Welcome to the Jukebox Podcast from WP Tavern. Nathan Wrigley hosts a conversation with Jonathan Desrosiers, principal software engineer at Bluehost, Core committer, and long-time WordPress contributor. Jonathan spends most of his sponsored time on WordPress through Five for the Future and focuses on contributor experience, automation, and removing barriers so more people can participate.
Release timing and synchronized events
Jonathan and Nathan discuss a recent experiment where a WordPress major release coincided with a live event—State of the Word—creating a communal moment where attendees and viewers celebrated the release together. The idea of tying releases to flagship community events (WordCamp Asia, WordCamp Europe, WordCamp US, State of the Word) is being explored for 2026 to make releases more engaging and to celebrate community work.
However, coordinating releases with events is complex. WordCamp organizers schedule around budgets, venues, regional holidays, and travel; the Core release process must respect contributors’ availability worldwide. Religious holidays, end-of-year breaks, and regional timing make it hard to pick ideal release windows. The current plan for 2026 is experimental: try aligning a set of releases with major WordCamps to learn what works and what doesn’t.
Global coverage and release squads
Releases require global coverage—contributors in many time zones and locations—so aligning a release with an event can encourage diverse participation both in-person and remotely. Being at an event shouldn’t be a requirement; remote contributors remain essential. The goal is to assemble squads with varied geographic representation so issues can be handled continuously across time zones and so people at events and those elsewhere can collaborate effectively.
Making releases engaging
Jonathan and Nathan compare software releases to TV series launches: build anticipation, advertise features, and invite people to test or opt in early. Currently, manual updaters see an about page after updating, and there are landing pages that explain new features. But many users don’t notice what changed because updates are often automatic and seamless—an indicator of success for auto-updates. Still, there is opportunity to surface upcoming features in the dashboard before a major release arrives (teasers, Learn WordPress links, testing invitations), helping users and potential testers prepare and provide feedback.
Architecture and release cadence
To enable more frequent, feature-focused rollouts (akin to feature-branch releases), architectural changes would be helpful. Much of the block editor is tied together through packages and dependencies, making it hard to ship single features independently. While feature-branch models could allow earlier testing and clearer opt-ins, the project’s size and emphasis on backwards compatibility make full decomposition challenging. Jonathan advocates automation and better compartmentalization to support more flexible release strategies.
Adoption and stability
Jonathan looked at adoption data and found faster uptake for recent major releases. For example, WordPress 6.9 hit 50% of sites within 10 days—faster than previous releases—indicating confidence in quality and more sites enabling major auto-updates. This trend suggests WordPress is shipping stable software and that users are increasingly trusting updates to happen automatically.
Community health and rebuilding
Both hosts note strains in the community since COVID. In-person Meetups and WordCamps saw a break in the pipeline of leaders and volunteers; people burned out or moved on during the pandemic, disrupting mentorship and leadership succession. Some regions, like APAC, show strong, growing communities, while others—particularly parts of the US and the UK—struggle to recruit speakers and attendees. Societal shifts, changed social habits, and venue economics also affect attendance.
Efforts to rebuild and grow the contributor base include educational initiatives (WP Campus Connect), the Credits Program, mentorship cohorts, and contributor mentorship programs that have helped participants become mentors, team leads, and release squad members. The aim is to create clearer pathways for newcomers: structured onboarding, visible projects with criteria for success, and opportunities to see their work merged during Contributor Days and release parties.
Making community participation meaningful
Jonathan emphasizes making short-term contributions (like release testing) more meaningful and creating pathways that extend beyond single events. For example, preparing repeatable, low-friction release testing experiences at events and ensuring feedback isn’t lost can convert one-off testers into ongoing contributors. In-person events are useful labs for piloting improved processes and capturing fresh perspectives from newcomers.
Reaching younger contributors and new audiences
Attracting younger people requires proving the value of community involvement and providing clear, supported ways to contribute. Younger generations grew up with different digital habits and may not instinctively value open source; WP initiatives need to meet them where they are, make participation valuable and accessible, and provide mentorship to keep them engaged beyond initial exposure. Education partnerships and campus-focused programs aim to introduce open source early, but the community must be ready to activate and support those contributors.
AI, empowerment, and the open web
Jonathan and Nathan discuss AI’s role in empowerment and learning: AI tools can digest and summarize vast information, making it easier for novices to attempt tasks that previously required professionals. AI can lower barriers and inspire people to build, but scaling and maintaining quality remain challenges. The hosts also observe renewed interest in the open web—RSS, personal blogs, the Fediverse—partly in response to the fragility of closed platforms. AI plus open platforms presents opportunities: empowerment to build, but also a need for standards, accessibility, and sustainable practices.
Practical opportunities
– Use major events as community moments to celebrate releases and learn how to better onboard contributors.
– Improve pre-release communications and dashboard teasers to increase early testing and awareness.
– Invest in automation and modular architecture to enable more flexible release models.
– Strengthen mentorship, education programs, and pathways from initial contribution to long-term roles.
– Leverage AI as a teaching and empowerment tool while preserving human-centered community aspects.
Closing
Jonathan is optimistic: he sees renewed enthusiasm to build with WordPress and believes aligning releases with community moments, improving contributor experiences, and embracing educational and mentorship efforts will help sustain the project. He can be found at jonathandesrosiers.com, and as desrosej across platforms and in the wordpress.org Slack.