# 241- WordPress. 6.9 Release Party Schedule, Matt Mullenweg To Host Town Hall At WC Canada

Issue #241 | October 14, 2025 | Reading time: 17 mins

Hello!

This week on The WP Week Newsletter, we cover the WordPress 6.9 release party schedule, the upcoming WooCommerce 10.3 release, Matt Mullenweg hosting a town hall at WC Canada 2025, new projects, and more.

Don’t forget to subscribe and listen to the podcast version of this newsletter, where you can hear more details and discussions about these topics and more.

See you next week!

Team WP-CONTENT.CO

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🗣️TALK OF THE TOWN

WordPress 6.9 release party schedule

The WordPress 6.9 release party schedule lists all Beta, Release Candidate, and final release events from Beta 1 on October 21, 2025, through the general release on December 2, 2025, with assigned emcees, committers, and coordinators. All parties will take place in the #core Slack channel.

📰 WORDPRESS & AROUND

All the updates around WordPress and its closely related technologies

A Month in Core – September 2025

In September 2025, WordPress Core saw 189 commits, 156 tickets opened, and 182 closed, with 161 contributors (35 new), led in activity by Build/Test Tools, Docs, and Editor components, involving contributors from 27+ countries.

WooCommerce 10.3: Pre-release updates: WooCommerce 10.3 is set for release on October 21, 2025, with a beta already available. Key updates include COGS in core for profit tracking, address autocomplete in checkout, Product Collection Editor performance improvements, and an upgraded PayPal API with Express Checkout buttons. Also, WooCommerce 10.4’s release has been delayed by two weeks and is now scheduled for December 9, 2025.
Attackers actively exploiting critical vulnerability in Service Finder Bookings plugin: A critical authentication bypass vulnerability was discovered in the Service Finder Bookings WordPress plugin (versions ≤ 6.0), allowing unauthenticated attackers to log in as any user, including administrators, by exploiting an insecure cookie-handling function. The issue was patched in version 6.1 on July 17, 2025.
Malvertising campaign hides in plain sight on WordPress websites: A malvertising campaign on WordPress sites hid in theme functions.php, injecting malicious JavaScript that caused redirects, pop-ups, and drive-by malware.
WordPress.com now supports MCP: WordPress.com now supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), allowing AI assistants like Claude, ChatGPT, or Cursor to securely access your site’s content, analytics, and settings.
WordPress VIP achieves SOC 2 Type I Attestation: This milestone, alongside prior FedRAMP, GovRAMP, and TX-RAMP authorizations, demonstrates that WordPress VIP meets rigorous standards for security, availability, and compliance.
Matt Mullenweg’s Twitter account was hacked: The account was temporarily hacked but has now been recovered. He clarified that he will never promote cryptocurrencies or similar investments, advising followers to be skeptical of any such messages.
Meta will move React to Linux Foundation to address vendor dominance fears: Meta is moving React, React Native, and JSX to a Linux Foundation-backed React Foundation to ensure independent governance and reduce vendor dominance. The foundation, supported by major companies like Meta, Microsoft, and Vercel, will manage React’s infrastructure, trademarks, and ecosystem, addressing concerns over vendor influence while React remains widely used but increasingly complex.
Google Lighthouse 13 launches with insight-based audits: Google’s Lighthouse 13 replaces many legacy audits with insights aligned to Chrome DevTools, removes outdated checks, and keeps performance scoring unchanged.
OpenAI launches apps in ChatGPT & releases Apps SDK: OpenAI has launched a new app ecosystem within ChatGPT, along with a preview of the Apps SDK, enabling developers to create conversational, interactive applications based on the Model Context Protocol.

👥 COMMUNITY NEWS

Updates and News from the WordPress Community

Matt Mullenweg to Host Town Hall at WordCamp Canada

Matt Mullenweg will host a Town Hall at WordCamp Canada 2025 in Ottawa. The unscripted session offers attendees direct access to ask questions about WordPress, open source, and the future of the web.

