WordPress 7.1 is planned for August 19, 2026, with a smaller release squad that leans on the Make Team Reps. Here is the schedule, how to test the alpha with WP-CLI, and which lead roles are open.
Felix Arntz and James are stepping back as Core AI Team Reps, and Jason Adams takes over. The handover lands as the Abilities API matures and the WP AI Client heads into core for WordPress 7.0.
The WordPress AI plugin 1.0.0 adds Request Logging and Connector Approvals, which give site owners real control over which plugins use AI and what they spend. Here is what changed and what developers should do about it.
The latest WordPress.com sprint brought Jetpack Podcast, the WordPress Workspace Mac app with an AI agent, and a Blueprints Gallery in Studio. The common thread is local-first development and less repeated setup work.
WordPress 7.0 ships on May 20, 2026. Here is what the dry run and the 24-hour code freeze actually involve, and what I’d test (IIS, older PHP, multisite) before the release party in #core Slack.
The Essential Plugin attack backdoored more than 30 trusted plugins after the portfolio changed hands. I walk through how the wpos-analytics module worked, why unserialize() on remote data is so dangerous, and how WordPress.com cleaned up 2,200+ affected sites.
WordPress.com’s Lately beta lets you blog through Telegram. You message the WordPress Agent during the week, then edit and send a private letter to approved friends every Friday.
WordPress 7.0 is out, and the AI work behind it keeps moving. Here is what the AI contributors are working on: scaling the Abilities API, a Secrets Management API, hook-based init, and keeping C2PA metadata in the media library.
WordPress Studio 1.9.0 ships a Blueprints Gallery, so you can browse, preview and launch pre-configured local sites without hunting for JSON files. It works from the Studio CLI too.
Gutenberg 23.2 adds experimental per-breakpoint block styles in Global Styles, motion design tokens, bottom-sheet modals on mobile, and fixes for race conditions in real-time collaboration.