The Vardot Team: 10 Drupal Trends to Watch in 2025
Drupal.org blog: The new Contribution Records system
In the coming weeks, we are going to see some big changes in how (and where) credits are given when working on issues. The new system can do everything that the current system can, but it will enable us to progress further in the GitLab issue migration.
User and organisation profiles won’t change, and they will still have the same credit listings, only reading them from the new system. Likewise, marketplace ranking won’t change either.
Opening the door for GitLab issuesThe next significant milestone for us (Drupal Association and the Drupal community) is to migrate Drupal.org issues to GitLab issues, as this will provide everyone with the advantages of using a proven and dedicated system for managing project issues. This is part of the GitLab acceleration initiative that we started years ago.
However, an important part of working with Drupal is the credit recognition, for both individuals and organisations. Note that GitLab issues, while having numerous advantages when dealing with issues, queues, labels… lack the ability to attribute credit to individuals and organisations out of the box. You could attribute commits, but remember that many contributions do not require any code (and therefore commits), so we cannot rely on that.
Due to this, we will “decouple” the Contribution Records system from the issue management. We will connect them, but they will be two separate systems. This also opens the door to different ways of recording contributions for the future, such as providing credit for translations for Drupal from localize.drupal.org, for example.
The new system is built on the modern new.drupal.org site, and this will be the first part of the new site that the community will interact with.
It will look like the screenshot below, with a full page dedicated to the Contribution Record. We can see how the source issue is linked to it. All the fields will be pre-populated, including the contributors and their participation in the issue, so you won’t need to re-enter them again. There will be a link on every drupal.org issue that will take you directly to the Contribution Record page.
Maintainers will then, with the information given, choose whether or not to grant credit to each contributor. This is the case already with the current system.
As maintainer, you wiill still have a section to copy/paste the commit message, using the new commit message format.
And as a contributor, you will still be able to attribute your work as you do now.
Our initial integration makes the www.drupal.org read the credit information from new.drupal.org via API calls. These are:
- https://new.drupal.org/contribution-records-by-user
- https://new.drupal.org/contribution-records-by-organization
- https://new.drupal.org/contribution-records-by-organization-by-user
You should add filters to those endpoints, to limit the data to be retrieved. The options are documented in the README file of the underlying module.
What’s next?The first step is to adopt the usage of the new system, to check that all the data and marketplace calculations are unaffected, and to fix any possible issues that the new system could have.
We will have Drupal.org issues connected to the new Contribution Records, so we will all need to get used to going “to the new place” to record credit information. Remember that when we use GitLab issues, the workflow will be exactly the same.
This leads to what many of us have been waiting for a long time: the move to GitLab issues! We will open an opt-in period for projects to move their issues to GitLab and help us iron out the integration. After that opt-in period, we will progressively move issues for the rest of the projects. There will be a time when some projects will manage their issues via Drupal.org and some others via GitLab, but one thing will remain the same: the new Contribution Records system.
If you want to report bugs or give feedback you can do it via the issue queue for the Contribution Records module.
The Drop Times: The Boutique Agency Reckoning
The uncomfortable truth is finally being spoken aloud in Drupal circles: the boutique agency model might be dying. John Faber, Managing Partner at Chapter Three, deserves credit for finally asking the question that many have been avoiding: can pure-play Drupal agencies survive the current market? His recent LinkedIn post wasn't just provocative, it was overdue. For too long, we've watched agencies struggle with razor-thin margins, scramble for projects, and pretend that "craft over scale" is a sustainable business strategy when AI tools can now deliver functional websites faster than a junior developer can set up their local environment.
What makes this moment particularly telling isn't the economic pressure alone that's been building for years. It's the structural shift underneath. The value of a "developer hour" has fundamentally changed when clients can get 80% of what they need from AI-powered platforms for a fraction of the cost. The agencies caught in the middle (too small to pivot to enterprise consulting, too expensive to compete with automated solutions) are finding themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable squeeze. The responses to Faber's post revealed a community grappling with whether to double down on specialization or admit that the market has moved beyond their traditional offerings.
