wordpress has announce the official formation of the WordPress 6.9 Release Squad, following a call for enthusiastic volunteers and contributors
Release Leadership & Team Structure
- Release Lead: Matt Mullenweg
- Release Coordination: Akshaya Rane, Amy Kamala
- Technical Leads: David Baumwald, Ella van Durpe, Héctor Prieto
- Design Lead: Francisco Vera
- Triage Leads: Aki Hamano, Ryan Welcher
- Testing Leads: Jonathan Bossenger and Krupa Nanda
This carefully curated lineup embodies expertise across essential domains: leadership, development, design, issue management, and quality assurance.
A Lean & Collaborative Approach
Continuing the streamlined structure introduced in recent release cycles, WordPress 6.9 emphasizes focused collaboration with Make Team representatives. This model helps reduce squad overhead while preserving broad visibility and inclusion of each team’s contributions and priorities.
For this cycle, Marketing Communications responsibilities have been merged with Release Coordination-another step toward optimizing team structure and accountability
Although volunteer interest far exceeded available roles, each submission was valued highly. Contributors not selected for the squad remain crucial to the release process through avenues such as testing, documentation, bug scrubs, and triage-every contribution plays a role in moving WordPress forward
How to Stay Involved
- Attend Weekly Developer Meetings: Every Wednesday at 15:00 UTC via Slack in the #core channel
- Engage in Bug Scrubs & Triage: Test, report, review, and verify issues alongside core contributors.
- Contribute Documentation: Help write clear release documentation, dev notes, and guides.
- Submit & Test Patches: Whether you’re new or seasoned, there’s always something you can do-look for tickets tagged “good first bugs” to jump in quickly.
Expanded Context: The Bigger Picture of WordPress 6.9
To add depth to your blog post (assuming you’d like to go beyond the team announcement), here are several key themes and insights shaping the 6.9 release cycle:
1. Scheduled Release Timeline
WordPress 6.9 is poised to be the final major release of 2025, with the official release date set for December 2, 2025
- Alpha: Began March 25, 2025
- Beta 1: October 21, 2025
- Release Candidate 1: November 11, 2025
- Release Candidate 2: November 18, 2025
- Release Candidate 3: November 25, 2025
- Final Release (6.9): December 2, 2025
This phased schedule offers contributors ample opportunity to test, refine, and document before general availability.
2. Roadmap & Feature Highlights
The emerging roadmap authored by Anne McCarthy and discussed by community members focuses on five key areas
- Evolved Site Editing: Simplified content-focused editing mode, improved template management (e.g., multiple templates per slug, drafts, and preservation across theme changes), and non-destructive block hiding features.
- Enhanced Content Creation Tools: Improved block interactions, keyboard navigation, and new block-level commenting-enabling precise, in-context feedback and collaborative workflows.
- Universal Command Palette: Now accessible throughout the WordPress experience overarching across all admin screens-and foundational for future AI-powered enhancements.
- Developer-Facing APIs & Improvements:
- Abilities API: A unified registry enabling external tools and AI systems to access functionality.
- Enhancements to the Interactivity API, Block Bindings, HTML API, and updates to DataViews/DataForm, including richer filter and field functionality.
- Performance Improvements: Introduction of bfcache (back/forward cache) for logged-in users, optimised stylesheet handling, fetch priority management, style inlining, and unified output buffering all aimed at faster navigation and smoother user experience
Additionally, WordPress has integrated experimental previews of future admin innovations like the modular admin refresh, the MCP Adapter, and a PHP AI Client SDK—as optional features paving the way for what’s next
3. The Road to 6.9: A Revived Effort
WordPress 6.9’s development nearly stalled in early 2025. Initially omitted from the release calendar due to contributor capacity challenges, legal matters, and project leadership dynamics, the release was ultimately revived by community pressure and renewed collaboration among core committers.
As a result, 6.9 not only demonstrates resilience but also a commitment to refinement, inclusion, and strategic impact as the year draws to a close.
Suggested Blogging Structure
If you’d like to craft a polished blog post around this announcement, here’s a refined structure:
Title
“Crafting WordPress 6.9: A Focused Release Squad and What Lies Ahead”
Opening
Introduce the formation of the 6.9 Release Squad, highlighting its purpose and central leadership.
Core Team Breakdown
Detail each role leadership, coordination, technical, design, triage, testing and explain why a lean, focused squad is beneficial.
Community Engagement
Explain how others can contribute throughout the cycle with testing, documentation, and shadowing roles.
Release Timeline Snapshot
Visual or bullet list of key dates from Alpha (March 2025) to final release (December 2, 2025).
Feature Vision
Summarized roadmap with key user-centric improvements: easier editing, block commenting, command palette, developer APIs, and performance boosts.
Why It Matters
Contextualize how 6.9 almost didn’t happen what the revival signals about WordPress’ community governance and priorities.
Conclusion
Celebrate the collaborative spirit driving 6.9, invite readers to contribute, and encourage anticipation for a more polished, intuitive WordPress experience.
