themes people actually use in 2026
Twelve WordPress themes ranked by actual WordPress.com usage share in 2026, with notes on block architecture and performance, plus the enqueue trick that keeps block CSS off pages that do not need it.
Gutenberg 22.4: pattern overrides and the font library
Gutenberg 22.4 merged 402 pull requests. The ones worth your time: pattern overrides for any block attribute that supports block bindings, and font library access for classic and hybrid themes.