Amy Kamala 18:34 on 2026-08-26  

Hosting Team AI Policy

Heads up HostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Team, an official new policy is now in effect:

Use of AI in Hosting Team content and submissions must be disclosed.

If AI has been used to generate or process contribution submissions, that use of AI must be disclosed as part of the submission and content. This applies to any and all Hosting Team content, including PRs, posts, emails, graphics, meetings, summaries, comments, and any other materials that have been created or manipulated by AI.

Disclosure can be done at the bottom of the content in question using a simple AI Assisted watermark/text.

Folks are welcome to discuss this in the comments. This policy is preliminary, but official, and it can be / may be updated in the future.

Anything else? Let us know in the comments.

Props to @jazzs3quence and @chrisdavidmiles for reviewing this post!

Chris Reynolds 13:52 on 2026-09-03  

WordCamp US 2026 Contributor Day Recap

The HostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Team joined forces in person on August 16th at the Phoenix Convention Center 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 2026 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://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/. The table was led by @jazzs3quence and @amykamala, with contributors working in person in Phoenix and remotely through the #hosting Slack channel and GitHub. Thank you to everyone who joined! The team came together in the spirit of collaboration, built momentum with a sharp focus on problem solving, and moved team projects forward! The plan for the day held up well, and work landed in multiple areas.

WordPress 7.0 and 7.1 serverServer A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. compatibility documentation

Server Compatibility documentation protocols were updated: recommendations are no longer being posted on Make /hosting, and instead have been moved to the Hosting Handbook as individual pages. The Hosting Handbook, as a result, gained two new server compatibility pages for WordPress 7.0 and WordPress 7.1, closing issues #393 and #397. Both pull requests (#414, #415) were reviewed and merged during the event, and the 7.0 post was published, while the 7.1 post was prepared and scheduled to publish for the pending release.

Testing tools maintenance

On the PHPUnit Test Runner, a push towards multi-environment reporting, spearheaded by @jazzs3quence, made progress with updated pull requests, and testing done on both Pantheon and BlueHost hosting infrastructure. We’re still looking for more hosts to review the PR (updated ahead of CD by @dilip2615) and test in their environments to solidify the current direction or identify where iteration or changes are needed. @jazzs3quence merged @desrosj‘s documentation updates (#256), a pull request that had been waiting for a while, along with two dependency updates (#330 and #332). The WCUS26 label still lists runner and reporter tickets that are ready for anyone who wants to keep going.

Advanced Administration Handbook: multisiteMultisite Multisite is a WordPress feature which allows users to create a network of sites on a single WordPress installation. Available since WordPress version 3.0, Multisite is a continuation of WPMU or WordPress Multiuser project. WordPress MultiUser project was discontinued and its features were included into WordPress core. Advanced Administration Handbook -> Create A Network. refresh

Multisite documentation received some attention. @derintolu opened twelve pull requests (#509 to #516 and #518 to #520), replacing screenshots from 2018 and 2019 with captures from WordPress 7.0.4, correcting the network admin guidance, and swapping out retired Codex links. @superdav42 reworked the multisite introduction (#508) and modernized the administration guidance (#517).

A structural proposal also came out of the day: a series of pull requests (#418 to #423) that would move the hosting-owned Advanced Administration pages into the Hosting Handbook, merging them into the existing reliability, security, performance, server environment, and multisite pages. These are open for review and feedback is welcome on the pull requests.

There was a discussion with the Documentation 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. teams around the idea of retiring the Advanced Administration Handbook. The conversation is still open with the Documentation team, who has offered to take over maintenance of the handbook to prevent it from being retired.

AI

A discussion was opened about the use of AI, which resulted in a new official team policy requiring contributors to disclose when AI is used.

The new 7.0 Compatibility page was marked as AI assisted (#424) in line with the team’s new AI policy.

Hosting Handbook PR #417 was opened to add claude.md and agents.md files to the Advanced Admin Handbook repository, with agent instructions and a maintenance reference for the repo.

New Contributors

A number of seasoned contributors joined the Hosting team table this year and it was so amazing to see everyone! The Hosting team also welcomed two new contributors: a teenager who signed up for wp.org, 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/, and GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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 be the repository owner. and then reviewed Hosting Handbook PR #413, and a middle schooler who made this Galaxy Wapuu at the Hosting team table:

These two are now the youngest Hosting Team contributors!