The irony is rich: Drupal, built on the principle of democratizing web publishing, may now be too complex for the very market segment that sustained its agency ecosystem. While enterprise clients still need sophisticated digital architecture, the small-to-medium projects that kept boutique shops profitable are evaporating. The question isn't whether agencies need to evolve, it's whether they have the capital and courage to transform before the window closes entirely.
INTERVIEWDISCOVER DRUPAL- Drupal Leaflet Choropleth Module: Create Interactive Geographic Data Maps Without Custom Code
- Can a Pure-Play Drupal Agency Survive? The Case for Reinvention
- Drupal Marketplace Pilot Will Launch Without Listing Fees, Focuses on Accessibility and On-Site Sales Options
- Proposal Seeks to Simplify Drupal Theme and Render Systems for Design System Support
- DrupalCamp Colorado 2025 Returns with AI Topics, Accessibility Commitments, and Free Events
- Drupal and PHP Communities Partnering for Longhorn PHP Conference 2025
- Splash Awards Germany & Austria 2025: Submissions Now Open
- Drupal Uruguay Meetup 2025: Connect, Learn, and Collaborate
- DrupalCon Chicago 2026 Call for Speakers Now Open
- Morpht Delivers NOCS Website Redesign in Three Weeks for National Child Safety Campaign
- Vardot Offers Free Enterprise Drupal Website Audit
- Drupal Career Online Next Semester Begins September 1
We acknowledge that there are more stories to share. However, due to selection constraints, we must pause further exploration for now.
To get timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook. You can also join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.
Thank you,
Sincerely
Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor, The DropTimes.
Dries Buytaert: Claude Code meets Drupal
Can AI actually help with real Drupal development? I wanted to find out.
This morning, I fired up Claude Code and pointed it at my personal Drupal site. In a 30-minute session, I asked it to help me build new features and modernize some of my code. I expected mixed results but was surprised by how useful it proved to be.
I didn't touch my IDE once or write a single line of code myself. Claude handled everything from creating a custom Drush command to refactoring constructors and converting Drupal annotations to PHP attributes.
If you're curious what AI-assisted Drupal development actually feels like, this video captures the experience.
The Vardot Team: How to Implement Google Analytics 4 (GA4) Event-Based Tracking for Deeper Insights
Golems GABB: Monitoring tools for Kubernetes: Prometheus vs Grafana vs Datadog
Kubernetes operates without pause; that's why it needs ongoing monitoring. Otherwise, small issues will turn into big losses: from a decrease in system performance to the loss of users. This is particularly true for Drupal projects, where a mere lag of a few seconds might cause users to leave. Honestly, for us, monitoring isn't just "nice to have"—it's the bedrock of staying competitive online. It's how we catch problems before they blow up, figure out where our resources are really going, and constantly boost efficiency. The main contenders here are Datadog, Grafana, and Prometheus, and they each tackle metric collection and processing in their own unique way. So, how do these tools actually compare? Let's get into their unique features.
1xINTERNET blog: 1xINTERNET Drupal AI Initiative Monthly Report - June 2025
Dive into the Drupal AI Initiative's progress in June 2025. Discover how 1xINTERNET is helping to build a foundation for AI-powered content management through key contributions in workflow, collaboration, and outreach.
The Drop Times: The Drupaler-Therapist Who Diagnoses More Than Code
DDEV Blog: Watch: DDEV from scratch with Windows WSL2
Want just the 10-minute version of a DDEV WSL2 Install? Check out the New GUI Installer: Get DDEV Running on Windows in Just 10 Minutes for a quicker setup using the GUI installer.
This screencast walks you through setting up a complete DDEV development environment on Windows using WSL2, starting completely from scratch. Whether you're new to DDEV, WSL2, or local development environments in general, this step-by-step guide will get you up and running quickly.
