Wordpress Release Notes

The second Release Candidate (“RC2”) for WordPress 6.9 is ready for download and testing!

This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site.

Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.9 is the best it can be.

You can test WordPress 6.9 RC2 in four ways:

Plugin
Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).

Direct Download
Download the RC2 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.

Command Line
Use the following WP-CLI command:

wp core update --version=6.9-RC2

WordPress Playground
Use the 6.9 RC2 WordPress Playground instance to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup.

The scheduled final release date for WordPress 6.9 is December 2, 2025. The full release schedule can be found here. Your help testing RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible.
Please continue checking the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.9-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.

What’s in WordPress 6.9 RC2?
Get a recap of WordPress 6.9’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC1, you can browse the following links:

• GitHub commits for 6.9 since November 11
• Closed Trac tickets since November 11

Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? These recent posts cover some of the latest updates:

• Notes Feature in 6.9
• Abilities API in WordPress 6.9
• WordPress 6.9 Frontend Performance Field Guide
• Interactivity API’s client navigation improvements in WordPress 6.9
• Block Bindings improvements in WordPress 6.9
• Changes to the Interactivity API in WordPress 6.9
• Consistent Cache Keys for Query Groups in WordPress 6.9
• DataViews, DataForm, et al. in WordPress 6.9
• Preparing the Post Editor for Full iframe Integration
• Theme.json Border Radius Presets Support in WordPress 6.9
• Heading Block CSS Specificity Fix in WordPress 6.9
• Miscellaneous Developer-focused Changes in 6.9
• Modernizing UTF-8 support in WordPress 6.9

How you can contribute

WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.

Get involved in testing

Testing for issues is crucial to the development of any software. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute.
Your help testing the WordPress 6.9 RC2 version is key to ensuring that the final release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.9. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.

Update your theme or plugin

For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.9 beta releases. If you haven’t yet, make sure to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.9.
If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.

Test on your hosting platforms

Web hosts provide vital infrastructure for supporting WordPress and its users. Testing on hosting systems helps inform the development process while ensuring that WordPress and hosting platforms are fully compatible, free of errors, optimized for the best possible user experience, and that updates roll out to customer sites without issue.
Want to test WordPress on your hosting system? Get started with configuring distributed hosting tests here.

Help translate WordPress

Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本語? हिन्दी? বাংলা? मराठी? ಕನ್ನಡ? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages. This release milestone (RC2) also marks the hard string freeze point of the 6.9 release cycle.

An RC2 haiku
A calm hillside sighs,
Work of many now complete —
RC2 stays true.

Props to @amykamala, @annezazu, @davidbaumwald, @westonruter, and @joedolson for proofreading and review.

Original source Report a problem

WordPress 6.9 RC1 Release

The first Release Candidate (“RC1”) for WordPress 6.9 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is still under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended to evaluate RC1 on a test server and site.
WordPress 6.9 RC1 can be tested using any of the following methods:

• Plugin
  • Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.)
• Direct Download
  • Download the RC1 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
• Command Line
  • Use this WP-CLI command:

    wp core update --version=6.9-RC1
    

• WordPress Playground
  • Use the 6.9 RC1 WordPress Playground instance to test the software directly in your browser. No setup is required – just click and go!

The scheduled final release date for WordPress 6.9 is December 2, 2025. The full release schedule can be found here. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible.
Please continue checking the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.9-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.

What’s in WordPress 6.9 RC1?

Check out the Beta 1 announcement for details on WordPress 6.9.
You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 4 using these links:

• Gutenberg commits for 6.9 since November 7, 2025
• Core commits for 6.9 since November 7, 2025
• Closed Trac tickets since November 7, 2025

Want to know more about this release? Here are some highlights:

• Site Editor improvements and Refined content creation
  • Ability to hide blocks
  • New blocks
  • Notes on blocks
  • Universal command palette in wp-admin
• Developer updates
  • Updates to dataviews and dataforms components
  • New abilities API
  • Updates to interactivity API
  • Updates to block binding API
• Performance Improvements
  • Improved script and style handling
  • Optimized queries and caching
  • Added ability to handle “fetchpriority” in ES Modules and Import Maps
  • Standardizing output buffering

The final release is on track for December 2nd. As always, a successful release depends on your confirmation during testing. So please download and test!

How you can contribute

WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.

Get involved in testing

Testing for issues is crucial to the development of any software. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute.
Your help testing the WordPress 6.9 RC1 version is key to ensuring that the final release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.9.

