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<p>The second Release Candidate (“RC2”) for WordPress 6.8 is ready for download and testing!</p>
<p><strong>This version of the WordPress software is under development</strong>.<strong> Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites.</strong> Instead, it’s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>You can test WordPress 6.8 RC2 in four ways:</p>
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<td><strong>Plugin</strong></td>
<td>Install and activate the<a href="https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/"> WordPress Beta Tester</a> plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream).</td>
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<td><strong>Direct Download</strong></td>
<td>Download the<a href="https://wordpress.org/wordpress-6.8-RC2.zip"> RC2 version (zip)</a> and install it on a WordPress website.</td>
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<td><strong>Command Line</strong></td>
<td>Use the following<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/cli/"> WP-CLI</a> command: wp core update –version=6.8-RC2</td>
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<td><strong>WordPress Playground</strong></td>
<td>Use the<a href="https://playground.wordpress.net/?php=8.0&#038;wp=beta&#038;networking=no&#038;language=&#038;multisite=no&#038;random=y4q1rn88xn"> 6.8 RC2 WordPress Playground instance</a> (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.</td>
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<p>The current target for the WordPress 6.8 release is <strong>April 15, 2025</strong>. Get an overview of the<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-8/"> 6.8 release cycle</a>, and check the<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/"> Make WordPress Core blog</a> for<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-8/"> 6.8-related posts</a> in the coming weeks for further details.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What’s in WordPress 6.8 RC2?</h2>
<p>Get a recap of WordPress 6.8’s highlighted features in the<a href="https://wordpress.org/news/2025/03/wordpress-6-8-beta-1/"> Beta 1 announcement</a>. For more technical information related to issues addressed since RC1, you can browse the following links:</p>
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<li><a href="https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/commits/wp/6.8?since=2025-03-26&#038;until=2025-04-01">GitHub commits for 6.8</a> since March 25</li>
<li><a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?id=63175%2C62887%2C63193%2C61219&#038;milestone=6.8&#038;group=component&#038;col=id&#038;col=summary&#038;col=milestone&#038;col=owner&#038;col=type&#038;col=status&#038;col=priority&#038;order=priority">Closed Trac tickets</a> since March 25</li>
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<p>Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? These recent posts cover some of the latest updates:</p>
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<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/06/speculative-loading-in-6-8/">Speculative Loading in 6.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/17/wordpress-6-8-will-use-bcrypt-for-password-hashing/">WordPress 6.8 will use bcrypt for password hashing</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/12/roster-of-design-tools-per-block-wordpress-6-8-edition/">Roster of design tools per block (WordPress 6.8 edition)</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/13/more-efficient-block-type-registration-in-6-8/">More efficient block type registration in 6.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/25/updates-to-user-interface-components-in-wordpress-6-8/">Updates to user-interface components in WordPress 6.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/24/interactivity-api-best-practices-in-6-8/">Interactivity API best practices in 6.8</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/12/i18n-improvements-6-8/">Internationalization improvements in 6.8</a></li>
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<h2 class="wp-block-heading">How you can contribute</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Get involved in testing</h3>
<p>Testing for issues is critical to ensuring WordPress is performant and stable. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/03/04/help-test-wordpress-6-8/"> This detailed guide</a> will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.8. For those new to testing, follow<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/handbook/get-setup-for-testing/"> this general testing guide</a> for more details on getting set up.</p>
<p>If you encounter an issue, please report it to the<a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/"> Alpha/Beta area</a> of the support forums or directly to<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/newticket"> WordPress Trac</a> if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of<a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/tickets/major"> known bugs</a>.</p>
<p>Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/"> testing initiatives in Make Core</a> and join the<a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/messages/core-test/"> #core-test channel</a> on<a href="https://wordpress.slack.com/"> Making WordPress Slack</a>.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Search for vulnerabilities</h3>
<p>From now until the final release of WordPress 6.8 (scheduled for April 15, 2025), the<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/handbook/testing/reporting-security-vulnerabilities/#enhanced-bounty-rewards-during-beta-and-release-candidate-phases"> monetary reward for reporting new, unreleased security vulnerabilities</a> is doubled. Please follow responsible disclosure practices as detailed in the project’s security practices and policies outlined on the<a href="https://hackerone.com/wordpress"> HackerOne page</a> and in the<a href="https://wordpress.org/about/security/"> security white paper</a>.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Update your theme or plugin</h3>
<p>For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.</p>
<p>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 <em>“Tested up to”</em> version in your<a href="https://developer.wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-org/how-your-readme-txt-works/"> plugin’s readme file</a> to 6.8.</p>
<p>If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the<a href="https://wordpress.org/support/forum/alphabeta/"> support forum</a>.</p>
<h3 class="wp-block-heading">Help translate WordPress</h3>
<p>Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? æ¥æ¬èª? हिनà¥à¤¦à¥? বাà¦à¦²à¦¾? मराठà¥? à²à²¨à³à²¨à²¡? You can<a href="https://translate.wordpress.org/projects/wp/dev/"> help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages</a>. This release milestone (RC2) also marks the<a href="https://make.wordpress.org/polyglots/handbook/glossary/#hard-freeze"> hard string freeze</a> point of the 6.8 release cycle.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">An RC2 haiku</h2>
<p><em>Testing, 1, 2, 3</em><br /><em>It’s almost April fifteenth</em><br /><em>Squashing all the bugs</em></p>
<p><em>Thank you to the following contributors for collaborating on this post: <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/michelleames/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>michelleames</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/tacoverdo/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>tacoverdo</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/jopdop30/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>jopdop30</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/vgnavada/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>vgnavada</a>.</em></p>
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