What You'll LearnDDEV Fundamentals: Understanding what DDEV is and why it's become the go-to solution for local web development. The video explains that DDEV is a Docker-based local development environment aimed at web developers, mostly PHP and Node developers. Key benefits include:
- Developers can run websites on their local computer with almost no configuration
- Multiple projects can run simultaneously, each with different configurations
- Docker handles all the heavy lifting, so you don't even need PHP or Composer or Node on your host computer
- First-class support across macOS, Linux, Windows, and WSL2 - it works the same on every platform
WSL2 Setup and Benefits: WSL2 (Windows Subsystem for Linux version 2) transforms Windows development by providing a real Linux kernel running alongside Windows. The video covers the key advantages and considerations:
Advantages:
- Complete Linux environment on your Windows machine - fast and capable
- Amazingly fast web serving with DDEV/Docker CE
- You're working with an environment much like the one you'll deploy to
Considerations:
- Linux on your Windows machine means yet another system to learn and remember
- Context switches between Windows and WSL2 environments
- You must work in the WSL2 filesystem rather than Windows filesystem (optimized for web apps, not Microsoft Word)
Complete Installation Process: The video covers every step of the installation process, including:
- Setting up WSL2 from scratch using the wsl --install command
- Running the new DDEV Windows installer that automatically configures your distro for Docker CE
- Understanding why you need to work in the WSL2 file system instead of the Windows NTFS filesystem for optimal performance
Real-World Usage: Beyond just installation, you'll see DDEV in action with:
- Creating a simple PHP project and launching it with trusted HTTPS certificates
- Installing Drupal 11 using ddev composer create-project
- Essential DDEV commands like ddev describe, ddev snapshot, and ddev export-db
- Advanced IDE integration with both PhpStorm and VS Code, including Xdebug debugging
Professional Development Features: The video demonstrates advanced workflows including:
- Setting up Xdebug debugging in both PhpStorm and VS Code
- Working with DDEV projects from within WSL2-integrated IDEs
- Understanding Docker Desktop vs Docker CE trade-offs for professional development
- Best practices for file system performance and cross-platform compatibility
This screencast follows the official DDEV WSL2 Installation Docs, but provides additional context, troubleshooting tips, and real-world examples to ensure your success.
Here's the video table of contents (opens on YouTube):
- Introduction and What is DDEV? (0:00)
- What is WSL2? (1:56)
- WSL2 Advantages and Disadvantages (2:50)
- WSL2 Installation Process (5:30)
- DDEV Windows Installer and Docker Setup (12:54)
- Creating a Simple PHP Project (16:14)
- Creating a Drupal 11 Project with Composer (21:27)
- Essential DDEV Commands (25:25)
- PhpStorm Integration and Xdebug Setup (30:38)
- VS Code Integration and Debugging (39:22)
- Docker Desktop vs Docker CE Discussion (46:55)
- What about Traditional Windows? (49:06)
- Wrap-up and Community Resources (50:12)
ImageX: Top Drupal Modules and Features for A Compelling Event Section
Events are more than just dates on a calendar. They’re opportunities to build trust and visibility for your brand, educate and inspire your audience, and spark meaningful actions like registrations, donations, or follow-ups.
Dries Buytaert: AI and the great digital agency unbundling
Dries Buytaert: Exploring a marketplace for Drupal site templates
This is an unusual post for my blog, but I'm sharing it to start a broader conversation about an idea we're exploring: a marketplace for Drupal Site Templates. Both the Drupal CMS Leadership Team and the Drupal Association have discussed this concept, but no decision has been made. I'm posting to share our current thinking and invite feedback as we shape this together.
This post will also be cross-posted to Drupal.org, where comments are open. You're also welcome to join the conversation in the #drupal-cms-marketplace channel on Drupal Slack.
In my DrupalCon Atlanta keynote, I introduced the concept of Site Templates for Drupal. If you haven't seen my keynote yet, I recommend watching it first. It provides helpful context for the rest of this post.
Site Templates provide pre-configured website starting points that combine Drupal recipes, themes, and default content. While Site Templates will help users launch websites faster, I also posed a bigger question: should we create a marketplace where users can discover and download or install these templates? And if so, should that marketplace offer only open source Site Templates, or should we also allow commercial templates?
What are Site Templates?Site Templates combine Drupal recipes, a theme, design elements, and default content to give users a fully functional website right from the start. They solve one of Drupal's biggest challenges: the time it takes to build a site from scratch.
Unlike a bare Drupal installation, a Site Template provides all the components needed for a specific use case. A restaurant template might include menu management, reservation systems, and food photography. A nonprofit template could feature donation processing, event management, and impact reporting tools.