More Tickets and Pull Requests

Hosting Handbook

  • Issue #416: created and resolved during the event, adding a public link to the rendered Advanced Administration Handbook.
  • PRs #414 and #415: WordPress 7.0 and 7.1 server compatibility documentation, merged.
  • PR #424: marked the 7.0 compatibility page as AI assisted, merged.
  • PR #417: added agent instructions and a maintenance reference for the repository, open.
  • PRs #418, #419, #420, #421, #422, #423: the Advanced Administration consolidation series, open for review.

Advanced Administration Handbook

  • PRs #509 to #516 and #518 to #520: multisite documentation fixes and screenshot refresh by @derintolu, open for review.
  • PRs #508 and #517: multisite introduction and administration modernization by @superdav42, open for review.

PHPUnit Test Runner

  • PR #256: documentation updates by @desrosj, merged.
  • PRs #330 and #332: dependency updates, merged.

The contributions did not stop with the event. During the week that followed, @johnbillion documented the hash extension requirement (#425), @amykittenkamala cross-linked the 7.0 and 7.1 compatibility pages (#426, merged), and @ekamran added version-pinned WP-CLIWP-CLI WP CLI is the Command Line Interface for WordPress, used to do administrative and development tasks in a programmatic way. upgrade commands (#427) and fixed the GitHub capitalization across the handbook (#428, merged).

Contributors

In alphabetical order: @amykamala, @ArnasDon, @bordoni, @chrisdavidmiles, @jazzs3quence, @netti3, @sirjonathan.

Contributing through GitHub: @derintolu, @desrosj, @superdav42.

If you contributed and your name is missing, please leave a comment to be added.

Thank you to everyone who spent their Sunday moving these projects forward. Most of the pull requests above are still open, and reviews are welcome on all of them.

Props to @bordoni and @amykamala for collaborating on this post.

Post contents were AI assisted.

Chris Reynolds 21:21 on 2026-07-29  

WordCamp US 2026 Contributor Day

Get ready for WordCamp US 2026 in Phoenix, AZ, August 16-19! The HostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. team is excited to have a table at 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://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ on August 16th!

Contributor Days kick off each flagship 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. with a focus on community: dedicating a day for folks to come together to contribute to the WordPress Open SourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. Project. If you’d like to attend in person you can register for Contributor Day here. If you can’t be there in person, you can still contribute remotely!

This year, @jazzs3quence and @amykamala will be leading the Contributor Day Hosting table.

Every year contributors show up for the Hosting team in a big way to move team initiatives forward. Thank you all for your contributions to the team!

At the WCUS ‘26 Hosting table, you’re invited to work on team projects, like the distributed testing software and hosting handbooks.

What does the Hosting team do?

The Hosting team collaborates with web hosts and WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. to maintain infrastructure-focused documentation and facilitate testing of pre-release WordPress versions on hosting systems. This helps inform the development process and ensure that WordPress and hosting platforms are compatible, error-free, optimized, and that version updates roll out smoothly.

Thank you to the more than 70 hosts who participate in distributed testing!

Schedule

Here is the schedule for WCUS 2026 Contributor Day:

  • 08:00 Registration
  • 09:00 Start contributing!
  • 11:45 Group photo
  • 12:00 Lunch break
  • 13:30 Back to contributing
  • 16:30 Wrap-up & team summaries

How to Contribute

To learn how to contribute to the Hosting Team, start by checking out the Hosting Handbook for details on the team and what it does. Folks will need a 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/ account, 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/ account, a GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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 be the repository owner. account, and a computer with GitGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. and a text or code editing software – because the team maintains handbook and automated testing projects through GitHub.

Hop into the #hosting Slack channel at any time with any questions or comments, especially if you’re contributing remotely, and feel free to join the #contributor-day Slack channel too!

Join In Person:

For those attending WCUS Contributor Day in person, check-in starts at 8:00 am local time. Don’t worry if you’ve never contributed to WordPress, folks are happy to help you navigate. Just ask! 