FluentCart launching today: The latest WordPress e-commerce plugin is set to be launched today with early-bird LTD offers.
ACF 6.6 released: This version introduces ACF Blocks V3, featuring a redesigned sidebar editing experience that keeps block previews visible and improves usability. The update adds Display Titles for field groups, custom color palettes for the Color Picker, and raises the minimum WordPress requirement to version 6.2.
Blueprints in WordPress Studio: WordPress Studio 1.6.0 introduces Blueprints, a new feature that lets users create WordPress sites from predefined, reusable setups.
20i awarded Secure Hosting Alliance’s Trust Seal: The certification is based on four pillars: transparency, infrastructure misuse protocols, network reliability, and proper handling of government requests. This validates 20i as a hosting provider that meets high industry standards for secure and dependable service. Along with 20i, several others have also secured the Trust Seal, such as GoDaddy, DreamHost, Automattic, SiteGround, Hostinger, and so on.
WPX new control panel announced: The completely redesigned Control Panel is built for efficiency and ease of use. Designed with feedback from real users, it offers smarter navigation, tooltips, and information blocks to guide tasks. Key features include custom hosting and domain labels, streamlined WordPress installation, temp URLs for site previews, instant staging environments, improved SSL management, faster backups, and WPX XDN integration for speed.
Monster’s Awards 2025 voting now open: The Monster’s Award, organized by TemplateMonster, is an annual competition recognizing the best WordPress products. The voting is open till November 20, 2025.
The Cloudways Awards 2025 announced: Cloudways Awards 2025 celebrate innovators shaping the web, recognizing excellence in areas like AI, eCommerce, design, and client impact. Open to all, winners gain exposure, Cloudways credits, and official recognition. Submissions close October 28, 2025, and winners will be announced on November 4.
Ollie Theme’s Menu designer is being considered for WordPress Core: The GitHub issue proposes enabling full customization of the Navigation block’s mobile overlay, allowing different styles and content from the desktop menu. The discussion explores using template parts or separate blocks, adding responsive controls, and possibly integrating ideas from Ollie’s Menu Designer, whose creator, Mike McAlister, supports and is open to contributing to Core. Anne McCarthy also shared thoughts on integrating the Ollie Menu Designer into WordPress Core.
Avoid costly WooCommerce client mistakes webinar: A free live webinar hosted by Rodolfo Melogli on October 16, 2025, designed for developers, agencies, consultants, and plugin vendors. The session teaches how to identify warning signs in clients, projects, and platforms that can lead to scope creep, support drains, or financial loss.
The entire WordCamp network went down: As highlighted by Shahjahan Jewel, the WordCamp network temporarily crashed due to the WordCamp Dhaka ticket sale.
Andrew Hoyer has published his WordPress data collection on GitHub: This will now allow others to explore it and use it for their own analysis.
Nick Diego takes up a new role at WordPress.com: Nick Diego has joined the Product Marketing team at WordPress.com, focusing on supporting and connecting with developers. He continues working on WordPress Studio and projects like Telex, now from a product marketing perspective.
Rémi Corson has joined SEOPress: He is joining SEOPress as the new CTO.
Julian Song receives the Yoast Care fund for his contribution to the WordPress community: Julian Song, a member of the WordPress Community Team is the latest recipient of the Yoast Care fund.

🚀 NEW PROJECTS

Preview of Sorai theme: Ga Satrya shared a sneak peek of his upcoming block theme on X.
Post Content to Markdown: The plugin created by Ben Word serves post content as Markdown via Accept headers or query parameters, and also includes WP feeds & comments support.
EventKoi Lite: A modern WordPress events calendar plugin by Lesley Sim and Ahmed. The Pro version was launched earlier, and the free version is now available in the WordPress repository. This marks their first new project since selling Newsletter Glue.
New keyword research tool plugin for WordPress: Ajith Joseph has created a keyword research plugin that works by adding your vebapi.com API key. Interested folks who’d like to try it out can contact him.
Ollie Pro Extensions launched: Mike McAlister has launched Ollie Pro Extensions, a powerful set of tools that elevate the WordPress block editor experience. The update includes features like animation designer, advanced grid and group controls, and more.
Preview of Visual BluePrint Builder for WordPress Playground: Ajit Bohra provided a preview of the Playground Blueprint Editor, which is a block-based editing experience for building blueprint.json.
All new Pootle Playground: Jamie Marsland has created a new experimental Playground Blueprint Designer that allows users to instantly create demo sites for their plugins.
Lemon Squeezy Gateway for WooCommerce: The plugin created by w7s Lemon Squeezy’s powerful payment gateway into your WooCommerce store, enabling you to sell digital products with subscriptions, license keys, and multiple payment methods through a unified checkout experience.
Introducing Sucuri Academy: Sucuri Academy is a new learning platform by Sucuri that provides website owners, developers, and digital professionals with courses on website security. The academy offers free, expert-led training across beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels, covering topics like malware detection, WAF configuration, website hardening, performance optimization, and incident response.
Where WordPress News is: A WordPress community news site project by Dave Winer. Since Twitter restricts his links containing “WordPress” or “feedland,” he’s using an alternate page on this.how to redirect readers.