Why consider a marketplace?A Drupal marketplace for Site Templates would:
- Help new users launch a professional-looking site instantly
- Showcase Drupal's full potential through high-quality starting points
- Generate new revenue opportunities for Drupal agencies and developers
- Support Drupal's long-term sustainability through a revenue-sharing model with the Drupal Association
Fully open source Site Templates align naturally with Drupal's values. They could function much like community-contributed modules and themes, and we hope that many contributors will take this approach.
A marketplace requires ongoing investment. The Drupal Association would need to maintain the platform, review submissions, provide support, and ensure templates meet high standards. Without dedicated resources, quality and sustainability would suffer.
This is why supporting both open source and commercial templates makes sense. Paid templates can create a sustainable revenue stream to fund infrastructure, quality control, and support.
Commercial incentives also give creators a reason to invest in polished, well-documented, and well-supported templates.
How can a template be commercial while respecting Drupal's open source values?First, rest assured: Drupal modules will always be open source.
Drupal is licensed under the GNU General Public License, or GPL. We've always taken a conservative approach to interpreting the GPL. In practice, this means we treat any code that builds on or interacts closely with Drupal as subject to the GPL. This includes PHP, Twig templates, etc. If it relies on Drupal's APIs or is executed by Drupal, it must be GPL-licensed.
Some parts of a site template fall into a gray area. JavaScript is an example. If JavaScript code is integrated with Drupal, we treat it as GPL-covered. If JavaScript code is standalone, such as a self-contained React component, it may not be considered a derivative work. The same may apply to CSS or configuration files not tightly coupled with Drupal APIs. These cases aren't always clear, but our stance has been to treat all code that ships with and interacts with Drupal as GPL. This keeps things simple.
Other parts of a Site Template are likely not subject to the GPL. Assets like images, fonts and icons are not code and are not derived from Drupal. The same applies to demo content, such as placeholder text or sample articles. These elements are not integrated with Drupal in a technical sense and can use other licenses, including commercial ones.
So when we talk about a commercial Site Template, we mean one that combines open source code with separately licensed assets or is sold alongside value-added services like documentation, support, or updates.
What would people actually be paying for in a commercial template?While the legal distinction clarifies which parts of a Site Template can be licensed commercially, it's only part of the picture. The real question is the value proposition: what are users actually paying for when they choose a commercial template?
When purchasing a commercial template, users wouldn't just be paying for code. They're potentially paying for:
- Professional design assets and media
- Time saved in configuration and setup
- Documentation and support
- Ongoing updates and maintenance
This approach aligns with the Free Software Foundation's stance (the organization that created the GPL), which has always supported commercial distribution of free software. Creating a commercial template means balancing open source code with separately licensed assets. However, the real commercial value often extends beyond just the files you can license differently.
A sustainable commercial strategy combines proper licensing with controlled distribution channels and value-added services, like support. This approach ensures the value of a site template isn't limited to easily copied assets, but includes expertise that can't be simply downloaded. This is how a template can be commercial while staying true to Drupal's open source values.
How would we maintain quality in the marketplace?A marketplace filled with low-quality or abandoned templates would damage Drupal's reputation. To ensure quality we probably need:
- Technical reviews of templates for security and performance
- Standards for documentation and support
- Processes to handle outdated or abandoned templates
- Community ratings and reviews
- Processes for resolving disputes
These quality assurance measures require ongoing time, effort, and funding. This is why including a commercial component makes sense. A revenue-sharing model with template creators could help fund platform maintenance, reviews, support, and other efforts needed to keep the marketplace high quality and trustworthy.
What pricing models might be available?We don't know yet, but we've heard many good suggestions from the community.
Ideas include one-time purchases for unlimited use, annual subscriptions with ongoing updates, and a marketplace membership model for template creators.
The marketplace could support multiple approaches, giving creators flexibility to choose what works best for their offerings.
Is it fair for template creators to profit while module contributors aren't paid?When a site template is sold commercially, it raises an important question. What about the maintainers of the modules included in the template? The template builder receives payment. The Drupal Association may collect a revenue share. But the individual contributors who created the modules or core functionality do not receive direct compensation, even though their work is essential to the Site Template.
This may feel frustrating or unfair. Contributors often donate their time to improve Drupal for everyone. Seeing others earn money by building on that work without recognition can be disheartening, and could even discourage future contributions. It's an important concern, and one we plan to take seriously as we evaluate the marketplace model.
