I recently had a client come to me with a massive WooCommerce store—about 50,000 products—complaining that their dashboard felt like it was stuck in 2012. They wanted all the shiny new toys: AI-generated product descriptions, smart media search, the works. But when I looked under the hood? They were still limping along on PHP 7.2 and a mountain of legacy code. It was a total nightmare. I had to tell them straight: you can’t build a skyscraper on a swamp. That is exactly why the recent WordPress 7.0 roadmap discussions are so critical for anyone actually building for the web.
The core committers just wrapped up their November 2025 check-in, and the message is clear. WordPress is finally trimming the fat. The biggest news? The minimum PHP version is finally jumping to 7.4. Now, if you’re a dev, you know 7.4 has been EOL for years, but for Core, this is a massive win. It’s not just about “staying current.” It’s about strictly typed code. When we have better types, AI models can actually understand the codebase. It makes the “Abilities API” more than just a pipe dream. Trust me on this, trying to hack together AI integration on a loosely typed, legacy PHP version is a recipe for a race condition you’ll never solve.
Why the WordPress 7.0 Roadmap Focuses on AI and Performance
One of the most interesting bits from the meeting was the approach to AI. Instead of just hardcoding a ChatGPT wrapper into the editor (which would be the easy, lazy way), the project is looking at browser-based models via the W3C WebML group. This means the AI lives on the user’s machine, keeping data local and saving your server from melting. We’re talking about searching the media library for specific subjects—like “show me all photos of blue suede shoes”—without sending every image to a third-party API. This builds on a great concept I saw over at the official Make WordPress blog.
My first thought when I heard about the “Admin Redesign” was a bit of skepticism. We’ve seen “redesigns” before that just move the cheese. But the 7.0 plan is smarter. It’s about a “new coat of paint” and reviving the WP Admin. They’re looking at view transitions to make the dashboard feel like a modern app, not a page-reloading relic from the early 2000s. They’re also fixing the “scary” Site Health warnings. You know the ones—where a client sees a red circle and thinks the site is about to explode. Making those actionable and informative is a huge win for those of us who support clients daily.
/**
* Checking for Abilities API support in a custom block
* This is the kind of stuff coming in the WordPress 7.0 roadmap.
*/
function bbioon_check_ai_capabilities() {
if ( ! function_exists( 'wp_get_ai_client' ) ) {
return;
}
$client = wp_get_ai_client();
// Check if the browser-based model is available
if ( $client->has_ability( 'image-recognition' ) ) {
// Run local processing logic here
error_log( 'Local AI is ready to roll.' );
}
}
add_action( 'init', 'bbioon_check_ai_capabilities' );The release cadence is also shifting. We’re heading back to three major releases a year starting in 2026. This is the right move. The experiment of lining up 6.9 with State of the Word is cool, but for those of us in the trenches, a predictable schedule is better than a flashy one. It gives us time to test, break things, and fix them before the client even notices there was an update.
The Reality of Moving Forward
Look, I’ve spent 14 years watching people try to avoid updates because they’re afraid of breaking things. But the move to 7.0 is different. It’s about foundational changes. If you’re still clinging to old PHP versions or “classic” workflows that ignore the Block Editor’s new APIs, you’re going to get left behind. The 7.0 roadmap isn’t just a list of features; it’s a signal that the platform is maturing into a proper application framework.
Look, this stuff gets complicated fast. If you’re tired of debugging someone else’s mess and just want your site to work, drop my team a line. We’ve probably seen it before.
What’s your biggest headache with the current admin? Is it the cluttered settings or the overwhelming notifications? I’d love to hear if you’re actually excited about AI in core or if you’re just worried about more bloat.
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