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

Amy Kamala 20:53 on 2026-04-29  

Urgent: Testing request to Web hosts for collaborative editing by May 4th

Web Hosts 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. Admins: your testing and feedback on the WordPress 7.0 Real Time Collaboration (“RTC”) feature is requested, to help ensure that 7.0 performs as expected on all 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. infrastructure.

While at least two additional Release Candidates will be made available, your testing is needed on or before end of day on May 4th in order to understand the best direction for the underlying architecture of the RTC feature. While thorough testing has been done, it’s been done in a limited set of environments, and it’s crucial to have data covering as wide a spread as possible of WordPress environments to set the feature up for success.

This feature isn’t just for large sites with multiple privileged users creating content. It’s a big step forward in the phase 3 roadmap that opens the door to many new possibilities, some of which aren’t known. Participating in setting a strong foundation now helps set all of WordPress up for success in what comes next. Part of these new opportunities includes agentic collaborators and future phase 3 features, like suggestion mode. 

Your help testing now should assure compatibility on your systems, lower support volumes upon the release of 7.0, and make sure your customers are ready for the next phase of WordPress. This is a critical time to get involved in the future of the platform. Your participation ensures that WordPress can make decisions that are informed by hosts representing the wide range of sites that WordPress powers.

Thank you to all hosts who are helping to test!

How to test?

A test suite has been created by CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. for testing RTC. These scripts have been designed in a way that only requires a few environment variables to be present with only 4 dependencies; bash, cURL, WP-CLI, and patch.

The ENVIRONMENT_NAME environment variable in particular is critical. This is a freeform text field that allows you to specify a short yet detailed description of the hosting configuration to help group results from similar types of hosting. Some examples:

  • Shared basic
  • Shared performance
  • VPSVPS A virtual private server (VPS) is a virtual machine sold as a service by an Internet hosting service. A VPS runs its own copy of an operating system (OS), and customers may have superuser-level access to that operating system instance, so they can install almost any software that runs on that OS.
  • Managed eCommerce
  • Shared Ultra

Note: Please do not include details like 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. or 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./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. versions in the environment name. These are sent over separately and independently of the environment name.

The most useful data you can contribute is data that represents your actual user base, not your new-install setup. If most of your customers are on PHP 7.4 with no objectObject In computer science, an object can be a variable, a data structure, a function, or a method, and as such, is a value in memory referenced by an identifier. cacheCache A cache is a component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere. on shared infrastructure, that’s the configuration needed to see results from.

For detailed instructions, please read the repository’s README.md file.

Submitting test results and feedback

The simplest and best way to participate is by using the test runner to submit test results to WordPress.org (specifically make.wordpress.org/hosting), which the script will attempt automatically when the necessary environment variables are configured correctly.

Reporting results to WordPress.org requires a testing bot account. If you have participated in the PHPUnit host tests in the past, you are encouraged to use the same bot account. This is a great opportunity to check in on your bot as some have not reported results in some time. If you need assistance with your bot, please visit the #hosting 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/.

You are free to use the same application password, or to login and create a new one. Otherwise, please follow the steps detailed in the README file.

Data Sharing

Unlike the PHPUnit Hosting Tests, the results submitted through this repository will not be shown publicly on a per report basis. This route was chosen because of the ephemeral nature of the need for this data (to make an informed decision leading up to 7.0), and because of the very short timeframe to publish this (building a front end interface would have added time).

All submitted results will be aggregated, analyzed, and shared without indicating which metrics belong to each reporter. As much as possible, they will also be analyzed by hosting type and 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. information.If you happen to notice anything that’s particularly concerning or surprising, please investigate and feel free to share a summary in the #feature-realtime-collaboration channel in Slack.

Summary

Hosting is a piece of the WordPress puzzle for every user of the software. Participating in the testing phase of this release is a critical part to ensuring that the release of WordPress 7.0 and the user experience of real-time collaboration is built to the best of WordPress Core’s ability. Thank you for taking the time to collaborate and contribute to making the WordPress software better for users.

Props to @kirasong, @desrosj, @jorbin, @maxschmeling, @alecgeatches, @jmdodd, @mmtr86, @professor44, @annezazu, @griffbrad for collaboration, testing, reviewing, and performing outreach to hosting companies.

Crixu 07:09 on 2026-02-04
Tags: Announcements, , Hosting Team,   

Hosting Team Reps 2026

As another exciting chapter with 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 begins, I’m here to share some important updates, and express the Hosting Team’s heartfelt gratitude to those who have made incredible contributions to the community!