At the same time, this dynamic is not new. Agencies and developers already build paid Drupal sites using contributed modules without directly compensating the people who made the underlying code possible. This is both legal, expected, and common in open source.
A marketplace would not create this reality, but it would make it more visible. That visibility gives us a chance to confront a long-standing tension in open source: the gap between those who contribute foundational work and those who profit from it. As I wrote in Makers and Takers, sustaining open source requires a better balance between contribution and benefit. A marketplace could give us a way to explore new approaches to recognize, support, and sustain the people who make Drupal possible. Transparency alone won't solve the issue, but it opens the door to progress and experimentation.
When commercial activity happens off Drupal.org, there is no way to recognize the contributors who made it possible. When it happens on Drupal.org, we have an opportunity to do better. We can explore models for financial support, community recognition, and long-term sustainability.
Others could build marketplaces for Drupal templates, but these would likely focus on profit rather than community support. An official Drupal Association marketplace allows us to reinvest in the project and the people behind it. It keeps value within our ecosystem, and gives us a platform to explore more equitable ways to sustain open source contribution.
Would this hurt digital agencies?Many organizations pay thousands of dollars to digital agencies as part of a custom Drupal build. If Site Templates are available at a much lower cost, will that undercut agencies?
I don't believe it will.
Organizations investing in a Drupal website are not paying for a theme alone. Agencies provide strategy, consulting, design, customization, user testing, performance optimization, and long-term support. A template offers a starting point, but doesn't replace tailored work or a trusted partnership.
Could templates help agencies grow?A template marketplace could expand the Drupal ecosystem by lowering the barrier to entry, making Drupal accessible to smaller organizations. Some of these will grow and require custom solutions, creating more opportunities for agencies in the long run.
Templates can also serve as powerful demonstrations of an agency's capabilities, attracting clients who want similar but customized solutions. For agencies, templates become both a product and a marketing tool.
What revenue opportunities would digital agencies have?A template marketplace offers two revenue streams for Drupal agencies and freelancers.
First, agencies would earn direct income from template sales through revenue-sharing with the Drupal Association. While this income might be modest, it could provide recurring revenue as the marketplace grows.
Second, templates could serve as a foundation for more comprehensive service packages, including hosting, maintenance, and customization services.
How would templates connect agencies with new clients?A marketplace could connect end users directly with service providers. With proper consent, contact details from template purchases could be shared with creators, opening the door to professional service opportunities. Template listings could also include a built-in contact form, making it easy for users to request customization or support.
This lead generation benefits both sides. Users access trusted professionals who understand their implementation, while agencies connect with qualified prospects who have already invested in their work. A marketplace becomes a matchmaking platform connecting those who need Drupal expertise with those who provide it.
Why is now the right time for this initiative?With Drupal CMS, we're focused on growth. To succeed, we need to address two long-standing challenges: the lack of ready-made themes and a steep learning curve. Some of our new tools (Recipes, Experience Builder, and Site Templates) allow us to address these longstanding issues.
The result? We can take Drupal's flexibility and make it more available across different markets and use cases.
What was the initial reaction at DrupalCon?The day after my keynote, we organized a Birds of a Feather (BoF) session to discuss the marketplace concept. Approximately 75 people attended, representing a cross-section of our community.
The discussion was lively and constructive. Participants raised thoughtful concerns about quality control, licensing, and impact on module contributors. They also offered suggestions for implementation, pricing, and sustainability models.
At the session's conclusion, we informally polled the audience. We asked people to raise their hand showing 1 finger if they thought a marketplace was a terrible idea, and 5 if they considered it a very impactful idea. Most responses were 4, with some 5s. Very few people indicated less than 3.
This initial reaction is encouraging, though we recognize that much work remains to address the questions raised during the session.
We also opened the #drupal-cms-marketplace channel in Drupal Slack to continue the conversation with the wider community.
What are the next steps?The Drupal CMS Leadership Team and the Drupal Association Innovation Working Group have been exploring this idea the past month.
We believe it could be one of our strongest opportunities to grow Drupal adoption, support our Maker community, and strengthen the Drupal Association. (As a disclaimer: I serve on both the Drupal CMS Leadership Team and the Drupal Association Board of Directors.)