Join Remotely:

Can’t make it in person? No problem! Remote contributors are invited to join on Sunday, August 16, 2026 at 16:00 UTC in the #hosting channel.
To check in and share that you’ve joined, drop a comment on this GitHub Issue: Roll Call: WCUS 2026 Contributor Day.

This year, the team will be working on:

Get involved with distributed testing

The Hosting Team maintains a PHPunit Test Runner and Reporter software that enables Web Hosts to test unreleased WordPress software updates on hosting platforms and report any conflicts, errors or issues that may need to be addressed. Many Hosts participate (thank you!) and are recognized with their results here.

Want to contribute by testing on your hosting system? Get Started with distributed testing here.

For hosts who already participate in testing, please check on your test runners, they are not ok. If you need help troubleshooting, the Hosting table is a perfect place to ask!

Test Runner improvements

This Contributor Day, the team will be working on support for running the hosting tests in different serverServer A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. environments:

  • The idea is to be able to run the tests with different server configurations (e.g. PHPPHP PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response., MySQLMySQL MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). MySQL is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License./MariaDBMariaDB MariaDB is a fork of the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), intended to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License. MariaDB intended to maintain high compatibility with MySQL, ensuring a drop-in replacement capability with library binary parity and exact matching with MySQL APIs and commands. versions) and send those test results back to the Testing Results page.
  • There is an existing PR that needs testing and merge
  • For more context, see the original proposal
  • Once merged, changes will need to be made to the Reporter to support multiple test environments

Alternately, you can just snag any ticket you like, dig in, push, open, review, and test! Tickets and PRs available to work on can be found here:

Don’t code? Don’t worry! There are opportunities for everyone!

Handbook Updates

The Hosting Team maintains two handbooks: the WordPress Hosting Handbook and the Advanced Administration Handbook. This year the top priority for the handbooks is creating 7.0 and 7.1 PHP compatibility documentation in the Hosting Handbook, and working through the open issues and PRs for the Advanced Admin handbook.

Tickets and PRs to work on the handbooks are available here:

Anyone that speaks basic English can contribute to the Handbooks!

Getting Started

To work on open tickets

1) Fork the repository you wish to work on

2) Pick an issue and mention in the issue comments that you’re going to work on it. If you’re a member of the WordPress GitHub organization, assign the issue to yourself in GitHub. Otherwise a lead will assign the ticket to you.

3) Name your branch with the issue number, your name, and a WCUS26 prefix.

For example, if I want to work on Hosting Handbook issue #393, I’ll first comment that I am working on it, then hit the ‘assign yourself’ button on the upper right of the issue. Next, I’ll make a new fork of the repo or sync my existing fork, and git clone onto my local dev environment, or git pull into the ‘master’ branch on my existing clone. From there, I’ll checkout a new branch from main with the name WCUS26-393-jazzs3quence.

Learn how to install Git here, and some basic Git commands to get started!

Reviews

Once you’ve pushed your changes and opened a new pull request, tag some reviewers on the upper right of the PR. If you don’t know who to tag, feel free to tag a team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts.: @kittenkamala, @zunaid, @jazzsequence

If you’re reviewing work yourself, make sure you’re added as a reviewer on the upper right of the ticket, and comment on the PR with any feedback with a mention of WCUS CD 2026.

Testing and Merges

PRs must have 2 approvals and be fully up to date with the base branch in order to be merged. Pay attention to the comments on your PRs in case follow up is needed!

Changes to the testing software must be tested on a hosting platform prior to being merged. If you’re doing testing make sure to comment on the PR with your findings, the hosting platform/specs, and don’t forget to mention in the comment that you tested during WCUS CD 2026.

See You There!

Contributor Days are always fun and inspiring, and it’s rewarding to build momentum on WordPress initiatives as a community. The Hosting Team is excited to welcome both new and experienced contributors to collaborate and add value in your own unique ways, while helping move Hosting Team projects forward!

Please join us at WCUS 2026 Contributor Day on August 16, 2026 to make WordPress hosting even better!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Amy Kamala 00:40 on 2026-07-29
Tags: , , , ,   

Hosting Team Meeting Agenda 2026-07-29

Next Meeting

The next meetings will be in the #hosting channel on Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 0900 UTC and Wednesday, July 29, 2026 at 1800 UTC.

Agenda

Ideas or suggestions

Anything else? Please leave a comment with any additions or suggestions for the meeting.