Following the call for nominations and voting period, I am thrilled to announce the Hosting Team Reps for 2026. Welcome the newly voted Hosting Team Reps:

  • @zunaid321 (Continuing as Hosting 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.)
  • @amykamala (Returning Team Rep)
  • @jazzs3quence (New Team Rep! Welcome!)

Congratulations! The team is looking forward to benefitting from their work as efforts continue, building on team progress made in previous years.

Embarking on this new journey together, your input and engagement remain as vital as ever. Please feel free to provide feedback in the comments below or hop in the #hosting 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/ channel to share your thoughts!

Thank you all for your ongoing support of and participation in the Hosting Team. Let’s make 2026 another year of growth and collaboration for the WordPress hosting community!

Props to @amykamala for proofreading and review.

#announcements, #hosting-team, #team-reps
John Blackbourn 15:17 on 2026-01-28  

Should 1024-bit certificates be removed from the root certificate bundle?

The root security certificate bundle in WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. still includes some 1024-bit certificates to provide support for what appears to be a narrow range of buggy OpenSSL versions that have been unsupported since 2016. In https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64063 there is a proposal to remove them from the bundle.

Does anyone know of a reason these certificates should be retained? As far as I understand this really only affects CentOS 7 which is EOL since 2024.

If there’s no objection then I’ll remove them next week (ready for WordPress 7.0 in April).

Amy Kamala 07:41 on 2025-07-23
Tags:   

Proposal: New Team Description

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 has evolved since its original creation, but the team description has not! A new team description could provide more clarity and context on the team’s role and projects.

Background:

The Hosting team currently uses both of the following years-old team descriptions:

We work to improve WordPress’ end-user experience across hosting environments through industry collaboration and user education. Come join us!

and 

The Hosting Team works to improve the WordPress user experience across hosting environments through user collaboration and education.

What’s the problem? 

While the old description provides a good baseline for understanding team basics, it is extremely short and gives minimal insight into what the team actually does. The description could provide more insight and clarity on how the team contributes 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, and how it benefits users and hosts on both a day-to-day and longer term basis. 

The first description is not using “the WordPress Voice” in that the use of the term “we” detracts from the team as a non-personified representative of a democratized WordPress Hosting collective, while implying an “us” vs “you” environment rather than representing the team as an organizational entity that extends in purpose beyond its individual contributors.

Updated Description

The following have been drafted as updated descriptions:

Very short:

The Hosting Team works to improve WordPress’ end-user experience across Web 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. platforms through industry collaboration, distributed testing and user education, serving as an intermediary between Web Hosts that support WordPress and the WordPress Software Project development teams while offering a space for industry professionals and WordPress users to discuss all things hosting.

Short: 

The Hosting Team works to improve WordPress’ end-user experience across Web Hosting platforms through industry collaboration, distributed testing and user education, serving as an intermediary between Web Hosts that support WordPress and the WordPress Software Project development teams. The team  facilitates testing of unreleased versions of WordPress on a wide range of Hosting platforms through distributed testing, provides information for web hosts and WordPress users through documentation and offers a space for discussion in weekly meetings that help keep web hosts, developers and WordPress users informed and communicating openly with the WordPress Open Source Project.

Long:

The Hosting Team works to improve WordPress’ end-user experience across Web Hosting platforms through industry collaboration, distributed testing, and user education; serving as an intermediary between Web Hosts that offer and support WordPress, and the WordPress Software Project development teams. The Hosting team facilitates testing of unreleased versions of the WordPress software on various Hosting platforms through PHPunit distributed testing, helping to identify bugs and bottlenecks that could affect WordPress end users, and communicating cross-functionally between hosts and coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress. developers to encourage a resolution when such issues are found. The Hosting Handbooks provide guidance and information to Web Hosts and users about the technicalities of hosting and using WordPress, and weekly Team meetings offer a space to discuss all things WordPress and Hosting related, to keep web hosts and hosting-adjacent contributors informed, and provides a forum to address any errors found during web host testing while helping keep developers and WordPress users communicating openly with the WordPress Open Source Project.

Where would the updated description be used?

The Hosting Team description is currently used in the following places:

https://make.wordpress.org/  landing page 

Make /hosting team page

#hosting 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/ Channel “Topic”

https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/ hero section

Hosting Handbook  (index file)

Feedback

What do you think? Do you like it? Hate it? Want to change anything? Comment below or hop into the #hosting Slack channel to share your thoughts until August 6, 2025 at 24:00 UTC!

Crixu 17:37 on 2025-10-01
Tags:   

Nominations for Hosting Team Reps 2026

This post kicks off the election process with nominations to replace the current 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 Reps.

