Image Konstantin Obenland 5:04 pm on October 2, 2026  

Heads up: HelpScout to FreeScout Migration

With HelpScout shifting from a contact-based pricing model to a user-based one, it’s become clear that a self-hosted solution is the way forward for wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/. It’ll allow more parts of the community to use shared tools, make it easier to customize inboxes (👋 Plugins team), and is more scalable in the long term.

Systems has provisioned a FreeScout instance at freescout.wordpress.net, which we’ll move all HelpScout Inboxes to over the next few weeks. Some inboxes will be easier to migrate than others, so my current plan is to break it up into phases:

Phase 1: Pilot

  1. Photos: 297 total, about 3 new a week, email-only, 1 workflow.
  2. Jobs: 439 total, no workflows, email-only.

Phase 2: Small mailboxes with little automation

  1. Hosting: confirm it has an owner first.
  2. WordPress MeetupMeetup All local/regional gatherings that are officially a part of the WordPress world but are not WordCamps are organized through https://www.meetup.com/. A meetup is typically a chance for local WordPress users to get together and share new ideas and seek help from one another. Searching for ‘WordPress’ on meetup.com will help you find options in your area. Support.
  3. Memorials.
  4. Five for the Future: Needs open conversations triaged.
  5. WPF Scholarships: find the source of its occasional APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways.-created conversations.
  6. Openverse: 4 workflows.
  7. Themes: 8 workflows.

Phase 3: Moderate setup

  1. WP Project Reports: 4 custom fields.
  2. Learn WordPress: 2 custom fields, 7 workflows, 28 saved replies.
  3. WordPress Trademarks: 27 saved replies.
  4. Mercantile: could move into Phase 2 once open conversations have been triaged.

Phase 4: Sensitive or heavily automated

  1. WPF Education: API and web intake both need replacing.
  2. WordPress.org Security: Because security.
  3. Password Resets: 28 workflows.
  4. Data: 45 workflows, very high traffic.
  5. WordPress Community Team: 97k conversations, 70 workflows, 304 saved replies, external API intake.

Phase 5: Plugins

  1. Plugins: last, because the pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. directory code is wired into it, lots of customizations.

Timeline

This is very much subject to change. It depends on Systems team availability, how quickly I can make progress, and how much work it’ll be to replicate external workflows. Please keep in mind that the goal is to make this transition as smoothly as possible, not as quickly as possible.

To give an idea of what I’m currently looking at:

  • Tuesday, October 6: Set up module syncing and commission paid modules.
  • Wednesday, October 7: Import user accounts and set up workflows.
  • Thursday, October 8: Start migrating Phase 1-3 inboxes (this might move into the next week).
  • Monday, October 12: Start migrating Phase 4 inboxes,
  • Monday, October 19: Phase 5.

Access

While HelpScout required separate accounts, with FreeScout we’ll switch to WordPress.org SSO, just like WP.org SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ accounts are set up. This allows us to sync known account information and enforce Two Factor authentication on all accounts. It’ll also be easier to require Proxy access for Administrator-level accounts.

For this migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. it means that everyone who currently has a HelpScout account will automatically have access to freescout.wordpress.net through their WordPress.org account! You won’t have to sign up or do anything else.

Communication

Given that it’s “only” around 20 mailboxes that need to be moved and about 86 accounts, once a mailbox was migrated I think I’ll just manually email everyone associated with that mailbox. That might be the quickest and easiest way to do that.

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns!

If there are custom workflows you have set up, integrations, webhooks, APIs, and are concerned whether they still work, please leave a comment with details and I’ll take a look.

For the most part this should be pretty self-contained, with the exception of Community and Plugins Inboxes, and I’ll work with those teams to get them migrated as smoothly as possible.

+make.wordpress.org/community/ +make.wordpress.org/hosting/ +make.wordpress.org/photos/ +make.wordpress.org/plugins/ +make.wordpress.org/support/ +make.wordpress.org/themes/ +make.wordpress.org/openverse/ +make.wordpress.org/security/ +make.wordpress.org/updates/ +make.wordpress.org/events/ +make.wordpress.org/project/

Image Jonathan Desrosiers 6:53 pm on September 18, 2026
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X-post: Proposal: Indentifying WPCC Participants through WordPress.org Profiles

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Image Joen Asmussen 7:49 am on September 18, 2026
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X-post: A Note on Figma access

X-post from +make.wordpress.org/design: A Note on Figma access

Image Boro Sitnikovski 12:53 pm on August 28, 2026  

Call for testing: WordPress community groups on events.WordPress.org

A group of us – @akeda @raicem @dd32 @motylanogha @vanyukov @mauteri @carstenbach @jmarx75 @patricia70 et al. – are building an open-source alternative to Meetup.com for WordPress community groups, based on GatherPress. Each group gets its own site where people join and RSVP to events, and organizers run everything from the front end.