• Calls for testing
  • Thank you to everyone who helps test the following enhancements and bug fixes:
    • Accordion Block
    • Ability to Hide Blocks
    • Classic themes loading block styles on demand
    • Modified notes notifications
    • Abilities API

If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums, or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Thank you to everyone who helps with testing!

Update your theme or plugin

For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.9 beta releases. With RC1, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.9.
If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.

Test on your hosting platforms

Web hosts provide vital infrastructure for supporting WordPress and its users. Testing on hosting systems helps inform the development process while ensuring that WordPress and hosting platforms are fully compatible, free of errors, optimized for the best possible user experience, and that updates roll out to customer sites without issue.
Want to test WordPress on your hosting system? Get started with configuring distributed hosting tests here. Thank you to all web hosts who help test WordPress!
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.

An RC1 haiku

As the sun rises ,
RC1 breaks its cocoon
and emerges strong.

Props to @akshayar , @davidbaumwald , @jeffpaul , @desrosj , @westonruter , @ellatrix , @priethor , @krupajnanda and @cbravobernal for proofreading and review.

Original source Report a problem

WordPress 6.9 Beta 3 is available for download and testing!

This beta version of the WordPress software is still under development. Please don’t install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, you can evaluate Beta 3 on a test server and site.

WordPress 6.9 Beta 3 can be tested using any of the following methods:

• Plugin
  Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.)
• Direct Download
  Download the Beta 3 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
• Command Line
  Use this WP-CLI command:

  wp core update --version=6.9-beta3
  

• WordPress Playground
  Use the 6.9 Beta 3 WordPress Playground instance to test the software directly in your browser. No setup is required – just click and go!

The final release of WordPress 6.9 is scheduled for December 2, 2025, and the release schedule can be found here. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible. Thank you to everyone who helps with testing!
Please continue checking the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.9-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.
Find out what’s new in WordPress 6.9: Read the Beta 1 announcement for details and highlights.

How to test this release

Your help testing the WordPress 6.9 Beta 3 version is key to ensuring that everything in the release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally as important. This detailed guide provides a walk through on testing features in WordPress 6.9.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums, or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.

Beta 3 updates and highlights

WordPress 6.9 Beta 3 contains more than 80 updates and fixes since the Beta 2 release.
Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes, and more are on the way with your testing! You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 2 using these links:

• Gutenberg commits for 6.9 since October 28, 2025
• Closed Core Trac tickets for 6.9 since October 28, 2025
• Comparing commit changes in Core for 6.9 since October 28, 2025

A Beta 3 haiku

Code is poetry,
and poetry is magic.
So code is magic.
Props to @akshayar, @jeffpaul, @krupajnanda, @mosescursor, and @westonruter for proofreading and review.

Original source Report a problem

WordPress 6.9 Beta 2 is now ready for testing!

This beta version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, you should evaluate Beta 2 on a test server and site.

You can test WordPress 6.9 Beta 2 in any of the following ways:

• Plugin: Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.)
• Direct Download: Download the Beta 2 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.
• Command Line: Use this WP-CLI command: wp core update --version=6.9-beta2
• WordPress Playground: Use the 6.9 Beta 2 WordPress Playground instance to test the software directly in your browser. No setup is required–just click and go!

The scheduled final release date for WordPress 6.9 is December 2, 2025. The full release schedule can be found here. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible. Do check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.9-related posts in the coming weeks for more information. Thank you to everyone who contributes by testing!

Catch up on what’s new in WordPress 6.9: Read the Beta 1 announcement for details and highlights.

How to test this release

Your help testing the WordPress 6.9 Beta 2 version is key to ensuring everything in the release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.9.

If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.

Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.

Beta 2 updates and highlights

WordPress 6.9 Beta 2 contains more than 33 Editor updates and fixes since the Beta 1 release, including 28 tickets for WordPress core.

Each beta cycle focuses on bug fixes; more are on the way with your help through testing. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 1 using these links:

• GitHub commits for 6.9 since October 21, 2025
• Closed Trac tickets since October 21, 2025

A Beta 2 haiku

Morning dew returns,
Small fixes bloom in silence—
Code finds its balance.

Props to @davidbaumwald, @wildworks, @krupajnanda & @mosescursor for proofreading and review.

