This week’s AI contributor meeting focused on initial strategy and timelines for the upcoming WordPress 7.1 release cycle, the deployment of a new minor releaseMinor Release A set of releases or versions having the same minor version number may be collectively referred to as .x , for example version 5.2.x to refer to versions 5.2, 5.2.1, 5.2.3, and all other versions in the 5.2 (five dot two) branch of that software. Minor Releases often make improvements to existing features and functionality. for the AI pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party., and structural maintenance across the PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php AI Client and MCP repositories. The group also held an extensive discussion around ecosystem contribution metrics, programmatic encryption experiments, and the standardization of settings fields layout within the Connectors APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. interface.

Announcements & WordPress 7.1 Timeline

• WordPress 7.0 Feedback: Following the successful launch of WordPress 7.0 last week, active installations and usage of the companion plugin have seen a significant initial increase. The support channels on WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ and GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/ remain stable and manageable.
• WordPress 7.1 Schedule: @jeffpaul shared a tentative schedule for the 7.1 cycle, targeting July 15 for BetaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process. 1 and August 19 for the final release during WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. US.
• Release Squad Nominations: CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. release squad nominations remain open through the end of next week. @jeffpaul is actively reviewing submissions to coordinate the squad selection alongside @4thhubbard. Any critical AI enhancements intended for core must be finalized before the six-week window closes at Beta 1.

WordCamp Europe (WCEU) Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://2017.us.wordcamp.org/contributor-day/ https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ Preps

• Documentation Progress: @gajendrasingh has compiled a comprehensive contributor day reference playbook based on data from previous events.
• In-Person Adjustments: @justlevine noted that while the foundational context is excellent, the documentation should be slightly condensed for in-person attendees. The final prerequisites will be adjusted once the specific target testing sprint items are finalized.
• Local Onboarding Instructions: Due to notorious local venue Wi-Fi constraints, the table will heavily emphasize local environments. The squad will issue proactive recommendations for contributors to download and configure software dependencies, such as Ollama packages, prior to arriving at the conference.

AI Plugin Releases & Encryption Experiments

• Release Cadence Shift: A 1.0.1 minor plugin release containing bug fixes and structural polish is scheduled to deployDeploy Launching code from a local development environment to the production web server, so that it's available to visitors. today. Moving forward, the plugin development cycle will shift from a bi-weekly cadence to monthly milestones, with version 1.1.0 slated for late June and version 1.2.0 targeted for late July.
• API Key Encryption PR: The group reviewed an experimental PR by @dkotter introducing programmatic key encryption based on background implementation mechanics from @ericmann.
• Gathering Real-World Feedback: Addressing ecosystem panic regarding plaintext API storage, @justlevine recommended merging the current experiment to gather immediate real-world testing data. The team noted that community feedback typically arrives much faster post-release, and the code can easily be refactored or rolled back to a dedicated encryptor class inside the plugin if needed prior to the 7.1 core freeze.

PHP AI Client Maintenance & Blockers

• Feature Gaps: Essential feature updates, including streaming data support, sound generation, and native embeddings infrastructure, remain high-priority requirements for the 7.1 cycle.
• Maintainership Bottlenecks: With @flixos90 stepping back and @jason_the_adams holding elevated structural responsibilities at Automattic, the repositories are facing a deficit in active maintainership.
• Unblocking Repositories: @jeffpaul clarified that contributors should feel empowered to aggressively test and review PRs within the PHP repository. Merging reviewed work does not trigger a deployment until a release version is formally tagged. If a green button needs to be pressed on a validated community PR, @jeffpaul will assist in sourcing an available committer to ensure development does not stall due to bureaucracy. Team will pause for @jason_the_adams or @flixos90 approval on releases, but otherwise will proceed with merging PRs.

Contributor Pledges & Metric Weights

• Revamped Profile Scoreboards: The team evaluated an active request from the Meta squad regarding data sets, weighted values, and scoring metrics for individual team pledge scoreboards on profiles.wordpress.org (core example, empty AI page).
• Beyond Code Contributions: @karmatosed raised a critical flag that the AI team relies heavily on a “Swiss Army knife” contributor model. Metrics that rely purely on trackable GitHub PRs or code commits fail to recognize vital non-dev contributions such as documentation audits, outreach, leading event tables, public presentations, and UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. design workflows.
• Prior Art Modeling: @justlevine suggested checking in with the Performance team to see how they balanced plugin-to-core code metrics with documentation tracking. @jeffpaul noted that since Core and MetaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress. are the only groups with established metric criteria, the AI team will temporarily mirror Core tracking mechanisms while iterating to account for unique non-code contributor tracks.

Connectors API Settings Fields Registry

• Custom Metadata Fields: @andrei_lupu created an issue on the Gutenberg repository exploring how individual connector providers can safely register custom metadata fields beyond the standard URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org and API key inputs. This infrastructure is particularly necessary for local or self-hosted configurations like Llama.
• A Declarative PHP Approach: While custom layouts can technically be injected using heavy ReactReact React is a JavaScript library that makes it easy to reason about, construct, and maintain stateless and stateful user interfaces. https://reactjs.org components, @andrei_lupu argued that the vast majority of WordPress plugin developers need a declarative, server-side PHP registry class to register standard elements (text fields, selectors, radios) without needing a complex JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com build setup.
• The “Fields API” Forcing Function: The group discussed how the unified Connectors configuration interface has inadvertently become a forcing function for an option fields utility. @justlevineand and @nikmclaughlin noted that building a standard, secure programmatic registry within Connectors provides a safer path toward core settings standardization in 7.1, preventing plugins from dangerously hijacking core interfaces with unvalidated custom scripts.

Model Context Protocol (MCP)

• Bumping Minimum Dependencies: @justlevine confirmed that the ongoing MCP adapterMCP Adapter Translates WordPress abilities into Model Context Protocol format, allowing AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT to discover and invoke WordPress capabilities as tools, resources, and prompts. integration is progressing steadily. Later today, the repository will officially merge a PR elevating the minimum environment requirement to WordPress 6.9.
• Forward-Compatible Pathways: Bumping the requirement allows the adapter to drop older library dependencies and natively rely on static analysis tools and the core Abilities APIAbilities API A core WordPress API (introduced in 6.9) that creates a central registry of capabilities, making WordPress functions discoverable and accessible to AI agents, automation tools, and developers. Transforms WordPress from isolated functions into a unified system. framework. The repository remains open for documentation contributions, and a forward-compatible migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. pathway will be provided for legacy library integrations.

Next Steps

• Deploy today’s minor bug-fix release for the AI plugin.
• Review, test, and provide technical feedback on the active Encryption PR.
• Coordinate with @andrei_lupu on the Connectors custom fields registry issue within the GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ repository.
• Finalize and distribute the WCEU Contributor Day preparation checklists for local environments.

Upcoming Meetings

• Contributors are welcome to join every Wednesday at 1700 UTC via Google Meet. In-meeting notes are captured live in a SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ Canvas and paired with aggregate transcription data to generate this meeting summary post. All team meeting schedules are published directly to the WordPress Meeting Calendar.
• AI Team Office Hours (Slack): Thursday, 28 May 2026. Facilitator @jeffpaul.
• Weekly AI Contributor Call (Google Meet): Wednesday, 3 June 2026.

Props to @jeffpaul for pre-publish review.

#core-ai, #summary