Hi there,
Welcome to our last edition for the year 2025. I am not ready to reflect on the whole year, however, I am excited for 2026. There will be many new features coming to WordPress with the three major releases and also plenty of bug fixes and quality-of-life enhancement towards consistency.
The first edition for 2026 will have to wait a bit and it is scheduled for January 24, 2026, roughly a month from now, due to my vacation and training schedule.
I wish you and yours wonderful Holidays and a happy, prosperous and healthy New Year! 
Yours, 
Birgit
Steve Burge and Dan Knauss interviewed me for the PublishPress podcast. We covered WordPress 6.9’s six new blocks (accordion, term query, time to read, math, comment count, and comment link) plus editorial notes for team collaboration. The release marks a restart after Automattic’s contribution pause.
WordPress 7.0 ( April 9, 2025) will bring template management improvements and a tabs block. The AI team is building foundational infrastructure—Abilities API, MCP Adapter, PHP AI SDK, and experiments plugin—enabling plugins to integrate with AI assistants. Real-time collaborative editing remains in development, facing technical hosting challenges. The recording is available on YouTube.
Roadmap WordPress 7.0 and two more releases in 2026
In his lates post, Matias Ventura, lead architect of Gutenberg, laid out the plan for WordPress 7.0. It’s aspirational and not all the items will make it into the next major version of WordPress. The very detailed plan covers the project’s shift into Phase 3: Collaboration, a vision for real-time co-editing, and enhanced communication through site notes. Ventura underscores the modernization of the administrative experience via a unified design system and expanded DataViews. By integrating a standardized AI API and advancing responsive editing tools, WordPress 7.0 aims to unify the design and development process. Ultimately, the release promises to deliver a more cohesive and performant platform through refined navigation and versatile new core blocks. Here are the broad topics of the plan.
Jonathan Desrosiers also published the proposed schedule of the 2026 releases. Following the schedule, we have two more dates to put on our calendars: Beta 1 for WordPress 7.0 will be on February 19, and RC 1 is scheduled for March 19, 2026.
Provided the Release squad approves this schedule. I also can offer a timeline for the WordPress 7.0 Source of Truth: First draft will be available for public preview on February 26, 2026, and the post will be published on March 26, 2026.
The latest episode is Gutenberg Changelog #125 – WordPress 6.9, Gutenberg 22.1 and Gutenberg 22.2 with JC Palmes, WebDev Studios
Gutenberg 22.3 and beyond
Hector Prieto led the release of Gutenberg 22.3 (December 17). In his release post he highlighted:
- Dedicated Fonts page for easier typography management
- Image editing improvements
- Responsive Grid block
- Other highlights
Dave Smith, core conditrbutor on the GGutenbergProject explains in his video
The changes leveling up Navigation in WordPress 7.0,He wrote in tthedescription: “Navigation is one of the most important — and most frustrating — parts of building a WordPress site.In this video, I walk you through what’s changing, why it matters, and show the real work already underway — including early prototypes and demos.” Check it out.
Plugins and Tools for #nocode site builders
Jamie Marsland is at it again with short videos and teaching you new skills. In his latest video “How to Create a High-Converting Landing Page With WordPress (Free Blueprint)” he gives you step -y -tep instructions for an easy way to create high-converting WordPress landing pages using only core blocks. He built a distraction-free landing page based on the StoryBrand methodology, so each section has a clear purpose and guides visitors through a simple story as they scroll.
Sarah Perez, consumer tech editor at TechCrunch, reported that “WordPress’s vibe-coding experiment, Telex, is now being used” and it features Automattic’s AI tool for natural language web development. Introduced at the “State of the Word” event, Telex allows users to create complex Gutenberg blocks, like pricing calculators and logo carousels, without coding. Perez highlights how “vibe coding” makes site building accessible for non-tech users, enabling them to create professional results. With the new Abilities API, Telex marks WordPress’s move toward AI-driven workflows that streamline the design process.
Courtney Robertson Developer advocate at GoDaddy released the plugin Post Formats for Block Themes, which brings back old-school post formats to modern WordPress block themes. It restores useful features for galleries, quotes, and videos often missing in newer themes. You’ll find smart auto-detection, unique block patterns for each format, and a handy Chat Log block for easy transcripts. By combining these classic tools with today’s full-site editing, this plugin helps creators maintain a great design and add variety in a simple and accessible way.