Original source Report a problem

WordPress 6.8.3 is now available!
This is a security release that features two fixes.
Because this is a security release, it is recommended that you update your sites immediately.
You can download WordPress 6.8.3 from WordPress.org, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click "Updates", and then click "Update Now". If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.
The next major release will be version 6.9, which is planned for December 2nd, 2025.
For more information on WordPress 6.8.3, please visit the version page on the HelpHub site.

Security updates included in this release

The security team would like to thank the following people for responsibly reporting vulnerabilities, and allowing them to be fixed in this release:

• A data exposure issue where authenticated users could access some restricted content. Independently reported by Mike Nelson, Abu Hurayra, Timothy Jacobs, and Peter Wilson.
• A cross-site scripting (XSS) vulnerability requiring an authenticated user role that affects the nav menus. Reported by Phill Savage.
  As a courtesy, these fixes have also been made available to all branches eligible to receive security fixes (currently through 4.7). As a reminder, only the most recent version of WordPress is actively supported.

Thank you to these WordPress contributors

This release was led by John Blackbourn.
In addition to the security researchers and release squad members mentioned above, WordPress 6.8.3 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people:
Aaron Jorbin, Abu Hurayra, Adam Zieliński, Alex Concha, Andrei Draganescu, David Baumwald, Ehtisham Siddiqui, Ian Dunn, Jake Spurlock, Jb Audras, Joe Hoyle, John Blackbourn, Jon Surrell, Jonathan Desrosiers, Michael Nelson, Peter Wilson, Phill, Robert Anderson, Ryan McCue, Scott Reilly, Timothy Jacobs, vortfu, Weston Ruter

How to contribute

To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, pick a ticket, and join the conversation in the #core Slack channel. Need help? Check out the Core Contributor Handbook.
Props to Ehtisham Siddiqui, John Blackbourn, Paul Kevan, Jonathan Desrosiers, Aaron Jorbin, Weston Ruter for reviewing.

Original source Report a problem

WordPress 6.8.2 is now available!

This minor release includes fixes for 20 Core tickets and 15 Block Editor issues. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the release candidate announcement.
WordPress 6.8.2 is a short-cycle maintenance release. More maintenance releases may be made available throughout 2025.
If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.
You can download WordPress 6.8.2 from WordPress.org, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click "Updates", and then click "Update Now". For more information on this release, please visit the HelpHub version page.

Dropping security updates for WordPress versions 4.1 through 4.6

This is not directly related to the 6.8.2 maintenance release, but branches 4.1 to 4.6 had their final release today. These branches won’t receive any security update anymore.

Thank you to these WordPress contributors

WordPress 6.8.2 was led by Jb Audras, Estela Rueda, and Zunaid Amin.
Special thanks to @davidbaumwald, @sergeybiryukov, @mamaduka, @wildworks and @jorbin for their help on specific release tasks.
WordPress 6.8.2 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following 96 people. Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.

How to contribute

To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, pick a ticket, and join the conversation on Slack, in the #core and #6-8-release-leads channels. Need help? Check out the Core Contributor Handbook.
Thanks to @estelaris and @zunaid321 for proofreading.

Original source Report a problem

WordPress 6.8.1 is now available!
This minor release includes fixes for 15 bugs throughout Core and the Block Editor addressing issues affecting multiple areas of WordPress including the block editor, multisite, and REST API. For a full list of bug fixes, please refer to the release candidate announcement.

WordPress 6.8.1 is a short-cycle maintenance release. More maintenance releases will be made available throughout 2025.

If you have sites that support automatic background updates, the update process will begin automatically.

You can download WordPress 6.8.1 from WordPress.org, or visit your WordPress Dashboard, click "Updates", and then click "Update Now". For more information on this release, please visit the HelpHub site.

Thank you to these WordPress contributors
This release was led by Aaron Jorbin.

WordPress 6.8.1 would not have been possible without the contributions of the following people. Their asynchronous coordination to deliver maintenance fixes into a stable release is a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress community.