Props to @jazzs3quence for the pre-publish review.

#agenda, #hosting, #hosting-community, #meetings, #weekly-hosting-chat

Zunaid Amin 18:25 on 2026-07-02
Tags: , , WordCamp Rajshahi   

WordCamp Rajshahi 2026 Contributor Day: Summary

WordCamp Rajshahi 2026 Contributor Day took place on July 2, 2026 at the Department of Computer Science & Engineering, Rajshahi University of Engineering & Technology (RUET). It was amazing to see people joining both in person and on 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/.

At the table, Zunaid Amin (@zunaid321) hosted and ran the in-person discussions, with Md Rafiqul Islam (@rafiq91) as Co-Lead. Thank you everyone who joined, and shared their 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/ profiles. Good to have you all. 🚀

Most of the day went into two projects.

HostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Handbook

We worked through several open pull requests, including the test runner updates and the OPcache guidance in PR #403. We also picked up the serverServer A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. compatibility docs for the next two releases, WordPress 7.0 (#393) and WordPress 7.1 (#397). On top of that, @zunaid321 spent time on the issue templates proposal (#83) and the minimum PHPPHP PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response. memory limit discussion (#45).

Advanced Administration Handbook

We reviewed a batch of open pull requests and moved a few articles closer to done. People pitched in wherever they were comfortable, from reviewing PRs to checking version numbers.

Tickets and PRs

Hosting Handbook:

  • PR #402: reviewed.
  • PR #403: OPcache guidance. One approval so far, needs a second before it can merge.
  • PR #404: reviewed.
  • Issue #393: WordPress 7.0 server compatibility, reviewed and discussed.
  • Issue #397: WordPress 7.1 server compatibility. This one will use the corrected link format from #400 so it doesn’t bring back the hovercard regression.
  • Issue #83: issue templates. @zunaid321 added input.
  • Issue #45: minimum PHP memory limit. @zunaid321 added input.

Advanced Administration Handbook:

  • Reviewed PR #495, #492, #491, #490, #489, #485, and #472.
  • Commenting on these was open to prior contributors only. The heading case inconsistency (title case vs. sentence case) is noted for maintainers.

Contributors

Everyone who joined the Hosting Table, in alphabetical order:

Thanks to everyone who showed up, whether at the venue, dialing in, or dropping notes in Slack. It was a productive day for the handbooks, and a good group to spend it with. If you want to get involved, come find us in the #hosting channel on Slack.

Props to @chaion07 for reviewing this post.

#contributor-day, #hosting, #wordcamp-rajshahi

Amy Kamala 18:48 on 2026-05-27
Tags:   

WordPress 6.9 Server Compatibility

For each new version of WordPress, the HostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Team releases an article examining compatibility between PHPPHP PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response. and new WordPress versions, offering recommendations for that specific WP version. Here are the Hosting Team’s recommendations for WordPress 6.9!

Before reading, you may want to check out the team’s previous posts highlighting recommendations for WordPress 6.8, WordPress 6.7, WordPress 6.6, WordPress 6.5, WordPress 6.4, and WordPress 6.3.

Please note, the goal isn’t to discuss WordPress compatibility or backwards compatibility, but rather to support hosts in architecting the ideal experience for new WordPress installations, and to guide sysadmins in upgrading sites in the optimal way.

This post goes into detail about compatibility, including the idea of “betaBeta Beta is the software development phase following alpha. A Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, speed or performance issues, and may still cause crashes or data loss. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. compatible”.

So, please continue reading for compatibility information, updated for WordPress 6.9.

Hosting Team Recommendations

The Hosting Team recommends Hosts use the following minimum versions for streamlined compatibility with WordPress 6.9 – (Note: these may differ from the global recommendations):

  • PHP: 8.3.x, 8.4.x
  • MySQLMySQL MySQL is an open-source relational database management system (RDBMS). MySQL is free and open-source software under the terms of the GNU General Public License.: 8.0.x, 8.4.x
  • MariaDBMariaDB MariaDB is a fork of the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), intended to remain free and open-source software under the GNU General Public License. MariaDB intended to maintain high compatibility with MySQL, ensuring a drop-in replacement capability with library binary parity and exact matching with MySQL APIs and commands.: 10.11.x, 11.4.x

IMPORTANT: These recommendations are primarily intended for new installations by hosting providers. For optimal performance and security, always use the latest compatible versions on new installs rather than setting up new WordPress websites with old PHP and DatabaseDatabase A database is an organized collection of data. Access to this data is usually provided by a "database management system" (DBMS) consisting of an integrated set of computer software that allows users to interact with one or more databases and provides access to all of the data contained in the database. Because of the close relationship between them, the term "database" is often used casually to refer to both a database and the DBMS used to manipulate it. Engine versions.