This is an early look. First impressions from a lot of people are more useful right now than an exhaustive bug report from a few.

How to test

To help test what we’ve worked on thus far, please first follow these steps:

  1. Head to https://events.wordpress.org/group/internal-testing-group/
  2. Log in with your WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ account. 

What to test

Approach it as if you were actually trying to join a community group in your area, and tell us what you found. The list below is a starting point, not an exhaustive checklist:

  • View all events. 
  • Join a group. 
  • Change email preferences.
  • View sponsors. 
  • RSVP for an upcoming event and ensure it shows up under “My upcoming events” on the group page
  • View all members of a group. 

As you do these things, keep track of what you expect to see, what else might be helpful to see, any bugs, and any design feedback. Here are some additional questions to consider:

  • Was it obvious how to join and RSVP, without anyone explaining it?
  • How did it compare to Meetup.com? Are there any features missing that you’d want to see? 
  • What’s the one thing that would stop you from using this for a real group?
  • Is there anything broken? Tell us your browser and mobile/desktop.

Basically, go wild and try to break stuff 🙂

User types

We have three user types in this betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process.: 

  • Member: join/leave, RSVP, email preferences.
  • Event Organizer: plus create and manage their own events and venues, emails.
  • Organizer: plus manage everyone’s events, member roles, group info and design, ownership transfer.

Joining when you’re logged into your WordPress.org profile makes you a Member. That’s automatic, with no approval step. Want to try another role? Visit https://events.wordpress.org/group/internal-testing-group/members/

Feedback

Comment below, or file an issue against the GatherPress migration milestone. For discussions, join us on the #gatherpress-migration Slack channel.

Image Isotta Peira 12:11 pm on June 29, 2026
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X-post: WordPress Credits Updates

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Image Dan Zakirov 7:50 pm on June 10, 2026  

Plugin Directory screenshots gallery update

The screenshots gallery in the PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. Directory has now been updated on WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/.

This work started about two months ago as a three phase plan. I started it as a coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. first exploration, not just as a local Plugin Directory patch. The idea was to move reusable pieces upstream in GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/, lightbox captions and a masonry style for the Gallery block, because those improvements could be useful beyond WordPress.org.

We first explored the masonry solution in Gutenberg because it felt like the right long term home for this kind of feature. The feedback was that this approach should not land in Core in its current form and is better kept in plugin or theme territory until a cleaner browser level CSSCSS CSS is an acronym for cascading style sheets. This is what controls the design or look and feel of a site. masonry solution is available. Since that path did not have a clear near term timeline, the Plugin Directory work kept the compatible masonry behavior scoped to WordPress.org instead of leaving the old screenshots gallery in place for several more years.

I still believe this was the right direction to explore. The Plugin Directory already had a real UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it. problem, the related task had been open for around nine years, and the current approach preserves compatibility without blocking a future upstream path.

Why it matters

The third phase became the practical and compatible path forward. This work was tracked in WordPress.org PR 622. The Plugin Directory now server renders screenshots with core Gallery and Image blocks, uses the standard WordPress lightbox, and keeps the remaining behavior isolated.

Existing galleries are not affected, styles are scoped, the behavior is opt in, and the implementation can be adapted as the upstream work evolves.

How the gallery works

This matters for plugin authors because screenshots come in different counts and very different proportions. The gallery looks at the image count and available dimensions.

Visually uniform sets get a cleaner grid layout, while mixed sets use a masonry style layout so tall, wide, and panoramic images can keep their natural proportions without hard cropping important interface details. Captions stay connected to the images and help explain the interface or workflow.

What is next

This work also closes the main part of a long running screenshots UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing. task connected to Meta Trac 2273, which had been open for around nine years. Related work also includes Meta Trac 8083. I do not see the gallery as finished forever though.

