The WordPress coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development team builds WordPress! Follow this site for general updates, status reports, and the occasional code debate. There’s lots of ways to contribute:
Found a bugbugA 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.?Create a ticket in the bug tracker.
As with the 6.7 and 6.8 release cycles, WordPress 6.9 will continue the approach of forming a smaller, focused Release Squad. This streamlined structure places more emphasis on collaboration with the various Make Team Reps, who are encouraged to help coordinate efforts from within their respective teams. The goal is to reduce the overhead on the Release Squad while still ensuring each team’s contributions and priorities are represented throughout the cycle. This squad also continues the experiment of merging responsibilities of the MarComms Lead with Release Coordination.
The number of volunteers far exceeded the available squad roles, so we selected folks whose experience and focus best aligned with the needs of the 6.9 release. If you weren’t selected this time, your contributions are still incredibly valuable, and there are plenty of ways to stay involved throughout the release cycle, including testing, bugbugA 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. scrubs, triage, documentation, and more. Every contribution helps move WordPress forward, and we’re grateful for your continued participation.
Big thanks to everyone who volunteered for the release squad, and heartfelt appreciation to everyone helping move WordPress 6.9 forward through testing, triage, documentation, bug scrubs, and more. Your efforts make this release possible, and there’s a lot to be excited about as WordPress 6.9 comes together!
Planning is underway for WordPress 6.9, and this post outlines a proposed schedule along with a call for volunteers to support the release process.
Following the typical cadence and accounting for holidays later in the year, the proposed final release date for 6.9 is Tuesday, December 2, 2025. This proposed timeline remains flexible to adjustment by the resulting Release Squad as they determine what timeline works best for their schedule.
Proposed Schedule
Milestone
Date
Alpha Begins
Immediately (trunktrunkA 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. was open on March 25th)
BetaBetaA 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
Tuesday, October 21
Beta 2
Tuesday, October 28
Beta 3
Tuesday, November 4
Release Candidaterelease candidateOne 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). 1
Tuesday, November 11
Release Candidate 2
Tuesday, November 18
Release Candidate 3
Tuesday, November 25
Dry Run
Monday, December 1
Final Release
Tuesday, December 2
As always, all dates are subject to change based on development progress.
Call for Volunteers
Each WordPress release depends on contributors from across the project coming together to make it a success. As with the 6.7 and 6.8 release cycles, WordPress 6.9 will continue the approach of forming a smaller, focused Release Squad. This streamlined structure places more emphasis on collaboration with the various Make Team Reps, who are encouraged to help coordinate efforts from within their respective teams. The goal is to reduce the overhead on the Release Squad while still ensuring each team’s contributions and priorities are represented throughout the cycle.
If you’re interested in helping with WordPress 6.9 in one of the following roles, please comment below or reach out in the #6-9-release-leadsSlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel:
Release LeadRelease LeadThe community member ultimately responsible for the Release. – Matt Mullenweg
Release Coordination – helps manage timelines, cross-team collaboration, and status updates
Tech Leads – oversees coreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. development (including GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/), triagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors., and critical issues
Design Lead – ensures consistent, user-focused experiences across new features
Triage Lead – help monitor issues, shepherd patches, and guide contributors
Test Lead – coordinates testing efforts across the community and test reports
Whether you’ve led a release before or are looking to get involved for the first time, there are many ways to contribute. Volunteers of all experience levels are welcome!
If you’re interested in volunteering, please leave a comment below noting your preferred area(s) by Friday, July 25th.
As a follow-up to the release calendar proposal for 2025, let’s gather interest in being part of the release squad for the next major releasemajor releaseA release, identified by the first two numbers (3.6), which is the focus of a full release cycle and feature development. WordPress uses decimaling count for major release versions, so 2.8, 2.9, 3.0, and 3.1 are sequential and comparable in scope., WordPress 6.8.
Proposed WordPress 6.8 tentative schedule
Based on that calendar proposal for next year, the WordPress 6.8 tentative schedule is as follows:
Milestone
Date
Alpha (trunktrunkA 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. open for 6.8 release)
October 22, 2024
BetaBetaA 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
March 4 2025
Beta 2
March 11, 2025
Beta 3
March 18, 2025
Release Candidaterelease candidateOne 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). 1
March 25, 2025
Release Candidate 2
April 1, 2025
Release Candidate 3
April 8, 2025
Dry Run
April 14, 2025
WordPress 6.8 General Release
April 15, 2025
According to the schedule above and the GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ release cadence, WordPress 6.8 would include up to Gutenberg 20.4 for a maximum of 11 releases, depending on the end-of-year Gutenberg release adjustments (according to an unaltered schedule, Gutenberg 20.0 RCrelease candidateOne 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). and stable would land on December 25th and January 1st, respectively).
