WordPress 6.9 is scheduled for release in just 24 hours from now, on December 2nd, 2025, during the State of the Word address.

An unscheduled Release Candidate 4 was released today that includes critical bug fixes. As always, testing on the part of hosts is vital, as it helps inform the development process and assures compatibility on hostingHosting A web hosting service is a type of Internet hosting service that allows individuals and organizations to make their website accessible via the World Wide Web. systems. Thank you to all hosts who help with testing!

Hosts should review the WordPress 6.9 Field Guide for technical details about what is changing in this release. Here are some highlights that may affect hosts and support teams:

• WordPress 6.9 includes ‘Beta Support’ for PHP 8.5 and contains 2 new function polyfills.
• Query groups in 6.9 use cache keys instead of salts. This should not have any adverse affects on existing objectObject In computer science, an object can be a variable, a data structure, a function, or a method, and as such, is a value in memory referenced by an identifier. cacheCache A cache is a component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere. configurations in hosting systems, but hosts may want to take advantage of the four new functions for optimizing object cache.
• Five APIs have either been introduced or updated in WordPress 6.9. This includes the new Abilities API for facilitating AI integration, as well as updates to the Field API, Interactivity API, HTML API, and Block Bindings API.
• 6.9 includes numerous performance optimizations to databaseDatabase A database is an organized collection of data. Access to this data is usually provided by a "database management system" (DBMS) consisting of an integrated set of computer software that allows users to interact with one or more databases and provides access to all of the data contained in the database. Because of the close relationship between them, the term "database" is often used casually to refer to both a database and the DBMS used to manipulate it. queries, cachingCache A cache is a component that stores data so that future requests for that data can be served faster; the data stored in a cache might be the result of an earlier computation or a copy of data stored elsewhere., script handing, WP CronCron Is a time-based job scheduler in Unix. Users that set up and maintain software environments use cron to schedule jobs to run periodically at fixed times, dates, or intervals., and more.
• Text encoding and UTF-8 handling is now processed independently of the running environment.
• URL-escaping functions now have additional https support baked in.
• ‘iframe’ integration in the post editor has been iterated on with more to come.
• This release has 21 new action and filter hooks bundled in.
• WordPress 6.9 also includes two new AI clients for AI integration; the PHP AI Client SDK and the MCP Adapter.
• This release does not contain a new default themeTheme A theme dictates the style and function of your WordPress website. Child Themes derive from the main parent theme..

If hosts encounter an issue during testing, please comment in the #hosting channel or report it directly to WordPress Trac.

Hosts that offer custom plugins and themes will want to make sure to update the “Tested up to” version in the theme or 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 or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. readme file to `6.9` (if it has been tested).

Feel free to browse all posts related to WordPress 6.9 here, and drop by the #hosting 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/. channel with any questions or concerns!

A huge thank you to all web hosts that support WordPress. Happy Hosting!

Props to @brettface for proofreading and review.