The Core Team will release WordPress 6.9 in early December. Before that happens, the project is in the testing phase, and the Core Team needs you! The #core-test team is currently focused on testing the latest Release Candidate (RC) version, and we encourage everyone in the community to jump in and contribute.
Sometimes, users think that to contribute to the WordPress Core, they need to be highly skilled developers. But the WordPress project also needs contributors for documentation, translation, design, and testing.
Why is this testing phase so important?
This is where we identify and resolve those final issues, uncover unexpected bugs, and refine new features before releasing them to millions of websites.
WordPress powers more than 40%, which requires extensive testing. Your testing helps millions of WordPress sites.
How You Can Contribute
You don’t need to be a technical person or a seasoned developer to help. We need people with diverse views and varying levels of experience to test the new UI and features, providing valuable real-world feedback.
To help, navigate to the WordPress Playground at https://playground.wordpress.net?wp=beta, which will open the latest release candidate version. WordPress Playground will provide a temporary environment in which you can test without fear of making mistakes.
WordPress 6.9 includes these features:
- Notes: Add annotations within the editor
- Block visibility controls: Hide specific blocks from the inserter
- Command Palette: Keyboard shortcuts available everywhere
- Custom icons: For the social links block
- Border radius size presets
The Core Test team created a complete testing guide with step-by-step instructions.
Plugin and Themes Testing
If you are a site owner or plugin developer, this is an opportunity to test if your plugins and themes are compatible with the new version of WordPress. So, install your plugins and themes on the WordPress Playground by adding URL parameters:
https://playground.wordpress.net?wp=beta&theme=[YOUR_THEME]&plugin=[PLUGIN_1]&plugin=[PLUGIN_2]
Learn mode in the Query API Guide.
Spot Something?
If you encounter any issues but aren’t sure if it’s a bug or where to report the problem, share them on the WordPress alpha/beta forums. If you are confident that you have found a bug in WordPress Alpha/Beta/RC, report it on Core Trac for rollback auto-updates and the Gutenberg GitHub repository for every other feature.
For helpful reporting guidelines, refer to the Test Reports section of the Test Handbook and review the Core Team guidelines for Reporting Bugs.