Release Leads call for volunteers
Following the release squad structure from the last release, except for the default theme role, as WordPress 6.8 won’t deliver a new default theme, these are the minimum roles that need filling:
Release Coordinator(s)
CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Tech Lead(s)
Editor Tech Lead(s)
Core TriagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. Lead(s)
All release decisions will ultimately be this release team’s to make and communicate, while gathering input from the community, including finalizing the release schedule.
If you are interested in participating in WordPress 6.8’s release squad as a lead, please show interest in the comments below, clearly specifying your desired role, by December 6th.
With WordPress 6.7 out the door, it’s time to plan for next year’s releases. The following dates try to account for flagship events and major international holidays:
6.8 – BetaBetaA 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 on March 4, stable release on April 15 (Beta 1 ten days after WC Asia)
6.9 – Beta 1 on June 24, stable release on August 5 (WCEU in early June)
7.0 – Beta 1 on September 30, stable release on November 11 (no flagship events nearby)
The release cadence is similar to past years, with a longer initial release cycle, including the end-of-year festivities and ~4-month ones. Please leave your feedback below or through a SlackSlackSlack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. DM by November 29.
Although the 6.8 dates aren’t final yet, they are close to final enough to let contributors know their availability around that time. If you want to participate in the WordPress 6.8 release, stay tuned for an upcoming post with the call for volunteers.
Props to @jeffpaul for reviewing the proposed dates and this post.
Core TriagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. Leads: Ahmed Kabir Chaion, Stoyan Georgiev
This squad experiments with merging the Marcomms lead with the release coordinator, as suggested in the previous proposal and agreed upon with this release’s coordinator, David. We’re open to feedback and can revert this change during the process if needed.
While announcing the whole release squad is ideal, at the end of the day, it involves a lot of async coordination that delays the announcement. Feedback received indicates this is particularly constraining for the Default Theme Role, for which the leads had to start the work before this announcement to avoid getting caught by the release deadlines. For future releases, I suggest:
Providing release squad updates every week.
Making a call for volunteers for the default theme earlier, independent of the squad of the release that will contain it.
Big thanks to everybody who volunteered for the release squad!
Please leave your feedback about the schedule and release squad size in the comments by July 19th.
If you are interested in participating in WordPress 6.7’s release squad as a lead, please show interest in the comments below, clearly specifying the role.
With WordPress 6.6 almost ready, it’s time to start planning WordPress 6.7 so that the release leads can participate from the start of the release cycle.
The timeline for the third release of 2024 takes into consideration WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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 in mid-September. To avoid having major milestones (Beta1, RC1) conflictconflictA conflict occurs when a patch changes code that was modified after the patch was created. These patches are considered stale, and will require a refresh of the changes before it can be applied, or the conflicts will need to be resolved. with flagship events, this proposal suggests having WordPress 6.7 BetaBetaA 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 after WordCamp US with a small buffer in between.
According to the schedule proposed below and the GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ release cadence, WordPress 6.7 would include up to Gutenberg 19.3 for a total of 8 Gutenberg releases.
Proposed WordPress 6.7 Schedule
Milestone
Date
Alpha (trunktrunkA 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. open for 6.7 release)
June 25, 2024
Last Gutenberg RCrelease candidateOne 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). before Beta 1
September 18, 2024
Beta 1
October 1, 2024
Beta 2
October 8, 2024
Beta 3
October 15, 2024
Release Candidaterelease candidateOne 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). 1
October 22, 2024
Release Candidate 2
October 29, 2024
Release Candidate 3
November 5, 2024
Dry Run
November 11, 2024
WordPress 6.7 General Release
November 12, 2024
Please leave your feedback about the schedule in the comments by July 19th.
Release Leads call for volunteers
With the recent switch to using the microsite as the base for the About page, some of the Marcomms lead’s responsibilities increasingly overlap with the Design Lead. Considering recurring feedback about the excessive number of release roles, we propose experimenting with combining the Marcomms and Release Coordination roles. This new consolidated role would absorb the duties of the Marcomms lead, streamline communication, and enhance collaboration, addressing the feedback on role complexity and redundancy while improving overall efficiency.
