drupal

DrupalCon has always been a conference by the community, for the community—and as we look ahead to DrupalCon North America 2026 in Chicago, we’re making thoughtful changes to ensure it continues to reflect those values.

After a successful DrupalCon Atlanta, we’ve taken time to reflect, gather feedback, and make updates that prioritize access, sustainability, and community connection.  Each of the changes outlined below is rooted in one or more of these values—whether it's improving affordability, building lasting relationships, or creating a more efficient and inclusive event experience. With guidance from the DrupalCon North America Steering Committee, we’re excited to share a refreshed ticket structure, updated volunteer policies, a reimagined Expo Hall, and a renewed focus on summits, trainings, and collaboration.

What’s New for 2026

Ticket Pricing: More Affordable, More Accessible

We’ve simplified and lowered the cost of general admission tickets to make DrupalCon more accessible—without sacrificing the quality of experience our community expects. These changes were driven by feedback from past DrupalCon attendees, the North American Steering Committee, and the community at large, all of whom expressed a strong desire for more affordable access to the event.

Ticket Tier Atlanta 2025 Chicago 2026 Savings Early Bird $890 $575 $315 Regular $990 $700 $290 Late/Onsite $1,190 $850 $340

Early Bird registration opens September 15, 2025 and is open for 16 weeks!
Secure your ticket early to lock in the best rate.

Camp & Local Association Ticket Perks

For every 5 tickets purchased from a Drupal camp or local association, that community will receive 1 complimentary ticket to share with a deserving community member, with a max of 10 complimentary tickets per local camp or association. It's our way of reinvesting in local leadership and participation.

Updated Volunteer Ticket Policy

This change reflects our focus on access and sustainability. In our DrupalCon Atlanta recap blog, we highlighted how streamlined operations improved the event experience for attendees and volunteers alike. Building on that momentum, we recognized the need for clearer guidelines to ensure volunteer opportunities are distributed fairly and effectively.

We’ve updated the volunteer ticket structure to make it more equitable and scalable:

• Volunteer under 20 hours → 25% discount
• Volunteer 20+ hours → Complimentary ticket

These tickets are non-transferable and may not be combined with other discounts.

Previously, volunteer ticket codes were sometimes misused or distributed without proper oversight. These updated guidelines help preserve full complimentary tickets for those who contribute a significant amount of time and effort, while also creating new opportunities for others to attend at a reduced rate.

Additionally, we’ve streamlined the on-site registration process with self-check-in, reducing the need for a large number of on-site volunteers and allowing us to focus support where it’s most impactful.

Learn more and sign up to volunteer.

Summits & Trainings: Real Talk, Real Skills

Summits are one of DrupalCon’s most valuable opportunities for industry-specific collaboration and knowledge sharing. Designed to connect attendees working in the same verticals, these events offer focused access to speakers with real-world experience, engaging roundtable discussions with peers in similar roles, and meaningful conversations about shared challenges. Attendees walk away with practical takeaways and lasting connections, while participating sponsors have a chance to introduce themselves to leaders in the space in an organic, relevant way.

Taking place Monday, 23 March 2026.

Industry & Community Summits

Join peers in:

• Healthcare
• Higher Education
• Government
• Nonprofit
• Community

Each summit features two half-day sessions that do not conflict with the main conference program, creating space for meaningful discussion and idea sharing.

Summit Type Atlanta 2025 Chicago 2026 Industry Summit $250 $300 Community Summit Free Free for RippleMaker members, $50 for non-member
(Click HERE to become a Ripple Maker)

Lunch is not included with the Community Summit, but a lunch ticket add-on will be available for purchase during registration.

Trainings

DrupalCon Trainings remain at $500 and offer deep-dive, expert-led learning opportunities on a wide range of Drupal skills.

More Community Updates

You’ll notice more networking spaces, and informal meeting zones—especially in the Expo Hall and hallways. We’re doubling down on meaningful, unstructured connections.

