What We Learned at WordCamp: The Future of WordPress

SUMMARY
At this year’s WordCamp US in Portland, Sandstorm joined the global WordPress community to hear directly from platform leaders, designers, and developers about what’s next for the world’s most widely used CMS. While many sessions dove deep into technical details, we walked away with insights that have direct implications for organizations looking to strengthen their digital presence. From AI-powered assistants to flexible design approaches and strategies for building stronger digital platforms, here are the big takeaways and what they mean for you.

Table of Contents

• A Vision from WordPress Leadership
• Design That Fits Every Screen
• AI Is Becoming Core to WordPress
• Building Stronger, More Resilient Platforms
• What This Means for You

A Vision from WordPress Leadership

In his keynote, Matt Mullenweg (WordPress founder and Automattic CEO) highlighted the platform’s momentum: WordPress.org visits are up nearly 20%, WordCamp events grew by 32%, and plugin reviews are moving faster than ever.

But what caught our attention were the new tools coming in WordPress 6.9 :

• Block comments: Teams will be able to leave editorial comments inside posts and pages, making content review easier.
• Command palette: A powerful keyboard shortcut tool to quickly move around the WordPress admin, cutting down clicks and speeding up workflow.

And yes, AI is front and center. A new WordPress Assistant will live inside the admin dashboard, helping content creators draft, edit, and manage posts. For more technical use cases, Automattic is piloting tools like Telex, an AI helper for developing Gutenberg blocks.

Design That Fits Every Screen

One session explored fluid design, a concept that goes beyond traditional responsive breakpoints. Instead of forcing layouts to “jump” at certain screen sizes, fluid design allows elements to scale smoothly across any device. This provides:

• Consistency across devices: From wide desktop monitors to mobile, the experience feels intentional, not patched together.
• Better content flexibility: Components like banners or callouts adapt without requiring editors to choose styles or add custom code.
• Future-proof design: As new device sizes emerge, fluid layouts can flex without a redesign.

This means delivering a polished, professional experience that builds trust no matter where audiences engage.

AI Is Becoming Core to WordPress

Another standout session focused on how WordPress is standardizing AI in core. The WordPress community is developing plugins and protocols that ensure AI tools “speak the same language” and integrate smoothly across the ecosystem.

Highlights included:

• PHP AI Client SDK: Simplifying how AI-powered tools are built into sites.
• Abilities API: Creating a standard way for plugins to register their AI capabilities, so they can work together seamlessly.
• MCP Adapter: Connecting WordPress to the Model-Content-Protocol, making it easier to integrate with third-party AI systems.

This means the future of WordPress will natively support AI-powered features, from personalized content to intelligent search to automated enhancements, without needing custom development every time.

Building Stronger, More Resilient Platforms

Finally, a session on platform fragility resonated strongly with us. Too often, organizations focus on front-end design while overlooking the stability of the platform itself. The risk? Lost revenue, security vulnerabilities, and bottlenecks that slow down campaigns.

The solution presented was the 3E Framework:

1. Audience Experience: Performance, design, and usability.
2. Creator Experience: Editorial workflow efficiency.
3. Developer Experience: Technical stability and DevOps processes.

A healthy platform balances all three. This reinforces the importance of investing not just in what your site looks like, but also how it performs for editors and developers behind the scenes.

What This Means for You

WordCamp confirmed that WordPress is evolving in ways that directly benefit organizations of all kinds:

• Faster workflows: with block comments, command palette, WordPress Assistant.
• Better user experiences: with a fluid design for consistency across devices.
• Smarter capabilities: AI standards paving the way for advanced personalization and automation.
• More stability: the 3E Framework for strong platforms.

At Sandstorm, we’re excited to bring these innovations to our clients, helping them stay ahead of the curve and be more efficient with their time and resources. Whether it’s leveraging AI for content efficiency, exploring fluid design for more polished user experiences, or strengthening platforms for long-term growth, the future of WordPress is opening new doors and we’re here to help unlock them. Have questions? We’re here to help .