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<p>The second Release Candidate (“RC2”) for WordPress 6.9 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 6.9 is the best it can be.</p>
<p>You can test WordPress 6.9 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-6.9-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:<br /><code>wp core update --version=6.9-RC2</code></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=y4q1rn85xn">6.9 RC2 WordPress Playground instance</a> to test the software directly in your browser without the need for a separate site or setup.</td>
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<p>The scheduled final release date for WordPress 6.9 is <strong>December 2, 2025</strong>. The full <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/6-9/">release schedule can be found here</a>. Your help testing RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible.</p>
<p>Please continue checking the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/">Make WordPress Core blog</a> for <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/tag/6-9/">6.9-related posts</a> in the coming weeks for more information.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">What’s in WordPress 6.9 RC2?</h2>
<p>Get a recap of WordPress 6.9’s highlighted features in the <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/10/21/wordpress-6-9-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/6.9?since=2025-11-11&#038;until=2025-11-18">GitHub commits for 6.9</a> since November 11</li>
<li><a href="https://core.trac.wordpress.org/query?status=closed&#038;changetime=11%2F11%2F2025..11%2F18%2F2025&#038;milestone=6.9&#038;group=component&#038;col=id&#038;col=summary&#038;col=milestone&#038;col=changetime&#038;col=type&#038;order=id">Closed Trac tickets</a> since November 11</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/2025/11/15/notes-feature-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Notes Feature in 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/10/abilities-api-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Abilities API in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/18/wordpress-6-9-frontend-performance-field-guide/">WordPress 6.9 Frontend Performance Field Guide</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/12/interactivity-apis-client-navigation-improvements-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Interactivity API’s client navigation improvements in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/12/block-bindings-improvements-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Block Bindings improvements in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/12/changes-to-the-interactivity-api-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Changes to the Interactivity API in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/17/consistent-cache-keys-for-query-groups-in-wordpress-6-9/">Consistent Cache Keys for Query Groups in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/11/dataviews-dataform-et-al-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">DataViews, DataForm, et al. in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/12/preparing-the-post-editor-for-full-iframe-integration/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Preparing the Post Editor for Full iframe Integration</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/12/theme-json-border-radius-presets-support-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Theme.json Border Radius Presets Support in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/12/heading-block-css-specificity-fix-in-wordpress-6-9/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Heading Block CSS Specificity Fix in WordPress 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/17/miscellaneous-developer-focused-changes-in-6-9/">Miscellaneous Developer-focused Changes in 6.9</a></li>
<li><a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/18/modernizing-utf-8-support-in-wordpress-6-9/" data-type="link" data-id="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/18/modernizing-utf-8-support-in-wordpress-6-9/">Modernizing UTF-8 support in WordPress 6.9</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>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Get involved in testing</h2>
<p>Testing for issues is crucial to the development of any software. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. </p>
<p>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 <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/test/2025/10/21/help-test-wordpress-6-9/">detailed guide</a> will walk you through testing features in WordPress 6.9. 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>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Update your theme or plugin</h2>
<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 6.9 beta releases. If you haven’t yet, make sure 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 6.9.</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>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Test on your hosting platforms</h2>
<p>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.</p>
<p>Want to test WordPress on your hosting system? <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/hosting/test-results-getting-started/">Get started with configuring distributed hosting tests here</a>.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">Help translate WordPress</h2>
<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 <a href="https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/11/wordpress-6-9-release-candidate-phase/">6.9 release cycle</a>.</p>
<h2 class="wp-block-heading">An RC2 haiku</h2>
<p>A calm hillside sighs,<br />Work of many now complete —<br />RC2 stays true.</p>
<p class="has-text-align-right"><em>Props to <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/amykamala/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>amykamala</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/annezazu/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>annezazu</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/davidbaumwald/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>davidbaumwald</a>, <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/westonruter/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>westonruter</a> and <a href="https://profiles.wordpress.org/joedolson/" class="mention"><span class="mentions-prefix">@</span>joedolson</a> for proofreading and review.</em></p>
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