If you maintain a plugin where screenshots still feel awkward, please share the plugin slug or a link in the comments. Real examples are especially useful, because they help show where the current layout still needs work. Ideas for the next iteration are welcome too. I would like to keep improving this on top of the current Gutenberg based foundation while preserving compatibility as upstream solutions evolve.

Thanks

Thanks to @dd32 for the help, review, and guidance inside WordPress.org, to @bor0 for helping near the final stretch, and to @thilinah for the follow up checks. This was fun, but it also turned into a proper little endurance quest 🙂

+make.wordpress.org/plugins/

Image Matt Mullenweg 10:47 am on April 18, 2026  

Docker -> Colima?

The Docker onboarding process is not great. I learned today that, when setting up local dev environments for wordpress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ and wordcamp.org changes, there is an Open SourceOpen Source Open Source denotes software for which the original source code is made freely available and may be redistributed and modified. Open Source **must be** delivered via a licensing model, see GPL. alternative called Colima.

  • MIT-licensed.
  • Drop-in runtime. wp-env, docker compose, and build scripts work unchanged.
  • Lighter. No GUI, no tray process, lower memory and CPU usage.
  • Lower barrier to entry. brew install, no account, no license prompt.
  • MacOS and Linux only, though, for Windows there’s Rancher Desktop.

I was able to get everything up and running with Colima and didn’t notice any problems. What would change: the handbook, the wp-env quickstart, and README setup sections would point to Colima as the default, with Rancher Desktop noted as an alternative.

Thoughts?

Image Matt Mullenweg 10:50 pm on April 14, 2026  

Requests for Automation

Howdy, I wanted to spin up a thread for anyone to request a look at automating a manual process or task around WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/. I’m excited to try a few of these out, I know in my own life I found within a few hours I could automate things I have spent hours on for decades.

Image Matt Mullenweg 1:36 pm on April 11, 2026
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X-post: Elevating Individuals

X-post from +make.wordpress.org/core: Elevating Individuals

Image Konstantin Obenland 6:48 pm on March 20, 2026  

Plugin Directory MCP Server

If you use AI-powered development tools like Claude, Cursor, or VS Code with AI capabilities, you can now connect them directly to the WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/ PluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. Directory. The new MCP (Model Context Protocol) server gives your AI assistant access to plugin guidelines, readme validation, submission status, and the ability to submit plugins.

All plugins submitted through the MCP server go through the same review as plugins submitted through the web form. The plugin guidelines apply regardless of how the code was produced, and plugin developers are responsible for reviewing everything their AI assistant generates before submitting.

What’s available

The MCP server provides tools, reference resources, and guided prompts to help developers get their plugins ready and submitted: 

  • Validate Readme: Checks your readme.txt for errors, warnings, and suggestions before submission.
  • Get Plugin Status: Retrieves your plugin’s current status and any reviewer feedback if it’s in review.
  • Submit Plugin: Submits a new plugin for review, or updates a submission that’s still under review.

AI agents also get access to reference documents like the Plugin Guidelines, Developer FAQ, or reserved slugs list so it can give you accurate, up-to-date guidance as you work.

Guided prompts give your AI agents structured workflows for preparing a plugin for submission, running Plugin Check locally, and addressing review feedback, helping catch issues early and produce a higher quality submission.

Getting started

You’ll need a WordPress.org account, an MCP-compatible client, and Node 18 or later. Setup takes only a second.

Run this command: 

npx -y @wporg/mcp

This opens your browser to authorize the connection and create an application password, then automatically detects and configures your installed MCP clients (currently Claude Desktop, Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, and VS Code). If your client isn’t supported yet, please let me know about it and authenticate manually for now.

What’s next

Under the hood, it’s built on CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.’s Abilities API and the MCP Adapter plugin. The architecture is designed to support any number of additional tools beyond what’s available today and could even include role-specific tools that are only available to certain users (like forum moderators or plugin reviewers).

This is the first set of tools that are being made available, and it’s certainly open to growth! Make teams should feel encouraged to propose and build tools that support their workflows, and any community member can contribute new tools directly as pull requests to the WordPress.org GitHub repository.

If you run into issues with the current tools, please open a ticket on Meta Trac and mention @obenland. For any other feedback, please get in touch in #meta or leave a comment on this post!

Learn more

For the full setup walkthrough, available tools, and example workflows, see the Plugin Directory MCP page in the Plugin Developer Handbook.

+make.wordpress.org/plugins/ +make.wordpress.org/ai/