These changes are only possible through thoughtful cost management and the continued support of our sponsors. Their partnership helps us keep ticket prices accessible while delivering the high-quality experience the community expects. We’re grateful to those who invest in DrupalCon and help us create an event that welcomes and supports everyone.

Traveling from Outside the U.S.?

The Drupal Association is happy to issue official invitation letters for those requiring a visa.

Request your visa letter here.

Letters are generated automatically—just complete the form and check your email (including spam folders).

Key Dates

Milestone Date Program at a Glance Released 6 June 2025 Call for Speakers Opens 21 July 2025 Early Bird Registration Opens 15 September 2025 Call for Speakers Closes 26 September 2025 Grants & Scholarships Applications Open 1 October 2025 Grants & Scholarships Applications Close 31 October 2025 Session Notifications to Speakers 12 November 2025 Grant & Scholarship Recipients Announced 12 November 2025 Regular Registration Opens 5 January 2026 Conference Schedule Available 13 January 2026 Late Registration Opens 23 February 2026 DrupalCon Chicago 23-26 March 2026

Stay at the Heart of the Action

Hilton Chicago is DrupalCon’s official headquarters hotel—and it's where the magic happens.

From morning coffee chats to late-night strategy sessions in the lobby, this is where the community connects. Staying on-site helps you maximize your time, make spontaneous connections, and be part of the full experience.

Book your room at the Hilton Chicago.

Sponsorship Updates

We’re reimagining our sponsorship offerings to better connect you with the Drupal community—bringing fresh opportunities and updated packages designed for greater visibility, value, and impact.

Want to be the first to know when they go live? Email partnerships@association.drupal.org and we’ll make sure you're on the list.

Let’s Build What’s Next—Together

DrupalCon is more than just a conference—it’s the beating heart of our community. These changes help us keep that heart strong, inclusive, and accessible.

We can’t wait to see you in Chicago, 23-26 March 2026. 

Welcome to the July 2025 DDEV Newsletter
This month: Downgrading Terminus for old PHP, FrankenPHP, Advisory Group meeting and Governance proposal, Shopware Storefront and Admin Watchers, Writing your first Drupal 10 Functional Test, and more.

What’s New

• How to Downgrade Terminus in DDEV's Web Container and Customize Other Bundled Tools
  A guest blog by Bill Seremetis explaining the problem with an old PHP version and Pantheon's Terminus, and how to fix it. → Read more↗
• Experimenting with FrankenPHP in DDEV
  Stas Zhuk explains two ways to use FrankenPHP in DDEV. → Read more↗
• July 2025 DDEV Advisory Group Meeting meeting notes and recording! → Read more↗.

Community Tutorials

• From DevOps Headaches to Seamless Onboarding: How Dropping Chocolatey Made DDEV the Perfect Fit for a Client's Drupal Team → Read more↗
• Shopware Storefront and Admin Watchers with DDEV → Read more↗
• How to Write Your First Functional Test in Drupal 10 → Read more↗

Governance & Roadmap

• Apache Foundation-inspired Project Management Committee Exploration
  See a proposed early update to the DDEV Foundation's Articles of Incorporation, aiming us at governance like the Backdrop CMS folks have → Details↗

Sponsorship Status

• Monthly average income down slightly from $7,809 to $7,759 (65% of $12,000 goal). Every contribution helps sustain our work—thank you! → Become a sponsor↗

Stay in the loop—follow us and join the conversation

• Blog↗
• LinkedIn↗
• Mastodon↗
• Bluesky↗
• Discord↗

We recently overhauled our typography at The DropTimes to better serve the Drupal community. By switching to IBM Plex for our content and Atkinson Hyperlegible for social media, we focused on readability, accessibility, and a stronger visual identity. This redesign reflects our mission to build a clearer, more inclusive experience—and to document that journey openly.

Our work began well before the formal announcement of the AI Initiative. Drupal Developer Days, in April, for example was a focused week of meetings, healthy debate, collaboration and consensus building which laid the foundations for the Initiative. 

