WordPress 6.9.1 release has been scheduled for February 3, 2026. The release schedule was shared by Aaron Jorbin on the Make WordPress Core blog. The update will be a bug-fix only maintenance release, co-led by core committers Aaron Jorbin and Aki Hamano.
The release follows several issues reported after WordPress 6.9 was shipped in April 2025. Users flagged several stability and compatibility problems. These included emails failing to send, plugin conflicts, and Adjacent Post Navigation triggering infinite loops.
Although only a small number of sites are affected, the issues were considered significant enough to warrant a maintenance release. The core team decided that a focused bug-fix update would be the best approach, with January set as the earliest possible timeframe.
Sharing the release plan, Aaron Jorbin said, “Since WordPress 6.9 was released, contributors have kept a close eye on incoming reports to the WordPress.org Support Forums, Trac, and the Gutenberg repository on GitHub. The volume and severity of tickets mean that the maintenance release should be prepared sagaciously.”
Jorbin also clarified the scope of the release. “Tickets will be included provided they are issues introduced during the 6.9 cycle or intentionally deferred at the end of the 6.9 cycle.”
Interested users can follow progress through trac report 4 or the 6.9.x editor tasks board , where proposed fixes are being tracked.
The exact timing for the release candidate and the final release has not yet been announced. These details will be shared in the WordPress 6.9 Release Leads room and will depend on contributor availability.