Aaron Jorbin, Adam Silverstein, Aki Hamano, Ankit Panchal, bernhard-reiter, Carolina Nymark, Code Amp, Daniel Richards, David Baumwald, David Levine, Dilip Bheda, Dion Hulse, dsawyers, eduwass, Erick Hitter, Estela Rueda, Fabian Kägy, George Mamadashvili, Greg Ziółkowski, H. Kabir, hideishi, Himanshu Pathak, jarekmorawski, Jb Audras, Jeffrey Paul, Jeffro, Jeremy Felt, Joe Dolson, Joe McGill, Joen A., John James Jacoby, Jonathan Desrosiers, Jonny Harris, Joshua Goode, Karthikeya Bethu, Kingsley Felix, Konstantin Obenland, Lena Morita, LilGames, megane9988, Michelle Schulp Hunt, Mitchell Austin, Mukesh Panchal, nickwilmot, Nikunj Hatkar, Pascal Birchler, Paul Biron, Peter Wilson, Pratik Londhe, Presskopp, Sainath Poojary, Scott Kingsley Clark, Scott Reilly, Sergey Biryukov, SirLouen, Sören Wünsch, Sourav Pahwa, Stephen Bernhardt, takuword, Tushar Patel, Weston Ruter, Yogesh Bhutkar

How to contribute

To get involved in WordPress core development, head over to Trac, pick a ticket, and join the conversation in the #core and #6-8-release-leads channels. Need help? Check out the Core Contributor Handbook.

Props to @estelaris and @joedolson for proofreading.

Original source Report a problem

Welcome to WordPress 6.8!

WordPress 6.8 polishes and refines the tools that you use every day, making your site faster, more secure, and easier to manage. The Style Book now has a structured layout and works with Classic themes, giving you more control over global styles. Speculative loading speeds up navigation by preloading links before users navigate to them, bcrypt hashing strengthens password security automatically, and database optimizations improve performance.

Download WordPress 6.8 “Cecil”

A release polished to a high sheen.

The Style Book gets a cleaner look—and a few new tricks.

The Style Book has a new, structured layout and clearer labels, to make it even easier to edit colors, typography—almost all your site styles—in one place.
Plus, now you can see it in Classic themes that have editor-styles or a theme.json file. Find the Style Book under Appearance > Design and use it to preview your theme’s evolution, as you edit CSS or make changes in the Customizer.

Editor improvements

Easier ways to see your options in Data Views, and you can exclude sticky posts from the Query Loop. Plus, you’ll find lots of little improvements in the editor that smooth your way through everything you build.

Near-instant page loads, thanks to Speculative Loading

In WordPress 6.8, pages load faster than ever. When you or your user hovers over or clicks a link, WordPress may preload the next page, for a smoother, near-instant experience. The system balances speed and efficiency, and you can control how it works, with a plugin or your own code. This feature only works in modern browsers—older ones will simply ignore it without any impact.

Stronger password security with bcrypt

Now passwords are harder to crack with bcrypt hashing, which takes a lot more computing power to break. This strengthens overall security, as do other encryption improvements across WordPress. You don’t need to do anything—everything updates automatically.

Accessibility improvements

100+ accessibility fixes and enhancements touch a broad spectrum of the WordPress experience. This release includes fixes to every bundled theme, improvements to the navigation menu management, the customizer, and simplified labeling. The Block Editor has over 70 improvements to blocks, DataViews, and to its overall user experience.

Performance updates

WordPress 6.8 packs a wide range of performance fixes and enhancements to speed up everything from editing to browsing. Beyond speculative loading, WordPress 6.8 pays special attention to the block editor, block type registration, and query caching. Plus, imagine never waiting longer than 50 milliseconds—for any interaction. In WordPress 6.8, the Interactivity API takes a first step toward that goal.

And much more

For a comprehensive overview of all the new features and enhancements in WordPress 6.8, please visit the feature-showcase website.

Check out what’s new

Learn more about WordPress 6.8

Learn WordPress is a free resource for new and experienced WordPress users. Learn is stocked with how-to videos on using various features in WordPress, interactive workshops for exploring topics in-depth, and lesson plans for diving deep into specific areas of WordPress.
Read the WordPress 6.8 Release Notes for information on installation, enhancements, fixed issues, release contributors, learning resources, and the list of file changes.
Explore the WordPress 6.8 Field Guide. Learn about the changes in this release with detailed developer notes to help you build with WordPress.

The 6.8 release squad

Every release comes to you from a dedicated team of enthusiastic contributors who help keep things on track and moving smoothly. The team that has led 6.8 is a cross-functional group of contributors who are always ready to champion ideas, remove blockers, and resolve issues.

Thank you, contributors

Thank you, contributors
The mission of WordPress is to democratize publishing and embody the freedoms that come with open source. A global and diverse community of people collaborating to strengthen the software supports this effort.
WordPress 6.8 reflects the tireless efforts and passion of more than 900 contributors in more than 60 countries all over the world. This release also welcomed over 250 first-time contributors!
Their collaboration delivered more than 320 enhancements and fixes, ensuring a stable release for all—a testament to the power and capability of the WordPress open source community.