Leads in the squad should have proven experience and availability during the release cycle. Less experienced folks and newcomers are still welcome to followalong the process in preparation for future releases.
Some roles have already been filled by volunteers from the previous call, while others remain open. The TBDs in the list below indicate the number of spots that still need to be filled.
Release LeadRelease LeadThe community member ultimately responsible for the Release.: Matt Mullenweg
Release Coordination and Communications: TBD
CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Tech Leads: Peter Wilson, Kira Schroder
TriagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. Leads: TBD
Documentation Leads: TBD
Test Lead: TBD
Design Lead: TBD
Performance Lead: TBD
Default Themes Lead: TBD
All release decisions will ultimately be this release team’s to make and communicate while gathering input from the community.
As a reminder, if you are interested in participating in WordPress 6.7’s release squad as a lead or as a cohort, please show interest in the comments below, specifying the desired role and level of involvement (lead/cohort).
I’m glad to announce the WordPress 6.6 release squad is ready and the CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.TriagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. and Documentation lead roles have been filled:
Release LeadRelease LeadThe community member ultimately responsible for the Release.: Matt Mullenweg
TriagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. Leads: After some discussion and feedback, the proposal to experiment with merging the CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Triage and Edito Triage lead roles has been reverted. As a result of this, @fabiankaegy and @colorful-tones will focus on triaging the GutenbergGutenbergThe 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, and therefore, the release squad is looking for one or two Core Triage Leads to focus on triaging TracTracAn open source project by Edgewall Software that serves as a bug tracker and project management tool for WordPress..
Documentation Leads: In WordPress 6.5 it became clear that this role does need a bit of experience to enable the rest of the team’s contributions. Let’s ensure we find a Documentation Lead with prior experience to ensure they are able to handle release-specific work.
Default Theme Wrangler: The Default Theme Wrangler role was introduced as an experiment for 6.5 with the hopes of ensuring all default themes fully support any new features. After checking in with @poena and without any additional incoming feedback in the still-open 6.5 Release Retrospective, our recommendation is to drop the role from the squad since having the role on the squad hasn’t meaningfully impacted the default theme queue. This can be revisited in the future.
Default Theme Leads: As pointed out in the previous post comments, work towards the new default theme included in 6.7 should start during the 6.6 cycle. Even if not part of the 6.6 squad, folks interested in leading the next default theme in 6.7 are invited to express interest in the comments below. In particular, the first step to kick off the new theme would be to identify the theme designer(s).
Release squad as of April 23nd
Release LeadRelease LeadThe community member ultimately responsible for the Release.: Matt Mullenweg
Please leave your feedback about the schedule and release squad size in the comments by April 7th.
If you are interested in participating in WordPress 6.6’s release squad as a lead or as a cohort, please show interest in the comments below, specifying the role and the type of involvement (lead/cohort).
With WordPress 6.5 almost ready, it’s time to start planning WordPress 6.6 so that the release leads can participate from the start of the release cycle.
The timeline for the second release of 2024 takes into consideration WordCampWordCampWordCamps 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. Europe in June, WordCamp US in mid-September, and the observed lower number of contributors available during the northern hemisphere summer. To avoid having major milestones (Beta1, RC1) conflictconflictA conflict occurs when a patch changes code that was modified after the patch was created. These patches are considered stale, and will require a refresh of the changes before it can be applied, or the conflicts will need to be resolved. with flagship events, this proposal suggests having WordPress 6.6 BetaBetaA 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 before WCEU 2024, as the opposite would result in an even shorter release cycle for WordPress 6.7.
According to the schedule proposed below and the GutenbergGutenbergThe 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/ release cadence, WordPress 6.6 would include up to Gutenberg 18.5 for a total of 8 Gutenberg releases.
Proposed WordPress 6.6 Schedule
Milestone
Date
Alpha (trunktrunkA 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. open for 6.6 release)
March 5, 2024
Beta 1
June 4, 2024
Beta 2
June 11, 2024
Beta 3
June 18, 2024
Release Candidaterelease candidateOne 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). 1
June 25, 2024
Release Candidate 2
July 2, 2024
Release Candidate 3
July 9, 2024
Dry Run
July 15, 2024
WordPress 6.6 General Release
July 16, 2024
Please leave your feedback about the schedule in the comments by April 7th.
