WooCommerce 10.5 adds an experimental REST API cache built on the RestApiCache trait. Notes on wrapping a controller callback, the ETag and 304 handling, why you need Redis or Memcached, and the Nginx header quirk that breaks it.
The WordPress Abilities API landed in 6.9 Beta 2, minus the JavaScript registration, which moved to a standalone NPM package in the Gutenberg repo. Notes on that split, the AI Experiments plugin, the WP AI Client 0.1.0 plan and the MCP Adapter refactor.
WooCommerce 10.5 ships an experimental in-memory cache for product objects, so a single request stops rebuilding the same object over and over. The benchmarks, plus the stale data trap waiting for anyone who updates products with direct SQL.
WordPress 7.0 raises the minimum PHP version to 7.4.0 when it lands in April 2026, so sites still on 7.2 or 7.3 need a plan. Also covers the 6.9.1 maintenance release on February 3 and the open core rep nominations.
The Core-AI team shipped v0.1.0 of the WordPress PHP AI Client SDK. It is a provider-agnostic Composer package you bundle into your own plugin, so swapping the LLM behind a feature stops being a refactor.
WordPress 6.9.1 is a maintenance-only release set for February 3, 2026, with bug scrubs running from January 20. These are the dates that matter, plus why I keep minor auto-updates off on sites with custom hooks.
WordPress now has WP-Bench, a benchmark that tests AI models on Core APIs, security patterns and block development. It runs the generated code in a real WordPress runtime instead of grading answers on paper.
Gutenberg 22.3 is the first clear look at the WordPress 7.0 developer features: combined grid controls, a dedicated Fonts screen, and PHP-only block registration. Here is what each one changes on a production site.
The January 2026 Dev Chat confirmed WordPress 7.0 will drop PHP 7.2 and 7.3. Here is what that frees up in core, where the filter extension argument stands, and how to get on the release squad.
WordPress Playground spent 2025 getting 42% faster and reaching 99% compatibility with the top 1,000 plugins. Here is what changed in Blueprints and database support, and why it now works for real testing.