The first Release Candidate (“RC1”) for WordPress 7.0 is ready for download and testing!
This version of the WordPress software is still under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it’s recommended to evaluate RC1 on a test server and site.
WordPress 7.0 RC1 can be tested using any of the following methods:
| Plugin | Install and activate the WordPress Beta Tester plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the “Bleeding edge” channel and “Beta/RC Only” stream.) |
| Direct Download | Download the RC1 version (zip) and install it on a WordPress website. |
| Command Line | Use this WP-CLI command: wp core update --version=7.0-RC1 |
| WordPress Playground | Use the WordPress Playground instance to test the software directly in your browser. No setup required – just click and go! |
The scheduled final release date for WordPress 7.0 is April 9, 2026. The full release schedule can be found here. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible. Thank you to everyone who helps with testing!
Please continue checking the Make WordPress Core blog for 7.0-related posts in the coming weeks for more information.
What’s in WordPress 7.0 RC1?
What’s new in WordPress 7.0? Check out the Beta 1 announcement and WordPress 7.0 Developer Notes for details and highlights.
RC1 contains more than 134 updates and fixes since the Beta 5 release. You can browse the technical details for all issues addressed since Beta 5 using these links:
- GitHub commits since March 12, 2026
- Closed Trac tickets since March 12, 2026
New Features since Beta 1
The release squad in conjunction with project leadership identified additional features that were not ready for beta 1 but are included in RC1 as supporting requirements for flagship features of the release.
- AI Connectors Screen – A new admin screen for connecting AI providers to your site and an API for registering additional ones.
- The Command Palette is now available via a
⌘KorCtrl+Kshortcut in the admin bar.
Want to look deeper into the details and technical notes for this release? These tickets and pull requests are just some of the latest updates:
- #GB-76700: Client Side Media as plugin only
- #GB-76722: Add support for non-AI providers on Connector’s Screen
- #GB-76736: New activation hook to enable RTC by default
- #64904:
WP_ALLOW_COLLABORATIONconstant for RTC - #GB-76704: Increased polling intervals for RTC
- #GB-76643: Real Time Collaboration is opt-in by default
- #GB-76460: Toggle to turn RTC session notifications on/off
- #62046: Update PHP AI Client package to 1.3.1
- #GB-76550: Revisions: Show changed block attributes in sidebar
- #62067: Single config option to disable all LLM related features
- #63697: OPCache added to
Site Health > Info > Server
The final release is on track for April 9, 2026. As always, a successful release depends on your confirmation during testing. So please download and test!
How you can contribute
WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world’s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.
Help test this release
Testing for issues is crucial to the development of any software. It’s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute. Your help testing the WordPress 7.0 RC1 version is key to ensuring that the final release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This detailed guide will walk you through testing features in WordPress 7.0.
What to test:
If you encounter an issue, please report it to the Alpha/Beta area of the support forums or directly to Trac if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report. You can also check your issue against a list of known bugs.
Test on your hosting platforms
Hosting systems provide vital infrastructure for supporting WordPress and its users. Testing on hosting infrastructure ensures that WordPress and hosting systems are fully compatible, free of errors, optimized for the best possible user experience, and that updates roll out to customer sites without issue. Thank you to all web hosts who test WordPress!
Want to set up testing on your hosting system? Get started with configuring distributed hosting tests here.
Update your theme or plugin
For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.
Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 7.0 beta releases. With RC1, you’ll want to conclude your testing and update the “Tested up to” version in your plugin’s readme file to 7.0. If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the support forum.
Curious about testing releases in general? Follow along with the testing initiatives and join the #core-test channel on Making WordPress Slack.
Help translate WordPress
Do you speak a language other than English? ¿Español? Français? Русский? 日本語? हिन्दी? বাংলা? मराठी? ಕನ್ನಡ? You can help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages. This release milestone (RC1) marks the hard string freeze point of the 7.0 release cycle. However, strings will not be available for translation until RC2 later this week.
An RC1 haiku
RC1 arrives
with momentum, sped up time
and jazz on the mind.
Props to @4thhubbard, @desrosj, @jeffpaul, @chaion07, @audrasjb, @jorbin for collaboration and review.