More than 60 locales have fully translated WordPress 6.8 into their language making this one of the most translated releases ever on day one. Community translators are working hard to ensure more translations are on their way. Thank you to everyone who helps make WordPress available in 200 languages.
Last but not least, thanks to the volunteers who contribute to the support forums by answering questions from WordPress users worldwide.

Get involved

Participation in WordPress goes far beyond coding. And learning more and getting involved is easy. Discover the teams that come together to Make WordPress and use this interactive tool to help you decide which is right for you.

Share this:

Original source Report a problem

The third release candidate (“RC3”) for WordPress 6.8 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC3 on a test server and site.
Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.8 is the best it can be.
You can test WordPress 6.8 RC3 in four ways:

• Plugin
  Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).

• Direct Download
  Download the RC3 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.

• Command Line
  Use the following WP-CLI command: wp core update --version=6.8-RC3

• WordPress Playground
  Use the 6.8 RC3 WordPress Playground instance (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup.

The current target for the WordPress 6.8 release is April 15, 2025. Get an overview of the 6.8 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.8-related posts leading up to next week’s release for further details.

What’s in WordPress 6.8 RC3?
Get a recap of WordPress 6.8’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC2, you can browse the following links:

• GitHub commits for 6.8 since April 1
• Changes committed since April 1

How you can contribute

WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community that collaborates and contributes to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.

Get involved in testing

Testing for issues is critical to ensuring WordPress is performant and stable. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.8. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.

Search for vulnerabilities

From now until the final release of WordPress 6.8 (scheduled for April 15, 2025), the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.

Update your theme or plugin

For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users. For more details on developer-related changes in 6.8, please review the WordPress 6.8 Field Guide.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.8 beta releases. With RC3, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.8.
If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.

Help translate WordPress

Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本語? हिन्दी? मराठी? বাংলা? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages.

An RC3 haiku

The launch draws closer,
Six-eight sings through RC3,
Almost time to shine.

Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @audrasjb, @mamaduka, @krupajnanda, @benjamin_zekavica, @narenin, @joedolson, @courane01, @joemcgill, @marybaum, @kmgalanakis, @umeshsinghin, @wildworks, @mkrndmane.

Original source Report a problem

The second Release Candidate (“RC2”) for WordPress 6.8 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site.
Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 6.8 is the best it can be.
You can test WordPress 6.8 RC2 in four ways:

• Plugin
  Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).

• Direct Download
  Download the RC2 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website.

• Command Line
  Use the following WP-CLI command: wp core update --version=6.8-RC2

• WordPress Playground
  Use the 6.8 RC2 WordPress Playground instance (available within 35 minutes after the release is ready) to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup.

The current target for the WordPress 6.8 release is April 15, 2025. Get an overview of the 6.8 release cycle, and check the Make WordPress Core blog for 6.8-related posts in the coming weeks for further details.

What’s in WordPress 6.8 RC2?
Get a recap of WordPress 6.8’s highlighted features in the Beta 1 announcement. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC1, you can browse the following links:

• GitHub commits for 6.8 since March 25
• Closed Trac tickets since March 25

Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? These recent posts cover some of the latest updates:

• Speculative Loading in 6.8
• WordPress 6.8 will use bcrypt for password hashing
• Roster of design tools per block (WordPress 6.8 edition)
• More efficient block type registration in 6.8
• Updates to user-interface components in WordPress 6.8
• Interactivity API best practices in 6.8
• Internationalization improvements in 6.8

How you can contribute
WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.

Get involved in testing
Testing for issues is critical to ensuring WordPress is performant and stable. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.8. For those new to testing, follow this general testing guide for more details on getting set up.
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to WordPress Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives in Make Core and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.

• Search for vulnerabilities
  From now until the final release of WordPress 6.8 (scheduled for April 15, 2025), the monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the HackerOne page and in the security white paper.

• Update your theme or plugin
  For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.
  Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 6.8 beta releases. With RC2, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 6.8.
  If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.

• Help translate WordPress
  Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本語? हिन्दी? বাংলা? मराठी?Kannada? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages. This release milestone (RC2) also marks the hard string freeze point of the 6.8 release cycle.

An RC2 haiku
Testing, 1, 2, 3
It’s almost April fifteenth
Squashing all the bugs

Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: @michelleames, @tacoverdo, @jopdop30, @vgnavada, @jeffpaul.

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