Where do the recommendations come from? The Hosting Team reviewed a variety of modern hosting configurations, PHP lifecycle status, database engine maturity, and WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. compatibility work. Based on this review, these versions provide the most stable and forward-looking environment for WordPress 6.9.

WordPress serverServer A server is a piece of computer hardware or software that provides functionality for other programs or devices. Typical servers are database servers, file servers, mail servers, print servers, web servers, game servers, and application servers. requirements

WordPress supports backwards compatibility, so even when there are more stable software versions available, that doesn’t mean they are the ones that WordPress recommends.

The current minimum WordPress 6.9 requirements are:

  • PHP: 7.4+
  • MySQL: 5.7+
  • MariaDB: 10.3+

Folks can read more about minimum requirements here: Server requirements.

WordPress’ compatibility “at the time”

WordPress 6.9 (released in the end of 2025) aligns with the following software versions available at release time (stable or security-maintained versions only, and RCRelease Candidate A beta version of software with the potential to be a final product, which is ready to release unless significant bugs emerge. versions for informational purposes):

PHP

  • 8.2 (Security Support)
  • 8.3 (Security Support)
  • 8.4 (Active Support)
  • 8.5 (Active Support)

MySQL

  • 8.0 (LTS)
  • 8.4 (LTS)
  • 9.6

MariaDB

  • 10.6 (LTS)
  • 10.11 (LTS)
  • 11.4 (LTS)
  • 12.1

Web Servers

  • Apache HTTPDApache HTTPD The Apache HTTP Server, colloquially called Apache, is a free and open-source cross-platform web server software. The vast majority of Apache HTTP Server instances run on a Linux distribution, but current versions also run on Microsoft Windows, OpenVMS, and a wide variety of Unix-like systems.: 2.4
  • nginxNGINX nginx is a web server that can also be used as a reverse proxy, load balancer, mail proxy and HTTP cache. Nginx is free and open-source software, released under the terms of the 2-clause BSD license.: 1.26, 1.27
  • LiteSpeedLiteSpeed Web Server LiteSpeed Web Server (LSWS), is a proprietary web server software. The software uses the same configuration format as Apache HTTP Server and is compatible with most Apache features. Enterprise: 6.2.x, 6.3.x
  • OpenLiteSpeedOpenLiteSpeed OpenLiteSpeed, is a open-source web server software. The software uses the same configuration format as Apache HTTP Server and is compatible with most Apache features.: 1.7.x, 1.8.x

Note: PHP has extended Security Support for multiple PHP 8.x releases. New PHP versions may enter candidate support status during the WordPress 6.9 lifecycle.

Please read more at: WordPress Compatibility.

WordPress and PHP

PHP is the primary programming language used by WordPress Core. Because PHP executes on the server, keeping it up to date is critical for both security and performance.

WordPress continues to support a wide range of PHP versions, including some that are end-of-life, to maintain backward compatibility. Hosts and site owners are strongly encouraged to run supported PHP versions wherever possible.

WordPress supports many versions of PHP, even some that are obsolete (Check out PHP Compatibility and WordPress Versions).

WordPress 6.9 (core) is:

  • Fully compatible with PHP 7.4 (1), 8.0 (1), 8.1 (1), 8.2, and 8.3
  • Beta compatible with PHP 8.4 and PHP 8.5

(1) SECURITY ALERT: Some older PHP versions are no longer officially maintained by the PHP project and are considered insecure. Users should consult their hosting provider regarding security backports or upgrade paths if running an older PHP version.

To explore all WordPress development tickets related to PHP, see: Trac PHP Search.

What Does “Beta Compatible” Mean?

Beta compatibility means WordPress Core is actively working toward full compatibility with a PHP version, but some issues may still be under review or pending resolution.

