WordPress 7.0 Is in Its Final Countdown — Here’s What Developers Need to Know
Published March 27, 2026 on Make WordPress Core, the official WordPress 7.0 Release Candidate Phase, Pt. 2 post outlines the final policies and procedures now in effect as the project heads toward its April 9, 2026 general release. With RC2 already out the door, the WordPress core team has locked things down tight.
🚀 Trunk Is Now WordPress 7.1-Alpha
In a significant milestone, WordPress 7.0 has been copied to its own dedicated branch. The main trunk is now open for the next version of WordPress — 7.1-alpha. This means active development on the next release cycle has already begun, even as 7.0 heads to its final release.
🔒 Double Sign-Off Required for All Backports
Any production code backported to the 7.0 branch now requires double sign-off by two core committers. The process uses two Trac keywords:
dev-feedback— used to request a second committer’s reviewdev-reviewed— added once a second committer has approved the commit
This stricter process ensures only critical, well-vetted changes make it into the final 7.0 release.
🌐 String Freeze Is Locked In
The hard string freeze that began with RC1 remains fully in effect. No new strings are permitted. Exceptions may only be made for critical strings (such as the About page) and must be tagged with i18n-change in Trac with the Polyglots team notified. Existing strings can be removed or duplicated as needed, but no new ones can be added.
📋 What Can Still Be Committed to the 7.0 Branch?
For the remainder of the release cycle, only two types of tickets may remain on the 7.0 milestone:
- Regressions — bugs introduced during the WordPress 7.0 development cycle, whether in existing or new features
- Test suite expansion — new or expanded tests can be committed at any time, regardless of code or string freezes
📅 Key Dates to Remember
- March 26, 2026 — WordPress 7.0 RC2 released
- March 27, 2026 — Trunk branched to 7.1-alpha; final RC policies published
- April 9, 2026 — WordPress 7.0 general release at WordCamp Asia Contributor Day
💡 Key Takeaway for Developers
If you’re maintaining plugins or themes, now is the time to test against the latest RC. The April 9 launch is firm, and the core team is in full stabilization mode. Any issues you find should be reported immediately via core.trac.wordpress.org.
Hashtags: #WordPress #WordPress70 #WebDevelopment #WPDev #OpenSource #WordCamp #CMS
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