Get ready for WordCamp US 2026 in Phoenix, AZ, August 16-19! The Hosting team is excited to have a table at Contributor Day on August 16th!
Contributor Days kick off each flagship WordCamp with a focus on community: dedicating a day for folks to come together to contribute to the WordPress Open Source Project. If you’d like to attend in person you can register for Contributor Day here. If you can’t be there in person, you can still contribute remotely!
This year, @jazzs3quence and @amykamala will be leading the Contributor Day Hosting table.
Every year contributors show up for the Hosting team in a big way to move team initiatives forward. Thank you all for your contributions to the team!
At the WCUS ‘26 Hosting table, you’re invited to work on team projects, like the distributed testing software and hosting handbooks.
What does the Hosting team do?
The Hosting team collaborates with web hosts and WordPress Core to maintain infrastructure-focused documentation and facilitate testing of pre-release WordPress versions on hosting systems. This helps inform the development process and ensure that WordPress and hosting platforms are compatible, error-free, optimized, and that version updates roll out smoothly.
Thank you to the more than 70 hosts who participate in distributed testing!
Schedule
Here is the schedule for WCUS 2026 Contributor Day:
- 08:00 Registration
- 09:00 Start contributing!
- 11:45 Group photo
- 12:00 Lunch break
- 13:30 Back to contributing
- 16:30 Wrap-up & team summaries
How to Contribute
To learn how to contribute to the Hosting Team, start by checking out the Hosting Handbook for details on the team and what it does. Folks will need a WordPress.org account, a Slack account, a GitHub account, and a computer with Git and a text or code editing software – because the team maintains handbook and automated testing projects through GitHub.
Hop into the #hosting Slack channel at any time with any questions or comments, especially if you’re contributing remotely, and feel free to join the #contributor-day Slack channel too!
Join In Person:
For those attending WCUS Contributor Day in person, check-in starts at 8:00 am local time. Don’t worry if you’ve never contributed to WordPress, folks are happy to help you navigate. Just ask!
Join Remotely:
Can’t make it in person? No problem! Remote contributors are invited to join on Sunday, August 16, 2026 at 16:00 UTC in the #hosting channel.
To check in and share that you’ve joined, drop a comment on this GitHub Issue: Roll Call: WCUS 2026 Contributor Day.
This year, the team will be working on:
- Distributed testing on hosting systems
- Test Runner improvements with a focus on multi-environment reporting and improving the test runner setup process
- Hosting Handbook updates
- Advanced Administration Handbook updates
Get involved with distributed testing
The Hosting Team maintains a PHPunit Test Runner and Reporter software that enables Web Hosts to test unreleased WordPress software updates on hosting platforms and report any conflicts, errors or issues that may need to be addressed. Many Hosts participate (thank you!) and are recognized with their results here.
Want to contribute by testing on your hosting system? Get Started with distributed testing here.
For hosts who already participate in testing, please check on your test runners, they are not ok. If you need help troubleshooting, the Hosting table is a perfect place to ask!
Test Runner improvements
This Contributor Day, the team will be working on support for running the hosting tests in different server environments:
- The idea is to be able to run the tests with different server configurations (e.g. PHP, MySQL/MariaDB versions) and send those test results back to the Testing Results page.
- There is an existing PR that needs testing and merge
- For more context, see the original proposal
- Once merged, changes will need to be made to the Reporter to support multiple test environments
Alternately, you can just snag any ticket you like, dig in, push, open, review, and test! Tickets and PRs available to work on can be found here:
Don’t code? Don’t worry! There are opportunities for everyone!
Handbook Updates
The Hosting Team maintains two handbooks: the WordPress Hosting Handbook and the Advanced Administration Handbook. This year the top priority for the handbooks is creating 7.0 and 7.1 PHP compatibility documentation in the Hosting Handbook, and working through the open issues and PRs for the Advanced Admin handbook.
Tickets and PRs to work on the handbooks are available here:
Anyone that speaks basic English can contribute to the Handbooks!
Getting Started
To work on open tickets
1) Fork the repository you wish to work on
2) Pick an issue and mention in the issue comments that you’re going to work on it. If you’re a member of the WordPress GitHub organization, assign the issue to yourself in GitHub. Otherwise a lead will assign the ticket to you.
3) Name your branch with the issue number, your name, and a WCUS26 prefix.
For example, if I want to work on Hosting Handbook issue #393, I’ll first comment that I am working on it, then hit the ‘assign yourself’ button on the upper right of the issue. Next, I’ll make a new fork of the repo or sync my existing fork, and git clone onto my local dev environment, or git pull into the ‘master’ branch on my existing clone. From there, I’ll checkout a new branch from main with the name WCUS26-393-jazzs3quence.
Learn how to install Git here, and some basic Git commands to get started!
Reviews
Once you’ve pushed your changes and opened a new pull request, tag some reviewers on the upper right of the PR. If you don’t know who to tag, feel free to tag a team rep: @kittenkamala, @zunaid, @jazzsequence
If you’re reviewing work yourself, make sure you’re added as a reviewer on the upper right of the ticket, and comment on the PR with any feedback with a mention of WCUS CD 2026.
Testing and Merges
PRs must have 2 approvals and be fully up to date with the base branch in order to be merged. Pay attention to the comments on your PRs in case follow up is needed!
Changes to the testing software must be tested on a hosting platform prior to being merged. If you’re doing testing make sure to comment on the PR with your findings, the hosting platform/specs, and don’t forget to mention in the comment that you tested during WCUS CD 2026.
See You There!
Contributor Days are always fun and inspiring, and it’s rewarding to build momentum on WordPress initiatives as a community. The Hosting Team is excited to welcome both new and experienced contributors to collaborate and add value in your own unique ways, while helping move Hosting Team projects forward!
Please join us at WCUS 2026 Contributor Day on August 16, 2026 to make WordPress hosting even better!
Can’t wait to see you there!