To be clear, no decision has been made. We recognize this initiative would have a substantial impact on our community and ecosystem. Before moving forward, we need to assess:
- Feasibility: Can we build and operate a marketplace efficiently?
- Sustainability: How will we support ongoing operations?
- Ecosystem impact: How would this affect contributors, agencies, and users?
- Funding: How do we bootstrap this initiative when we don't have spare resources?
- Values alignment: Does this approach honor Drupal's open source principles?
- Governance: Who makes decisions about the marketplace and how?
We cannot and should not make these assessments in isolation. We need the Drupal community's involvement through:
- Research into similar marketplaces and their impact
- User experience design for the marketplace interface
- Technical prototyping of the marketplace infrastructure
- Financial analysis of various revenue models
- Legal research on open source licensing considerations
- Community input on governance structures
Our goal is to make a decision by DrupalCon Vienna, 6 months from now, or sooner if clarity emerges. We want that decision to reflect input from the CMS Leadership Team, the Drupal Association Board, Certified Drupal Partners, and the wider Drupal community.
We're chartering a Marketplace Working Group with stakeholders from across the Drupal ecosystem. I'm pleased to announce that Tiffany Farriss (Drupal Association Board Member) has agreed to lead this effort. Please join the #drupal-cms-marketplace channel on Drupal Slack to share your thoughts and follow the conversation.
Drupal's greatest strength has always been its community and adaptability. I believe that by thoughtfully exploring new ideas together, we can make Drupal more accessible and widely adopted while staying true to our core values.
Thank you to everyone on the Drupal Association Innovation Working Group and the Drupal CMS Leadership Team who took the time to review this post and share thoughtful feedback. I really appreciate your input.
Dries Buytaert: State of Drupal presentation (March 2025)
Three months ago, we launched Drupal CMS 1.0, our biggest step forward in years. Our goal is ambitious: to reimagine Drupal as both radically easier to use and a platform for faster innovation.
In my DrupalCon Atlanta keynote last week, I reflected on the journey so far, but mostly talked about the work ahead. If you missed the keynote, you can watch the video below, or download my slides (56 MB).
If you want to try Drupal CMS, you can explore the trial experience, use the new desktop launcher, or install it with DDEV. If you're curious about what we're working on next, keep reading.
1. Experience BuilderSome of the most common requests from Drupal users and digital agencies is a better page-building experience, simpler theming, and high-quality themes out of the box.
At DrupalCon Atlanta, I shared our progress on Experience Builder. The keynote recording includes two demos: one highlighting new site building features, and another showing how to create and design components directly in the browser.
I also demonstrated how Drupal's AI agents can generate Experience Builder components. While this was an early design experiment, it offered a glimpse into how AI could make site building faster and more intuitive. You can watch that demo in the keynote video as well.
We still have work to do, but we're aiming to release Experience Builder 1.0, the first stable version, by DrupalCon Vienna. In the meantime, try our demo release.
2. Drupal Site TemplatesOne of the biggest opportunities for Drupal CMS is making it faster and easier to launch a complete website. The introduction of Recipes was a big step forward. I covered Recipes in detail in my DrupalCon Barcelona 2024 keynote. But there is still more we can do.
Imagine quickly creating a campaign or fundraising site for a nonprofit, a departmental website for a university, a portfolio site for a creative agency, or even a travel-focused ecommerce site selling tours, like the one Sarah needed in the DrupalCon Barcelona demo.
This is why we are introducing Site Templates: ready-made starting points for common use cases. They help users go from a fresh install to a fully functional site with minimal setup or configuration.
Site Templates are made possible by Recipes and Experience Builder. Recipes provide higher-level building blocks, while Experience Builder introduces a new way to design and create themes. Site Templates will bring everything together into more complete, ready-to-use solutions.
If successful, Site Templates could replace Drupal distributions, a concept that has been part of Drupal for nearly 20 years. The key advantage is that Site Templates are much easier to build and maintain.
3. A marketplace discussionThe first Site Templates may be included directly in Drupal CMS 2.0 itself. Over time, we hope to offer hundreds of site templates through a marketplace on Drupal.org.