Current Team Reps are @zunaid321 and @crixu.

The Role

In the WordPress open-source project, each team has on average one or two representatives, abbreviated as Reps. The 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. represents the team to the wider Make project, and the project to the Hosting Team.

We need multiple (2-4) Team Reps to cover each other and make sure the team is not led by a single individual. This allows responsibilities to be shared, ensures continuity, and helps provide coverage across different time zones. We welcome anyone who contributes to the team by preparing and running meetings, running a 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/ table, or contributing to our projects — you don’t need to be a rep for that.

It’s not called “team lead” for a reason. It’s an administrative role. While people elected as team reps will generally come from the pool of folks that people think of as experienced leaders, the Team Rep role is designed to change hands regularly. As a Team Rep, you’re accountable to “get things done” within the team and aggregate ideas into doable actions.

This role has a time commitment attached to it. Not a huge amount, it’s at least three hours a week. Here are the main tasks:

  • Post the agenda, host the chats, and summarize them.
  • Keeping an eye on the moving parts of the team to be able to report for quarterly updates.

Full details on the Team Rep role is on the Team Update site.

How the election works

This post is the Call for Nominations. Please add your nominations in the comments of this post or submit them through this survey. Self-nominations are welcome. If you prefer to nominate someone in private, you can also reach out to one of the current Team Reps directly 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/ (@zunaid321 and @crixu).

The nomination period will run until October 28th, 2025 at 23:59 UTC. Nominations will then be published on October 29th, and nominees will have until November 4th to confirm whether they are willing to be on the polls.

The Voting Period will run from November 5th to November 25th, and the results will be announced by December 3rd. The new reps will officially start their role in January 2026.

Disclaimer: If you get nominated, please don’t feel like you have to say yes. The polls will only include the names of the people who respond positively to a nomination. So feel free to reply with a “Thank you, but no, thank you.”

If you require supplemental information, please feel free to ask in the comments — we will be happy to reply. Please also include your opinion on the “two vs. four team reps” proposal.

#team-reps

Crixu 05:38 on 2025-04-16
Tags:   

WordPress 6.8 Server Compatibility

It’s that time again, folks! Here are 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’s recommendations for WordPress 6.8! For more context, feel free to check out the team’s previous posts highlighting recommendations for WordPress 6.7, WordPress 6.6, WordPress 6.5, WordPress 6.4, and WordPress 6.3. For each new version of WordPress, the Hosting Team aims to release 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, and offer recommendations for that specific WP version.

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 6.8.

Hosting Team Recommendation

The Hosting Team recommends Hosts use the following minimum versions for streamlined compatibility with WordPress 6.8: (note: these may differ from the global recommendations).

  • PHP: 8.2.x, 8.3.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 team reviewed a variety of configurations and options, and concluded these are the best ones!

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 6.8 requirements:

  • PHP: 7.2.25+
  • MySQL: 5.5.5+
  • MariaDB: 5.5.5+

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

WordPress’ compatibility “at the time”

WordPress 6.8 (released on April 15, 2025) has the following components available (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. only for informational purposes):

  • PHP: 8.1 (Security Support), 8.2 (Active Support), 8.3 (Active Support), and 8.4 (Candidate Support).
  • MySQL: 8.0 (LTS), 8.4 (LTS), and 9.1.
  • MariaDB: 10.5 (LTS), 10.6 (LTS), 10.11 (LTS), 11.4 (LTS), and 11.5.
  • 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, and 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. 1.7x , 1.8x

NOTE: PHP has extended the Security Support one extra year for (PHP 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, and 8.4) and new PHP versions.

Please read more at: WordPress Compatibility.

WordPress and PHP

PHP is the main programming language on which WordPress code is based. This language runs on the web 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., and because of that it is critical to keep PHP software up to date on the server, both for security and functionality.

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

WordPress 6.8 (coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Team builds WordPress.) is:

  • fully compatible with PHP 7.2 (1), 7.3 (1), 7.4 (1), 8.0(1), 8.1, and 8.2.
  • beta compatible with 8.3 and 8.4.

(1) SECURITY ALERT: Some older versions of PHP are no longer officially maintained by PHP, and are considered insecure and obsolete versions that should not be used in production. Users should check with your hosting provider about the security maintenance they can do if you’re running an older version of PHP on your server.

Looking for all the WordPress development tickets related to PHP? Take a look at this Trac PHP Search.

What does “beta” mean?

Beta support means that WordPress Core is working towards full compatibility with that PHP version, but there may still be some issues that are in the process of being resolved. Below are tickets outlining known issues regarding beta support for PHP 8.3 and 8.4. More on when a PHP version goes from beta to fully supported is documented by the core team.

