Core contributor and VP of Open Source at Fueled + 10up, Jeffrey Paul, has shared the WordPress 7.0 Release Squad. The upcoming release will be led by Matias Ventura, an Automattician and the lead of the Gutenberg project.
This marks the first major WordPress release of the year not led by co-founder Matt Mullenweg. It is also not Ventura’s first time in the role. He previously served as release lead for WordPress 6.3 in 2023.
WordPress 7.0 will continue the recent approach of using a smaller, more focused Release Squad. As with the last three releases, the structure is designed to reduce overhead and streamline coordination. However, this cycle will not include a dedicated Design Lead.
Explaining the decision, Jeffrey Paul said, “This streamlined structure places more emphasis on collaboration with the various Make Team Reps, who are encouraged to help coordinate efforts from within their respective teams. The goals are to reduce the overhead on the Release Squad while still ensuring each Make Team’s contributions and priorities are represented throughout the cycle, and to reduce overlap between a Make Team Rep and that team’s Release Squad Leads.”
The Release Coordination team includes  Ahmed Kabir Chaion (Hosting.com & Rocket.net sponsored), Amy Kamala (Elementor sponsored) and Mary Hubbard (WordPress Executive Director). Tech Leads for the release are Ella van Durpe (Automattic), Mukesh Panchal, and Sergey Biryukov (Yoast).
Jb Audras (Whodunit & Core) and JuanMa Garrido (Automattic) will serve as Triage Leads, while Ankit K Gupta (10up), and Mary Baum (RacquetPress) will act as Test Leads.
The announcement follows a call for volunteers for WordPress 7.0, which was shared last month by Jonathan Desrosiers. According to Jeffrey Paul, “The number of volunteers far exceeded the available squad roles, so we selected folks whose experience and focus best aligned with the needs of the 7.0 release.”
WordPress 7.0 is currently expected to be released on April 9, 2026. The release is expected to build on the Notes feature introduced in WordPress 6.9, with improvements aimed at real-time collaboration. It will also include updates across wp-admin and an upgrade to React 19.
As part of the release, WordPress 7.0 will drop support for PHP 7.2 and 7.3, continuing the project’s move toward newer PHP versions.