Release Leads call for volunteers
Having more than one lead per role has proven helpful in sharing responsibilities, especially in the case of unexpected events, and fostering leadership by pairing experienced leads with first-timers. However, recent feedback has also pointed in the opposite direction, with the squad having too many voices when combining role duplicity with the increased number of different roles. These larger squads have also fostered a bystander effect, creating the sometimes false feeling that somebody else must be working on things, resulting in unclear direction.
Since this release cycle is shorter than the last ones, I propose scaling back the release squad size again, trying to find a middle ground. Reducing role duplicity is less risky at this point as, in the event of unexpected release leadRelease LeadThe community member ultimately responsible for the Release. availability, plenty of now-experienced contributors are ready to step up and lend a hand in case of necessity.
This squad reduction also includes experimenting with unifying the CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. and Editor TriagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. roles so that the Triage Leads have a wider picture of issues across the technical side and can act as a nexus between Core and Editor Tech Leads.
With this smaller release squad, release leads should have proven experience and good availability during the release cycle. Less experienced folks and newcomers are still welcome to join as a cohort.
Some folks have already volunteered in the previous call for volunteers; some roles are already filled, whereas availability has changed for some people and there are still open spots. The TBDs found in the list below indicate the number of desired vacancies to fill.
* Both Triage Leads had volunteered for either Core or Editor Triage roles.
All release decisions will ultimately be this release team’s to make and communicate while gathering input from the community.
As a reminder, if you are interested in participating in WordPress 6.6’s release squad as a lead or as a cohort, please show interest in the comments below, specifying the desired role and level of involvement (lead/cohort).
Based on the previous proposal around the 2024 Major Release Timing, it’s time to call for volunteers. Since there are release dates for the upcoming three releases, let’s formalize the 6.5 release squad and begin shaping the other two squads of the year ahead. Knowing who will participate in 6.6 and 6.7 in advance will let folks shadow previous releases and allow for better preparation and mentoring.
WordPress 6.5 Schedule
Milestone
Date
Alpha (trunktrunkA 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. open for 6.5 release)
October 17, 2023
BetaBetaA 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
February 13, 2024
Beta 2
February 20, 2024
Beta 3
February 27, 2024
Release Candidaterelease candidateOne 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). 1
March 5, 2024
Release Candidate 2
March 12, 2024
Release Candidate 3
March 19, 2024
Dry Run
March 25, 2024
WordPress 6.5 General Release
March 26, 2024
WordPress 6.5 call for volunteers
The WordPress 6.5 release squad is still looking for diverse volunteers in every role.
Ultimately, each volunteer will only participate in a single role, and each role aims to have two to three people; past releases have shown that while it’s beneficial to share the responsibility with other people, there are diminishing returns when there are too many folks involved.
The following names are not assignments, only the summary of folks who have volunteered so far:
Release Coordinator: Héctor Prieto
CoreCoreCore is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Tech Lead: Pascal Birchler*
Editor Tech Lead: Dave Smith
Core TriagetriageThe act of evaluating and sorting bug reports, in order to decide priority, severity, and other factors. Lead: Rajin Sharwar
Editor Triage Lead: Anne McCarthy*
Documentation Lead:
Marketing & Communications Lead:
Test Lead: Anne McCarthy*, Vipul Ghori, Patrick
Design Lead:
Performance Lead: Pascal Birchler*
(*) People who have volunteered for more than one role. Their participation will be adjusted to a single focus depending on the release squad’s needs.
As of today, every role has openings; if you are interested in participating, please leave a comment below by January 12th.
WordPress 6.6 and 6.7 timeline
These are the updated release dates for WordPress 6.6 and 6.7:
WordPress 6.6 Beta 1 is planned for June 4, and the general release for July 16 (no changes since the original proposal).
WordPress 6.7 Beta 1 is planned for October 1, and the general release for November 12. The dates have been pushed one week to consider WordCamp US 2024 (September 17-20) and give some breathing room in between.
Please bear in mind these dates are not fixed and might change as the year progresses. This early planning aims to provide clarity around the release timeline and shape the upcoming release squads in advance.
WordPress 6.6 and 6.7 call for volunteers
Since we have a rough idea of the WordPress 6.6 and 6.7 dates, let’s start shaping their release squads. Please volunteer in the comments below if you would like to participate in these releases, being mindful of your availability throughout the year before committing. Needless to say, if your availability changes later due to unforeseen circumstances, adjustments to the squads can be made.
Thanks to this early planning, we will experiment with starting the next default theme as early as 6.6, so if you are interested in working on the successor of the amazing Twenty Twenty-Four, please raise your hand in the comments.