When using a beta-compatible PHP version:

  • Deprecation notices may appear in logs, wp-admin, or front-end output
  • Deprecation notices are not errors
  • Functionality is not broken, but additional compatibility work is ongoing

PHP 8.4

  • Deprecation notices may be visible
  • Deprecations do not break functionality
  • WordPress Core compatibility work is ongoing
  • Prepare for PHP 8.4: Trac #62061Status: Closed / Fixed

PHP 8.5

  • Initial compatibility work has begun
  • Deprecation notices may be present
  • Full compatibility is expected in a future WordPress releases
  • Prepare for PHP 8.5: Trac #63061 Status: Closed / Fixed

Other related tickets

PHP

Upgrading WordPress

Do you have a version earlier than WordPress 6.9? 

If so, the Hosting Team recommends you visit the Upgrading WordPress page for more information on how to upgrade from WordPress 0.7 all the way to WordPress 6.9.

Anything else? Feel free to comment below!

#core, #php, #hosting

Props to @sohilvahora96 @chrisdavidmiles @desrosj @codexdemon and @jazzs3quence for collaborating on this post!

Amy Kamala 04:50 on 2026-06-17
Tags: , , , ,   

Hosting Team Meeting Agenda 2026-06-17

The next meetings will be in the #hosting channel on Wednesday, June 17, 2026 at 0900 UTC and on Wednesday, June 17, 2026 at 1800 UTC.

Agenda

Discussion

  • Hosts: Please take a look at the notes from the WCEU ’26 Core Committers recap regarding Real Time Collaboration (“RTC”), and consider the following part:

What if coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. only shipped [RTC] with WebSockets transport, with HTTPHTTP The Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a protocol for distributed, collaborative, hypermedia information systems. HTTP is the foundation of data communication for the World Wide Web, where hypertext documents include hyperlinks to other resources that the user can easily access, for example by a mouse click or by tapping the screen in a web browser. polling transport being [in a] optional 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 or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party.?

Are you as a web host willing to facilitate a websockets configuration for Real Time Collaboration? Do you have concerns or objections about a requirement for a custom config for a CMS feature? How extensively are your teams able to test this within the current 7.1 development cycle (ending mid-August)? What if the feature rolled out iteratively over the next few cycles? How much lead time would you need to set up support for this on your infrastructure? Do you foresee any bottlenecks or blockers?

Feel free to comment below or hop into the meeting to discuss.

Tickets/PRs

Open Floor

Ideas or suggestions

Anything else? Please leave a comment with any additions or suggestions for the meeting.

#agenda, #hosting, #hosting-community, #meetings, #weekly-hosting-chat

Amy Kamala 20:03 on 2026-06-03
Tags: wceu-26, wordcamp,   

WordCamp Europe 2026 Contributor Day

Get ready for WordCamp Europe 2026! Happening in Kraków, Poland, on June 4-6th, with a HostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. table at 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://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/ on June 4th!

Contributor Days kick off each flagship 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. with a focus on community: dedicating a day for folks to come together to contribute to the WordPress Open SourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. Project. If you’d like to attend in person you can register for Contributor Day here. If you can’t be there in person, you can still contribute remotely!

This year, @chrisdavidmiles will be leading the Contributor Day Hosting table, with @amykamala helping out remotely.

Every year contributors show up for the Hosting team in a big way to move team initiatives forward. Thank you all for your contributions to the team!

At the WCEU ‘26 Hosting table, you’re invited to work on team projects, like the distributed testing software and hosting handbooks.

What does the Hosting team do?

The Hosting team collaborates with web hosts and WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. to maintain infrastructure-focused documentation and facilitate testing of pre-release WordPress versions on hosting systems. This helps inform the development process and ensure that WordPress and hosting platforms are compatible, error-free, optimized, and that version updates roll out smoothly.

Thank you to the more than 70 hosts who participate in distributed testing!

Schedule

Here is the schedule for WCEU 2026 Contributor Day:

  • 08.30 – Registration
  • 09.15  – Opening and onboarding
  • 10.00  – Start contributing!
  • 12.15 – Group photo
  • 12.30 – Lunch
  • 13.00 – Back to contributing!
  • 16.30 – Teams summaries and wrap-up

How to Contribute

To learn how to contribute to the Hosting Team, start by checking out the Hosting Handbook for details on the team and what it does. Folks will need a 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/ account, 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/ account, a GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can 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 be the repository owner. account, and a computer with GitGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. and a text or code editing software – because the team maintains handbook and automated testing projects through GitHub.

