Title: WordPress 5.4 Development Cycle
Author: Jeffrey Paul
Published: January 20, 2020
Last modified: March 31, 2020

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#  WordPress 5.4 Development Cycle

[Dev Chat Agendas](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/agenda+5-4) | [Dev Chat Summaries](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/summary+5-4)
| [Wishlist](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2019/12/04/wordpress-5-4-open-call-for-tickets/)
| [Dev Notes](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-notes+5-4) | [Field Guide](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/03/03/wordpress-5-4-field-guide/)
| [All Posts Tagged 5.4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/5-4/)

WordPress 5.4 will be the first [major release](https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/release-cycle/releasing-major-versions/)
of 2020 and aims create a blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe
units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage
using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have
achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent
API and user experience. for navigation menus and update 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/](https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/) to the
latest release version as we continue to focus in 2020 on full site editing via 
Gutenberg. [Matt Mullenweg](https://profiles.wordpress.org/matt/) is the Release
LeadRelease Lead The community member ultimately responsible for the Release., [Francesca Marano](https://profiles.wordpress.org/francina/)
is the Release Coordinator, [David Baumwald](https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald/)
is the Triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide
priority, severity, and other factors. PM, [Tammie Lister](https://profiles.wordpress.org/karmatosed/)
is the Design Lead, [Sergey Biryukov](https://profiles.wordpress.org/sergeybiryukov/)
is the CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core 
Development Team builds WordPress. Tech Lead, [Mark Uraine](https://profiles.wordpress.org/mapk/)
is the Editor Design Lead, [Jorge Costa](https://profiles.wordpress.org/jorgefilipecosta/)
is the Editor Tech Lead, and [JB Audras](https://profiles.wordpress.org/audrasjb/)
is the Documentation Lead. All release decisions will ultimately be theirs to make
and communicate while gathering input from the community. There will NOT be a new
bundled theme included in 5.4.

## Release Schedule

| 25 October 2019 | [Trunk is open for business.](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/changeset/46581/branches/5.3) (Post-5.3) | 
| 15 January 2020 | [5.4 Kickoff meeting](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/15/dev-chat-summary-january-15-2020-5-4-week-1/) | 
| 21 January 2020 | [Bug Scrub #1](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/20/bug-scrub-schedule-for-5-4/) ([Slack Archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1579633216045000)) | 
| 29 January 2020 | [Bug Scrub #2](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/20/bug-scrub-schedule-for-5-4/) ([Slack Archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1580338821309000)) | 
| 7 February 2020 | [Bug Scrub #3](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/20/bug-scrub-schedule-for-5-4/) ([Slack Archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1581051626280200)) | 
| 10 February 2020 | [Bug Scrub #4](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/20/bug-scrub-schedule-for-5-4/) ([Slack Archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1581357617424700)) | 
| 11 February 2020
(+3w 6d) | **[Beta 1](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/02/wordpress-5-4-beta-1/)**, begin writing Dev Notesdev note Each important change in WordPress Core is documented in a developers note, (usually called dev note). Good dev notes generally include a description of the change, the decision that led to this change, and a description of how developers are supposed to work with that change. Dev notes are published on Make/Core blog during the beta phase of WordPress release cycle. Publishing dev notes is particularly important when plugin/theme authors and WordPress developers need to be aware of those changes.In general, all dev notes are compiled into a Field Guide at the beginning of the release candidate phase. and About page, and last chance to merge feature projects. ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1581457843036200)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-beta1.zip)) |

| From this point on, no more commits for any new enhancements or feature requests in this release cycle, **only bugbug A bug is an error or unexpected result. Performance improvements, code optimization, and are considered enhancements, not defects. After feature freeze, only bugs are dealt with, with regressions (adverse changes from the previous version) being the highest priority. fixes and inline documentation**. Work can continue on enhancements/feature requests not completed and committed by this point, and can be picked up for commit again at the start of the WordPress 5.5 development cycle. |

| 18 February 2020
(+1w) | **[Beta 2](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/02/wordpress-5-4-beta-2/)** and continue writing Dev Notes and About page. ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1582059622466300)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-beta2.zip)) | 
| 24 February 2020 | [Bug Scrub #5](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/20/bug-scrub-schedule-for-5-4/) ([Slack Archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1582567237013500)) | 
| 25 February 2020(+1w) | **[Beta 3](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/02/wordpress-5-4-beta-3/)**, continue writing Dev Notes and About page, and [soft string freeze](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#soft-freeze). ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1582664552092100)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-beta3.zip))  | 
| 27 February 2020 | [Bug Scrub #6](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2020/01/20/bug-scrub-schedule-for-5-4/) ([Slack Archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1582844414430600)) | 
| 3 March 2020(+1w) | **[Release candidate 1](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/03/wordpress-5-4-release-candidate/)**, publish Field GuideField guide The field guide is a type of blogpost published on Make/Core during the release candidate phase of the [WordPress release cycle](https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/about/release-cycle/). The field guide generally lists all the dev notes published during the beta cycle. This guide is linked in the about page of the corresponding version of WordPress, in the release post and in the HelpHub version page. with Dev Notes, commit About page, begin drafting release post, and [hard string freeze](https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#hard-freeze). ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1583270706087600)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-RC1.zip))  | 
| 10 March 2020(+1w) | **[Release candidate 2](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/03/wordpress-5-4-rc2/)**, update About page images, and continue drafting release post. ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1583874603493500)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-RC2.zip)) | 
| 17 March 2020(+1w) | **[Release candidate 3](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/03/wordpress-5-4-rc3/)**, update About page images, and continue drafting release post. ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1584478907391600)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-RC3.zip)) | 
| 24 March 2020(+1w) | **[Release candidate 4](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/03/wordpress-5-4-rc4/)**. ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1585084263008900)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-RC4.zip)) | 
| 27 March 2020 | [**Release Candidate 5**](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/03/wordpress-5-4-rc5/) ([Slack archive](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1585353695228100)) ([Zip download](https://wordpress.org/wordpress-5.4-RC5.zip)) | 
| 30 March 2020(+6d) | **[Dry run for release of WordPress 5.4](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/C02RQBWTW/p1585594843283700)** and 24 hour code freeze. (SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform [https://slack.com/](https://slack.com/). The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at [https://make.wordpress.org/chat/](https://make.wordpress.org/chat/) archive) | 
| 31 March 2020(+1d) | **Target date for release of [WordPress 5.4](https://wordpress.org/news/2020/03/adderley/).** 🎉 |

To get involved in WordPress core development, head on over to TracTrac An open 
source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management
tool for WordPress. and [pick a 5.4 ticket.](https://core.trac.wordpress.org/report/6)
Need help? **Check out the [Core Contributor Handbook](https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/)**.
Get your patches done and submitted as soon as possible, then help find people to
test the patches and leave feedback on the ticketticket Created for both bug reports
and feature development on the bug tracker.. Patches for enhancements will not be
committed after the dates posted above, so that we can all focus on squashing bugs
and deliver the most bug-free WordPress ever.

If you want to dive deeper into 5.4, development is discussed at a [weekly meeting](https://make.wordpress.org/core/weekly-developer-chats/)
in the [#core](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/core) Slack channel and occurs
next at [Wednesday at 21:00 UTC](https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?iso=20260513T2100).
Wish us luck!

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