At DrupalCon Atlanta, I announced that we'll be exploring a marketplace for Site Templates, including the option for Commercial Site Templates. We believe it's an idea worth evaluating because it could bring several benefits to the Drupal project:
- Help new users launch a professional-looking site instantly
- Showcase Drupal's full potential through high-quality examples
- Generate new revenue opportunities for Drupal agencies and developers
- Support Drupal's sustainability through a revenue-sharing model with the Drupal Association
You can watch the keynote recording to learn more. I've also published a detailed blog post that dives deeper into the marketplace idea.
Looking aheadDrupal CMS has brought a lot of fresh momentum to the Drupal project, but we're not done yet! The rest of this year, we'll keep building on this foundation with a clear set of priorities:
- Launching Experience Builder 1.0
- Releasing our first Site Templates
- Expanding our marketing efforts
- Exploring the launch of a Site Template marketplace
- Building out our AI framework and AI agents
If you have time and interest, please consider getting involved. Every contribution makes a difference. Not sure where to begin? Join us on Drupal Slack. We're always happy to welcome new faces. Key channels include #drupal-cms-development, #ai, #experience-builder, #drupal-cms-templates, and #drupal-cms-marketplace.
As I said in the keynote: We have all the pieces, now we just need to bring them together!
Dries Buytaert: How AI could reshape CMS platforms
Imagine waking up to discover that overnight, AI agents rewrote 500 product descriptions, reorganized 300 pages for SEO, and updated 9,000 alt-text descriptions on your website.
As you review the changes over coffee, you find three product descriptions featuring nonexistent features. If published, customers will order based on false expectations. Then you notice another problem: AI rewrote hundreds of alt-text descriptions, erasing the ones your team crafted for accessibility.
AI-driven content management isn't a distant scenario. Soon, Content Management Systems (CMS) may deploy hundreds of AI agents making bulk edits across thousands of pages.
The challenge? Traditional CMS workflows weren't designed for AI-powered editing at scale. What features should an AI-first CMS include? What safeguards would prevent errors? What workflows would balance efficiency with quality control? I'm outlining some rough ideas to start a conversation and inspire Drupal contributors to help build this future.
1. Smart review queues: scaling human oversightAI-generated content needs different quality checks than human work. Current editorial workflows aren't optimized to handle its output volume.
I envision "AI review queues" with specialized tools like:
- Spot-checking: Instead of manually reviewing everything, editors can sample AI content strategically. They focus on key areas, like top-selling products or pages flagged by anomaly detection. Reviewing just 5% of the changes could provide confidence; good samples suggest the broader set works well. If issues are found, it signals the need for deeper review.
- Rolled-up approvals: Instead of approving AI edits one by one, CMS platforms could summarize large-scale AI changes into a single reviewable batch.
Say an AI translated your site into Spanish with mixed results. Meanwhile, editors updated the English content. Without sophisticated versioning, you face a tough choice: keep poor translations or roll everything back, losing days of human work.
CMS platforms need Git-like branch-based versioning for content. AI contributions should exist in separate branches that teams can merge, modify, or reject independently.
3. Configuration versioning: keeping AI from breaking your CMSAI isn't just generating content. It is also modifying site configurations, permissions, content models and more. Many CMS platforms don't handle "configuration versioning" well. Changes to settings and site structures are often harder to track and undo.
CMS platforms also need Git-like versioning for configuration changes, allowing humans to track, review, and roll back AI-driven modifications just as easily as content edits. This ensures AI can assist with complex site management tasks without introducing silent, irreversible changes.
4. Enhanced audit trails: understanding AI decisionsStandard CMS audit logs track who made changes and when, but AI operations demand deeper insights. When multiple AI agents modify your site, we need to know which agent made each change, why it acted, and what data influenced its decision. Without these explanations, tracking down and fixing AI errors becomes nearly impossible.
AI audit trails should record confidence scores showing how certain an agent was about its changes (60% vs 95% certainty makes a difference). They need to document reasoning paths explaining how each agent reached its conclusion, track which model versions and parameters were used, and preserve the prompt contexts that guided the AI's decisions. This comprehensive tracking creates accountability in multi-agent environments where dozens of specialized AIs might collaborate on content.
This transparency also supports compliance requirements, ensuring organizations can demonstrate responsible AI oversight.