Hop into the #hosting Slack channel at any time with any questions or comments, especially if you’re contributing remotely, and feel free to join the #contributor-day Slack channel too!

Join In Person:

For those attending WCEU Contributor Day in person, check-in starts at 8:30 am local time. Don’t worry if you’ve never contributed to WordPress, folks are happy to help you navigate. Just ask! 

Join Remotely:

Can’t make it in person? No problem! Remote contributors are invited to join on Thursday, June 4, 2026 at 08:00 UTC in the #hosting channel.


To check in and share that you’ve joined, drop a comment on this GitHub Issue: Roll Call: WCEU 2026 Contributor Day.

This year, the team will be working on:

  • Distributed testing on hosting systems
  • Test Runner improvements
  • Hosting Handbook updates with a focus on compatibility docs
  • Advanced Administration Handbook has a ton of open PRs

Get involved with distributed testing

The Hosting Team maintains a PHPunit Test Runner and Reporter software that enables Web Hosts to test unreleased WordPress software updates on hosting platforms and report any conflicts, errors or issues that may need to be addressed. Many Hosts participate (thank you!) and are recognized with their results here.

Want to contribute by testing on your hosting system? Get Started with distributed testing here.

For hosts who already participate in testing, please check on your test runners, they are not ok. If you need help troubleshooting, the Hosting table is a perfect place to ask!

Test Runner improvements

This Contributor Day, let’s make progress on testing software development:

  • Existing pull requests need to be tested on hosting infrastructure, iterated on if need be, and hopefully merged.
  • The runner/reporter repositories need a cicd pipeline implemented that includes automated tests in LAMPLAMP LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP) is a very common example of a web service stack of four open-source components: the Linux operating system, the Apache HTTP Server, the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), and the PHP programming language./LEMPLEMP LEMP (Linux, nginx, MySQL, PHP) is a very common example of a web service stack of four open-source components: the Linux operating system, the nginx web server, the MySQL relational database management system (RDBMS), and the PHP programming language. containers that mimic hosting infrastructure.
  • Runner errors need debugging.
  • Tooling improvements like notices to hosts about reporting failures need to be implemented.

Or just snag any ticket you like, dig in, push, open, review, and test! Tickets and PRs available to work on can be found here:

Don’t code? Don’t worry! There are opportunities for everyone!

Handbook Updates

The Hosting Team maintains two handbooks: the WordPress Hosting Handbook and the Advanced Administration Handbook. This year the highest priority for handbooks is creating 7.0 and 7.1 PHPPHP PHP (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a general-purpose scripting language especially suited to web development. PHP code is usually processed on a web server by a PHP interpreter. On a web server, the result of the interpreted and executed PHP code would form the whole or part of an HTTP response. compatibility documentation in the Hosting Handbook, and the Advanced Admin handbook has a number of open PRs for review and tickets that need folks to work on them.

Tickets and PRs to work on the handbooks are available here:

Anyone that speaks basic English can contribute to the Handbooks!

Getting Started

To work on open tickets

1) Fork the repository you wish to work on

2) Pick an issue and mention in the issue comments that you’re going to work on it. If you’re a member of the WordPress GitHub organization, assign the issue to yourself in GitHub. Otherwise a lead will assign the ticket to you.

3) Name your branch with the issue number, your name, and a WCEU26 prefix.

For example, if I want to work on Hosting Handbook issue #393, I’ll first comment that I am working on it, then hit the ‘assign yourself’ button on the upper right of the issue. Next, I’ll make a new fork of the repo or sync my existing fork, and git clone onto my local dev environment, or git pull into the ‘master’ branch on my existing clone. From there, I’ll checkout a new branch from main with the name WCEU26-393-amykamala.

Learn how to install Git here, and some basic Git commands to get started!