Valentin Grenier, a WordPress developer from Toulouse, France, just dropped his first plugin: Simple block animations. It’s a cool, lightweight tool for adding some fun scroll-triggered visual effects to your Gutenberg blocks without needing to mess with any custom code. You get five different animation types, like fades and slides,, thatyou can tweak with durations and delays. Built using the Intersection Observer API and good old native CSS, it keeps things running smoothly by loading assets only when they’re needed while also being mindful of motion preferences to make it accessible.
What’s new in WordPress Playground
Felyph Centra posted a few video on WordPressTV to showcase various features of WordPress Playground
Previewing GitHub branches with WordPress Playground. This video demonstrates a method to streamline development reviews. This technique addresses the common pain point of needing complex local environments or relying on static screenshots to share work in progress.
Introduction to WordPress Playground landing page. The new landing page explains the capabilities of the platform and what is possible with WordPress Playground.
Using WordPress Playground to work with AI agents. Centra shared how you can use the WordPress Playground to integrate with AI agents. with an example that uses GitHub Copilot agents. Using this flow it executes small tasks for a plugin, such as refactoring code or updating documentation. WordPress Playground can serve as a base to validate the AI agent’s code changes using E2E tests.
In the post Action required: github-proxy.com shutdown Centra lays out the migration to switch over from a third-party proxy server to Playground’s built -n CORS handling. Your existing blueprints are safe, though. If you worked with Blueprints you can also learn how to reference GitHub repos, folders and files with native Playground resources.
Building Blocks and Tools for the Block editor
In this week’s livestream JuanMa Garrido explored how to create commands for the Commands Palette. WordPress 6.9 brought the Command Palette to the whole WordPress space and not just restrict it to the Site Editor. Now all plugin developer can register commands together with their plugin’s features.
Justin Tadlock published the monthly roundup on What’s new for developers? (December 2025), noting WordPress 6.9 “Gene” and pointing to the 6.9 Field Guide and State of the Word. Highlights include the new AI Experiments plugin, Breadcrumbs block improvements heading toward stability, and an experimental Tabs block. Tooling updates cover WPCS 3.3.0, Data Views/Forms and Field API enhancements, @wordpress/boot routing, and a visibility key rename. Themes and Playground also saw notable updates.
Ryan Welcher shot a video What’s New For WordPress Developers – December 2025, covering the parts of the blog post.
As a reader of this newsletter you might already know about WordPress Studio, the fast, free, open-source local development tool, that’s based on WordPress Playground. Nick Diego recorded a Getting Started with WordPress Studio video and walks you through creating local sites, configuring your environment, and using the tools that come bundled with the app. You’ll also learn how to unlock advanced features with a free WordPress.com account, including syncing with WordPress.com and Pressable, sharing live preview links, and using the built-in AI Assistant to accelerate development. Whether you build plugins, create themes, or manage client projects, Studio helps you work faster and smarter.
In her post, Build Custom Event Lists & Grids With One Block: Event Query Loop Block Ultimate Guide, Lesley Sim shared a comprehensive tutorial for managing EventKoi’s specialized query block within WordPress. The post details how to create custom list and grid layouts using various query parameters, such as date ranges and recurring event instances, without any coding. By explaining the block’s internal structure and the flexible Event Data block, Sim illustrates how users can achieve precise design control and dynamic content display.
In his latest post for the WordPress Developer Blog, Word Switcher: Extending Core Blocks with Interactivity, JuanMa Garrido provides a practical guide for beginners on enhancing standard WordPress blocks using native tools. Garrido demonstrates how to combine the Format API for editor controls, the HTML API for server-side processing, and the Interactivity API for frontend animations. Developers learn to create a “word switcher” effect that cycles through text variations without relying on heavy external libraries. This approach ensures a lightweight, performant, and professional workflow that bridges the gap between simple content entry and modern, reactive web design.
Questions? Suggestions? Ideas?
Don’t hesitate to send them via email or
send me a message on WordPress Slack or Twitter @bph.
For questions to be answered on the Gutenberg Changelog,
send them to changelog@gutenbergtimes.com