5. AI guardrails: enforcing governance and quality controlAI needs a governance layer to ensure reliability and compliance. Imagine a healthcare system where AI-generated medical claims must reference approved clinical studies, or a financial institution where AI cannot make investment recommendations without regulatory review.
Without these guardrails, AI could generate misleading or non-compliant content, leading to legal risks, financial penalties, or loss of trust.
Instead of just blocking AI from certain tasks, AI-generated content should be checked for missing citations, regulatory violations, and factual inconsistencies before publication.
Implementing these safeguards likely requires a "rules engine" that intercepts and reviews AI outputs. This could involve pattern matching to detect incorrect content, as well as fact verification against approved databases and trusted sources. For example, a healthcare CMS could automatically verify AI-generated medical claims against clinical research databases. A financial platform might flag investment advice containing unapproved claims for compliance review.
Strategic priorities for modern CMS platformsI can't predict exactly how these ideas will take shape, but I believe their core principles address real needs in AI-integrated content management. As AI takes on a bigger role in how we manage content, building the right foundation now will pay off regardless of specific implementations. Two key investment areas stand out:
- Improved version control – AI and human editors will increasingly work in parallel, requiring more sophisticated versioning for both content and configuration. Traditional CMS platforms must evolve to support Git-like branching, precise rollback controls, and configuration tracking, ensuring both content stability and site integrity.
- AI oversight infrastructure – As AI generates and modifies content at scale, CMS platforms will need structured oversight systems. This includes specialized review queues, audit logs, and governance frameworks.
Talking Drupal: TD Cafe #007 - Stephen & Nic: Drupal Hooks Continued
In this episode of Talking Drupal Cafe, Stephen and Nic continue Talking Drupal #510's discuss about Drupal Hooks. They discuss the challenges, successes, and the importance of community collaboration in open-source projects. Nic also touches on the personal impact of working on Drupal core and the balancing act between contributing to the project and client work. Along the way, they share personal anecdotes, including a discussion on watches and coffee preferences. Watch this insightful conversation to better understand the evolution of Drupal hooks and the dedication behind core development.
For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/cafe007
Topics Stephen CrossStephen Cross is a seasoned Drupal developer, community advocate and content creator with over a two decades of experience building and optimizing web applications. In 2013 he founded and still hosts the Talking Drupal podcast, a community show where he’s published over 500 interviews and deep-dives with core contributors, agency leads and end-users—helping drive best practices and innovation across the ecosystem. Capitalizing on his podcast production expertise, Stephen also offers end-to-end remote video podcast services: he handles all technical planning, multi-camera recording, post-production editing and distribution, so clients can focus solely on their content. He’s used this service to help real-estate, fitness, interior-design and other niche shows establish polished, engaging interview- and panel-style programs. Outside of Drupal and media, Stephen is an horology enthusiast, he collects Casio and mechanical watches, and is a Linux and Raspberry Pi enthusiast.
Nic LaflinNic Laflin is an accomplished Drupal architect and the founder of nLightened Development LLC, a web development and design firm established in 2008 that leverages highly extensible CMS frameworks to solve complex business challenges. They’ve been working with Drupal since late 2008, delivering creative solutions for a diverse roster of clients—from government agencies and e-commerce platforms to higher-education institutions and HIPAA-compliant medical services. Recently, Nic has focused on Native Web Components for platform-agnostic design, and has deep experience integrating AWS and building mobile application back ends. A recognized Drupal guru, Nic speaks regularly at regional Drupal camps and co-hosts the Talking Drupal podcast, where they share best practices and innovations with the community. Outside of technology, Nic enjoys building with LEGO, experimenting in the kitchen, and designing home automation projects. You can learn more at www.nlightened.net.
- Discussing the Game Blueprints
- Drupal Hooks and Core Contributions
- Procedural vs Object-Oriented Hooks
- Challenges and Project Management
- Bulk Conversion and Future Steps
- Scaling Back and Procedural Hooks
- Challenges and Lessons Learned
- Balancing Core Contributions and Client Work
- Documentation and Community Awareness
- Impact on Client Work
- Core Committers and Project Management
- Coffee Preferences and Personal Interests
- Conclusion and Final Thoughts
Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan Stephen Cross - StephenCross.com