Title: WordPress 7.1
Author: Jeffrey Paul
Published: February 12, 2026

---

#  WordPress 7.1

[Dev Chat Agendas](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-chat+agenda+7-1/) | [Dev Chat Summaries](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/dev-chat+summary+7-1/)
| Roadmap | Bug Scrub Schedule | 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. | 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. | Help Test 7.1 | [All Posts Tagged 7.1](https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/7-1)
| 7.1 Release Leads Channel

WordPress 7.1 will be the [second major release of 2026](https://make.wordpress.org/project/2025/12/18/proposal-2026-major-release-schedule/).
New features will be considered if deemed reasonably ready.

## Release Squad

 * Release LeadRelease Lead The community member ultimately responsible for the 
   Release.: TBD
 * Release Coordination: TBD
 * Tech Leads: TBD
 * Triagetriage The act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide
   priority, severity, and other factors. Leads: TBD
 * Test Leads: TBD

All release decisions will ultimately be this release team’s to make and communicate
while gathering input from the community.

## Release Schedule

| ~March 2026 | **Alpha Begins.** Trunktrunk A directory in Subversion containing the latest development code in preparation for the next major release cycle. If you are running "trunk", then you are on the latest revision. is open for business (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). | 
| 1 July 2026 | **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**. From this point on, core contributorsCore Contributors Core contributors are those who have worked on a release of WordPress, by creating the functions or finding and patching bugs. These contributions are done through Trac. [https://core.trac.wordpress.org](https://core.trac.wordpress.org) will focus on testing and fixing bugs discovered during beta testing. Begin writing Dev Notes and the About page (Slack archive, ZIP download). | 
| 8 July 2026 | **Beta 2.** Test the beta release, fix bugs discovered during beta testing, and continue writing Dev Notes and the About page. (Slack archive, ZIP download). | 
| 15 July 2026 | **Beta 3.** Test the beta release, fix bugs discovered during beta testing, and continue writing Dev Notes and the About page. (Slack archive, ZIP download). | 
| 22 July 2026 | **Beta 4.** Test the beta release, fix bugs discovered during beta testing, and continue writing Dev Notes and the About page. (Slack archive, ZIP download). | 
| 29 July 2026 | **Release Candidaterelease candidate One of the final stages in the version release cycle, this version signals the potential to be a final release to the public. Also see [alpha (beta)](https://make.wordpress.org/core/7-1/?output_format=md#alpha-beta). 1**. Publish the Field Guide with Dev Notes, commit the About page, begin drafting the release post, hard string freeze, and branchbranch A directory in Subversion. WordPress uses branches to store the latest development code for each major release (3.9, 4.0, etc.). Branches are then updated with code for any minor releases of that branch. Sometimes, a major version of WordPress and its minor versions are collectively referred to as a "branch", such as "the 4.0 branch". for the release. Begin to collect nominations for the 7.2 release squad. (Slack archive, ZIP download). | 
| 5 August 2026 | **Release Candidate 2.** Update the About page images and continue drafting the release post. (Slack archive, ZIP download). | 
| 12 August 2026 | **Release Candidate 3.** Update the About page images and continue drafting the release post. (Slack archive, ZIP download). | 
| 18 August 2026 | **Dry run** for release of WordPress 7.1 and 24-hour code freeze (Slack archive). | 
| 19 August 2026 | **WordPress 7.1 is released** (Slack archive, ZIP download)! |

## How to contribute

To get involved in WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run
WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development, head 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 7.1 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 delivering the most 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.-free WordPress ever 😉.

If you want to dive deeper into 7.1, join the weekly meetings in the [#core](https://wordpress.slack.com/archives/core)
Slack channel, which occur every Wednesday at 15:00 UTC.

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