PHP 8.3

  • Deprecation notices. A deprecation notice is not an error, but rather an indicator of where additional work is needed for compatibility before using future versions, like PHP 9.0. With a deprecation notice, the PHP code will continue to work and nothing is broken.
  • #59231: Prepare for PHP 8.3.. NOTE: Closed/Fixed
  • #59232: Introduce #[Override] attribute to mark overloaded methods This attribute helps prevent coding errors by making it clear when a method is overloaded. It also assists with refactoring, debugging, and catching potential breaking changes in the parent class. NOTE: Has a patch, but moved to Future Release.
  • #59233: Improve error handling for unserialize(). maybe_unserialize() function could still be confronted by data with trailing bytes. NOTE: Moved to Future Release.

PHP 8.4

  • Deprecation notices. A deprecation notice is not an error, but rather an indicator of where additional work is needed for compatibility before PHP 9.0. With a deprecation notice, the PHP code will continue to work and nothing is broken.
  • #62061: Prepare for PHP 8.4.. NOTE: Closed/Fixed

Other related tickets

PHP

Upgrading WordPress

Do you have a version earlier than WordPress 6.8? 

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 6.8.

Anything else? Feel free to comment below!

#core, #php, #hosting

Crixu 14:38 on 2025-09-03
Tags: Hosting Survey   

Take the 2025 WordPress Hosting Survey

Web 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. plays a critical role in how people experience WordPress. Everything from performance and stability to security and upgrades is shaped by a site’s host. Many hosts also customize the WordPress experience with their own onboarding, features, and default settings.

As the web evolves, 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. continues to shape the way people use WordPress. The 2025 Hosting Survey is an opportunity for providers to share their WordPress setup and practices in a collaborative and transparent way.

The last survey was run in 2023. Starting this year, it will be conducted annually to provide an up-to-date picture of the state of WordPress hosting and how it is changing over time.

The survey asks about a range of topics, including:

  • Company background (size, founding year)
  • Technology stack (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 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. versions, cachingCache A cache is a component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere., performance tools)
  • Security practices (backupsBackup A backup is a copy of computer data taken and stored elsewhere so that it may be used to restore the original after a data loss event. Backups can be used to recover data after its loss from data deletion or corruption, or to recover data from an earlier time. Backups provide a simple form of disaster recovery., vulnerability scanning, incident response)
  • WordPress experience (installer defaults, upgrades, onboarding, bundled plugins)
  • Support and reliability (support channels, response times, SLAs, uptime guarantees)
  • Ecommerce and advanced features (staging environments, payment integrations, customizations)

New this year: the results will be published in a full report, which will include the raw survey data, trends, and insights. Responses also inform updates to 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/ hosting recommendations, helping ensure they reflect the current state of the ecosystem. 

We invite all WordPress hosting providers, large and small, to participate. The more hosts that take part, the more complete and representative the report will be. This is a chance for the hosting community to work together toward a clearer understanding of how WordPress is being used today.

Take the 2025 WordPress Hosting Survey

If you prefer, you can also submit a spreadsheet instead; please make a copy of the survey template, and once your responses have been recorded, export and upload your submission.

The survey will remain open until October 15, 2025.

#hosting-survey
Amy Kamala 01:13 on 2025-08-20
Tags: , , wcus-2025,   

WordCamp US 2025 Contributor Day

It’s time for 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 2025! This year WCUS is in Portland, Oregon, USA on August 26-29, 2025, and 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 so 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 the 26th! Contributor Day is an all day event kicking off the WordCamp conference, where contributors brainstorm ideas and collaborate on team projects to support 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. Folks can register to attend Contributor Day using this form.

At this year’s WCUS Contributor Day, the Hosting Team is honing in on PHPUnit testing software and Hosting Handbook improvements. Everyone is invited, whether you’re a new or seasoned contributor, here for a good time or a long time, are a software engineer or work in another arena: your contributions are welcome and valued!

Schedule

Here is the general schedule for WCUS 2025, with Contributor Day on Tuesday, August 26th, 2025. The Hosting Team Contributor Day schedule will be as follows:

  • 08:00 Registration
  • 09:00 Opening & welcome
  • 09:30 Quick introductions
  • 10:00 Start contributing!
  • 11:45 Group photo
  • 12:00 Lunch break
  • 13:00 Back to contributing
  • 16:00 Wrap-up & team summaries

How to Participate

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 8:30 am pst. If you’ve never contributed to WordPress, don’t worry, table leads can help you get started!

