The roadmap for WordPress 6.9 is out, and with it, a clearer picture of what’s being actively pursued for the release, which drops on December 2. Published yesterday on the Make WordPress Core blog by Automattic-sponsored contributor Anne McCarthy, the roadmap outlines a set of updates focused on evolving the Site Editor, refining content creation, improving the developer experience, and laying the groundwork for AI in WordPress. And in a first since 2010, there won’t be a new default theme.

The release picks up some initiatives that ground to a halt in January when Automattic paused its contributions. Block-level commenting, simplified site editing, and overhauled template management were in active development before the pause, and are now slated for inclusion in 6.9 as Automattic-sponsored contributors pick up where they left off.

Other features on the roadmap include hiding blocks, expanding the Command Palette, performance and DataViews improvements, and updates to the Interactivity, Block Bindings, and HTML APIs. 

WordPress 6.9 will also introduce a new Abilities API. The aim for this new API, announced last week by the WordPress AI Team, is to make WordPress functionality easier to access for both AI systems and developers through a unified registry of tools and resources.

McCarthy also announced three other major initiatives that will launch alongside the release: a redesigned WordPress admin will launch as an experimental feature in the Gutenberg plugin — the first major redesign of the admin since MP6 and WordPress 3.8’s admin overhaul in 2013. Meanwhile, two recently announced AI-related projects, an MCP Adapter and a PHP AI Client SDK, will ship as canonical plugins.

Block-level commenting coming to Core

In the comments below the roadmap, Automattic-sponsored contributor Miguel Fonseca captured what many in Post Status Slack seemed to be thinking: “This release is somehow packed and focused all at once.”

It’s a bigger and more ambitious release than 6.8. But as McCarthy noted in Post Status Slack, much of the heavy lifting for major features like block commenting has already happened — including testing — and much of it by Automattic-sponsored contributors.

Core committer Ella van Durpe has been leading development on the feature since October 2024, with design support from Joen Asmussen and Jarosław Morawski. The feature lets users leave comments on individual blocks, reply to threads, and resolve feedback directly in the editor. It’s already available as an experimental feature in Gutenberg and has been tested by the Wall Street Journal and Pew Research Center.

Real-time co-editing — also available as an experimental feature in the Gutenberg plugin — isn’t ready ship in 6.9. But block commenting is a first step in that direction.

Site Editor improvements

A new simplified editing mode is on track for inclusion in 6.9, designed to let users make quick content or design tweaks without diving into the full Site Editor interface. The feature is also available as an experiment in Gutenberg. Former Automattic designer Saxon Fletcher led much of the early design work before leaving the company last October.

Template management, also started last year, is getting an overhaul, with plans to support multiple templates per slug, drafting templates before publishing, and preserving custom templates when switching themes. van Durpe resumed work on this initiative this week.

Also in the works: hiding blocks on the front end while keeping them editable in the editor. Originally prototyped by Rich Tabor in 2023, the feature will be useful for staging content and experimenting with layouts, and will lay the groundwork for hiding blocks based on screen size.

Admin redesign coming to Gutenberg plugin

The WordPress admin is finally getting a facelift — its first since the MP6 resdesign shipped with WordPress 3.8 more than a decade ago.

An early preview is expected to launch as an experimental feature in the Gutenberg plugin, giving users a chance to test the new interface and share feedback.

The project, led by Gutenberg architect Matías Ventura, is. part of phase three of the Gutenberg roadmap. Ventura first laid out his vision for the redesign in early 2023 and later demoed concepts at the 2023 State of the Word, including grid and kanban-style views, improved field connections, and snappier frontend performance powered by the Interactivity API. 

Ventura shared new updates focused on the redesign’s functionality and structure this week on GitHub.

Default themes put on hold

For the first time in 15 years, WordPress won’t ship a new default theme.

McCarthy said the decision was shaped by the “pace of this release and the maturity of block themes over recent years.” The annual theme cadence, first established with Twenty Ten in 2010, may be nearing its end.

During this month’s core committers meeting with project leadership, contributors debated whether the time and maintenance costs of shipping a new theme every year was still worth it. Some suggested alternatives like starter templates, curated style variations, or pattern showcases. Others maintained that default themes remain valuable, especially for education, testing, and demonstrating new features.

Developer updates and performance improvements

Developer-facing updates in 6.9 include continued work on the Interactivity API. A new client-side navigation algorithm will allow WordPress to update not just HTML, but also CSS and JavaScript between views — enabling fast transitions and patterns like instant search, filtered archives, and conditional asset loading.

Automattic developer André Maneiro has opened a new GitHub issue to track updates to the DataViews and DataForm packages. Planned improvements include new field types and filter operators to support richer admin interfaces.

The Block Bindings and HTML APIs are also being updated — both core to Gutenberg’s architecture. The HTML API, in particular, is aimed at improving speed and reliability when parsing and composing markup.

On the performance front, Kinsta-sponsored contributor Weston Ruter is leading enhancements to stylesheet handling, including better minification and inlining, and use of the fetchpriority attribute in ES Modules and Import Maps. Support for bfcache (back/forward cache) for logged-in users is also expected to land, improving page load speeds when navigating back to recently visited pages.

The WordPress 6.9 release team hasn’t been announced yet. Beta 1 is scheduled for October 21, with the final release planned for December 2.

The post WordPress 6.9 Roadmap: Block Comments, Site Editor Updates, and an Admin Redesign appeared first on The Repository.