Reviews

Once you’ve pushed your changes and opened a new pull request, tag some reviewers on the upper right of the PR. If you don’t know who to tag, feel free to tag a team repTeam Rep A Team Rep is a person who represents the Make WordPress team to the rest of the project, make sure issues are raised and addressed as needed, and coordinates cross-team efforts.: @kittenkamala, @zunaid, @jazzsequence

If you’re reviewing work yourself, make sure you’re added as a reviewer on the upper right of the ticket, and comment on the PR with any feedback with a mention of WCEU CD 2026.

Testing and Merges

PRs must have 2 approvals and be fully up to date with the base branch in order to be merged. Pay attention to the comments on your PRs in case follow up is needed!

Changes to the testing software must be tested on a hosting platform prior to being merged. If you’re doing testing make sure to comment on the PR with your findings, the hosting platform/specs, and don’t forget to mention in the comment that you tested during WCEU CD 2026.

See You There!

Contributor Days are always fun and inspiring, and it’s rewarding to build momentum on WordPress initiatives as a community. The Hosting Team is excited to welcome both new and experienced contributors to collaborate and add value in your own unique ways, while helping move Hosting Team projects forward!

Please join us at WCEU 2026 Contributor Day on June 4, 2026 to make WordPress hosting even better!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Props to @kirasong @jazzs3quence and @chrisdavidmiles for reviewing this post!

Props to @jazzs3quence @chrisdavidmiles @grafruessel @lucas and @javiercasares for helping coordinate the WCEU ’26 CD Hosting table!

#wceu-26, #wordcamp, #wceu

Amy Kamala 19:39 on 2026-06-03
Tags: collaborative-editing-outreach,   

Help Core help test Real Time Collaboration

WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. is expanding testing efforts for Real Time Collaboration ahead of WordPress 7.1 to gather feedback and data from active collaborative editors.

Because testing is needed from a wide range of environments, web hosts are being asked to reach out to your customer base to invite them to participate, however you see fit. Professional teams are the ideal user base for this testing, such as small businesses, newsrooms, non-profits, marketers and designers.

Including testers that host on your infra will help ensure the feature is fully optimized for your hostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. platform, while showing a healthy collaborative relationship with their software provider can positively influence customer perception of your org. This also will create an active feedback loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop with developers that can speedrun fixes and improvements to the benefit of your users and platform.

Instructions, updates, feedback and general communication will be in the #collaborative-editing-outreach channel in 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/, and folks only need to join the channel to get started.

Collaborative editing updates will be shared through a 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 or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party., allowing participants to enable and start using it with ease, and share feedback as they go in the Slack channel alongside feature developers. Participants should:

  • Want to use collaborative editing on a regular basis
  • Enjoy being an early adopter
  • Feel comfortable using the latest version of 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/ plugin
  • Have the ability to participate through the 7.1 cycle (at least until 8/18/26) 

As an organization – your team is invited to participate!

As a host – comment below with your company name if you plan to help with outreach, and make sure to hop into #collaborative-editing-outreach to share that you and your customers are participating. This is also where you can give feedback, and see the most current changes and updates.

Feedback from testers will help inform development throughout the 7.1 cycle, influence the direction of the feature, and help ensure compatibility across hosting platforms. Test badges and credits will be given to those who participate at the end of the cycle.

The program starts now, with the hope to gather meaningful feedback and data, and make iterations, prior to the 7.1 BetaBeta Beta is the software development phase following alpha. A Beta phase generally begins when the software is feature complete but likely to contain a number of known or unknown bugs. Software in the beta phase will generally have many more bugs in it than completed software, speed or performance issues, and may still cause crashes or data loss. The focus of beta testing is reducing impacts to users, often incorporating usability testing. 1 release on July 15th. 

Thank you in advance for your help! You all are heroes!

Props to @annezazu and @kirasong for reviewing this post.

#testing

Amy Kamala 06:07 on 2026-06-03
Tags: , , , ,   

Hosting Team Meeting Agenda 2026-06-03

The next meetings will be in the #hosting channel on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at 0900 UTC and on Wednesday, June 3, 2026 at 1800 UTC.

Agenda

WordPress News

HostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. Team

Open Floor

Ideas or suggestions

Anything else? Please leave a comment with any additions or suggestions for the meeting.

Props to @kirasong for collaboration and review!

#agenda, #hosting, #hosting-community, #meetings, #weekly-hosting-chat