Join Remotely:

Can’t make it in person? No problem! Remote contributors are invited to join on Tuesday, August 26th, 2025, at 1600 UTC in the #hosting Slack channel. To let us know you’ve joined remotely, drop a comment on this WCUS 2025 Contributor Day Check In GitHub issue. Feel free to share if you are being sponsored or participate in the Five for the Future program, too!

Team Projects and Initiatives

This year, @Zunaid Amin (@zunaid321) and @jessibelle (@jessibelle) will be leading the Contributor Day Hosting table in person, and amykamala (@amykamala) remotely.

The team will be working on:

  • WordPress Distributed Hosting Test Software Improvements
  • Hosting Handbook Updates
  • Advanced Administration Handbook Updates

WordPress Distributed Hosting Test Software Improvements

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 Host Test Results are shared here.

The goal for this on Contributor Day is to make progress on testing software development; snag tickets, dig in on tooling improvements, and push, open, review, test and merge pull requests. The tickets 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. Tickets to work on the handbooks are available here:

Anyone that speaks basic English can contribute to the Handbooks!

Workflow Protocols

To work on open tickets

1) Fork the repositories you wish to work on

2) Assign the issue to yourself in GitHub, and

3) Name your branch with the issue number, your name, and a ‘WCUS25’ prefix.

For example, if I want to work on Hosting Handbook issue #293, I’ll first hit the ‘assign yourself’ button on the upper right of the issue, make a new fork of the repo or sync my existing fork, git clone onto my local dev environment or git pull into main if there was anything to sync, and checkout a new branch from main with the name ‘WCUS25-293-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 @zunaid, @Jessfrick, @kittenkamala, @crixu, or @Chaion07.

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 and a mention of WCUS CD 2025.

Testing and Merges

All 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 2025.

See You There!

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

Please join us at WCUS 2025 Contributor Day On August 26th, 2025 to make WordPress hosting even better!

Can’t wait to see you there!

Thank you to @zunaid321 and @jessibelle for reviewing this post!

#wordcamp, #wcus, #wcus-2025

Crixu 09:03 on 2025-06-25  

RFC: Automated Hosting Test Runner Service

Summary

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 has received feedback that the current process for running hosting tests is cumbersome and requires significant setup beyond simply providing hosting space. This RFC proposes the development of a service that simplifies and automates the process of preparing and executing the hosting tests.

Problem

Currently, contributors and hosting providers who want to run the hosting tests must:

  • Manually clone and configure the test suite
  • Set up the proper environment
  • Understand all dependencies and edge cases
  • Execute and interpret the results themselves

This level of complexity creates a barrier for participation, especially for smaller hosts or non-technical contributors.

Proposed Solution

Create an automated service that prepares and runs the hosting test suite on behalf of the user. The workflow would be as follows:

  1. User Input:
    • SFTPSFTP The SSH File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) is a network protocol that provides file access, file transfer, and file management over any reliable data stream. Like FTP, but under a secure protocol./SSHSSH SSH or Secure Shell is a cryptographic network protocol for operating network services securely over an unsecured network. SSH provides a secure channel over an unsecured network by using a client–server architecture, connecting an SSH client application with an SSH server. credentials
    • 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. credentials (host, name, user, password)
    • 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/ username and app password/token
  2. Response:
    • The service returns a public SSH key to be added to the user’s hosting environment
  3. Execution:
    • Once the public key is in place, the service connects to the hosting environment
    • Prepares the test suite
    • Moves all the required files to the host
    • Executes the tests
    • Sends the result to make.wordpress.org

Security Considerations

  • All credentials must be securely transmitted and stored (if at all)
  • The public key approach ensures that credentials are not reused or stored long-term
  • A unique key-pair per session can further isolate the testing instance
  • Connections should be limited to specific IP addresses and short-lived

Benefits

  • Lower barrier to entry: Users do not need to understand the full setup process
  • Consistency: Every test runs in a standard, validated environment
  • Scalability: Easier onboarding of new contributors and hosts
  • Insights: Results can be aggregated to better understand trends and common issues

Next Steps

  1. Discuss and approve the general concept
  2. Create a prototype of the service
  3. Review and iterate based on initial testing
  4. Plan deployment and documentation for broader use

Request for Feedback

The Hosting Team would appreciate feedback on the following, especially from those hosts who raised concerns about the current setup:

  • Is this the right approach to lowering the barrier?
  • Are there any privacy or security concerns that must be addressed?
  • Would hosts be willing to test this service in an early access phase?

Thanks to @zunaid321 @amykamala @wesrapyd for the review