🔖 INTERESTING READS & PODCASTS

More posts and podcasts from the WordPress Community you don’t want to miss

Ganga Kafle on 10 years of reviewing WordPress themes: Ganga Kafle celebrates 10 years of contributing to WordPress, starting with his first theme review in 2015. Over the decade, he reviewed 7,000+ themes, mentored contributors, led the Themes Team, and spoke at WordCamps worldwide. Now, as he joins the Plugins Team, he continues his journey of learning, collaboration, and open-source contribution. Matt Mullenweg also thanked him for his contributions to the open source.
In conversation with Jon Penland: Jon Penland shares his journey from selling construction tools to becoming CEO of Kinsta, highlighting a career built on perseverance, curiosity, and adaptability. From Seriously, Bud?
Bud Kraus on teaching and using WordPress with low vision: Bud Kraus shares his experience living with macular degeneration and teaching WordPress with low vision. He discusses how he adapts his workflow using screen zooms, pattern recognition, and accessibility-focused techniques. From WP Tavern Jukebox.
Bootstrapping a successful WordPress business through customer feedback and iteration: Mark Westguard sits down with Aurelio Volle, co-founder and CEO of WPUmbrella, a WordPress management tool designed for agencies. Aurelio shares his unique journey from advocating for web accessibility and working as an EU lobbyist to bootstrapping his own SaaS business in the WordPress ecosystem. From OpenChannels.
AI, automation, and the race to secure WordPress: Robert Abela sits down with Rashmi Nagpal, cybersecurity and AI expert at Patchstack and MIT CSAIL Research Affiliate, to explore the intersection of AI, machine learning, and WordPress security. From Melapress.
It’s always about authenticity: Remkus de Vries, in his WordCamp Lithuania 2025 talk, emphasized that true credibility in the WordPress community comes from authenticity and proof of work, not hype or recycled content. From Remkus de Vries.
Performance of third party blocks and Core compared: David McCan tested the performance of ten third-party Gutenberg block plugins against WordPress core, measuring memory usage, database queries, DOM nodes, and page size. From DynamicWP.
WP Engine accuses Automattic and Matt Mullenweg of concealing control of WordPress.org and the WordPress trademarks: WP Engine’s updated complaint adds new evidence from discovery, names Automattic’s CFO, and accuses Matt Mullenweg of concealing control of WordPress.org and the WordPress trademarks. From The Repository.
Wapuu slaps: A manifesto: Nick Hamze argues that WordPress’s mascot, Wapuu, is a powerful symbol of community and belonging rather than a childish relic. He highlights how mascots like Wapuu, similar to GitHub’s Octocat or Linux’s Tux, humanize technology and foster emotional connection. From Iconick.
In defense of Wapuu: Chris Reynolds defends Wapuu, WordPress’s mascot, arguing that its cuteness and variety make it a perfect symbol for the community, not a corporate logo. He highlights that, like mascots in PHP and Drupal, Wapuu builds engagement, inspires newcomers, and sparks conversation, while reflecting the open, creative, and messy nature of WordPress itself. From jazzsequence.
Jamie Marsland on the rise of e-commerce in India: Jamie Marsland highlights India’s rapidly growing ecommerce market, projected to reach $136 billion in 2025 and over $350 billion by 2030, fueled by widespread smartphone adoption, digital payments like UPI, and growth beyond major cities. From PootlePress.
Nick Hamze on building a plugin twice: He revisited an old project called Mission Ctrl, a WordPress plugin that turns the WordPress dashboard into a fully block-powered interface. Originally built with hired developers years ago, he recently rebuilt it using AI tools like Cursor and Claude.

🛠 GUIDE ZONE – HOWTO’S and MORE

Handpicked fresh guides from WordPress circle

Building your first MCP server with Laravel: From Sevalla
Add liquid glass effect on your WordPress website: From Brainstorm Force

📆 SAVE THE DATES

Do not miss a WordPress event ever again

WP Agency Forum on Oct 15, 2025: The tickets are now available.
WordCamp Canada on October 16-17 2025: The call for sponsors is now open. The first round of the speaker list has been published, and the tickets are also now available.
WordCamp Nepal 2026 on January 23-24: The early bird tickets are now available, and the call for speakers is now open.
WordCamp Asia 2026 on April 9-11: The venue has been announced. The call for speakers is now open. The call for sponsors and media partners is also now open.
SomeConf 2026 on April 22-23: The tickets are now available.
Checkout Summit 2026 on April 23-24, 2026: The call for sponsors is now open. The early bird tickets are now available.
WordCamp Europe 2026 on June 4-6: The event is in the early planning stages, and the venue will be the ICE Kraków Congress Centre Kraków, Poland.

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