Launching marketing efforts

Much has already been achieved in raising awareness of Drupal AI. Thanks to the efforts of James Abrahams, Marcus Johansson, Frederik Wouters and many others, there is already a strong body of material in place — including high-quality presentations, conference talks, and resources such as workflows-of-ai.com — all showcasing the capabilities of Drupal AI.

With the announcement of the Drupal AI Initiative, comes support from The Drupal Association, permission to create pages on Drupal.org in prominent locations, agency to scale marketing efforts. Part of the backing offered by the 6 founding companies of the AI initiative is resources to deliver marketing, both time and money. This is already starting to deliver tangible results.

A growing team

In the beginning the team consisted of Frederik Wouters (Drop Solid) and myself (1xINTERNET). Immediately following Drupal Dev Days we started creating content for the new landing pages, working with Dries on the announcement video, collaborating with designers at 1xINTERNET to produce supporting imagery. In parallel staff from all the initiative founding companies were preparing exhibition stands, printed materials and social media in preparation to exhibit at AI Summit London.

Webinar Series with The European Commission (EC)

In the meantime James Abrahams (Freely Give) and Dries were preparing for the launch of the Drupal AI webinar series in partnership with the EC. Following the resounding success of the Drupal@Europa Web Platform Hackathon, the European Commission agreed to host a webinar series which will be run by our team, the first recording of which is available to watch on YouTube. Be sure to register for the upcoming webinars in the series.

AI Summit London

Literally the day after the AI Initiative launch, we were heading for London to showcase Drupal AI at AI Summit, a leading business-focused conference on artificial intelligence, held annually as part of London Tech Week. Our exhibiting supports objectives of The Drupal Association to see Drupal's profile raised at major marketing and digital industry events globally.

Together with colleagues from Drop Solid, Freely Give, Amazee.io, 1xINTERNET, the Drupal Association and Acquia, we came together with a shared purpose to represent Drupal AI at this event. It brought together stakeholders from government, the public and cultural sectors, and enterprise, all exploring how AI can be meaningfully integrated into their organisations.

We took the opportunity to capture some interviews introducing the AI Initiative and to explain how the focus it brings will see momentum in Drupal taken to another level.

Drupal AI Ask Me Anything

Our aim is to run regular Webinars to help keep the community aware of our progress, educate and raise awareness amongst potential customers and end users of the potential of Drupal AI offers. This month we organised our first webinar, an AMA aimed towards Drupal community members. You can access a recording and read highlights here.

Join our weekly AI Marketing meetings

With the launch announcement completed, we have now established weekly meetings on Monday 17:00 BST to accommodate our growing and global team. We’d love to have you join us. If you would like an invite, please drop us a message on #ai-initiative-marketing Slack, which is our primary collaboration channel.

We are pleased to now have several active contributors to the marketing team including: 

• Matthew Saunders (matthews)
• Kristen Pol (kristen pol)
• Lenny Moskalyk (lenny-moskalyk)
• Jason Lewis (jason-lewis)
• Maggie Schröder
• Alan Botwright
• Jennifer Griffin Smith
• Owen Milbury
• Nick Koger (nkoger)
• Matt Wetmore
• Frederik Wouters (wouters_f)
• myself (pdjohnson)

You can get a sense of the work we have planned in the AI Initiative issue queue. These are particularly well suited to anyone seeking to make non code contributions including content creation, marketing strategy, media outreach, project management, community affairs. There is plenty to do, we are happy to mentor and onboard new contributors. Start your journey today!

Photos: Paul Johnson available on Flickr (AI Summit, Drupal Developer Days)

Upgrade from Drupal 10 to Drupal 11: A Step-by-Step Guide bhavinhjoshi Mon, 07/07/2025 - 12:07

Upgrading your Drupal site from version 10 to 11 is a great way to keep your website secure, fast, and ready for the future. Drupal 11, released in August 2024, brings exciting features like improved performance, a modernized user interface, and updated APIs for seamless integration with modern technologies.

The transition from Drupal 10 to 11 is smoother than past major upgrades, thanks to Drupal’s semantic versioning. This guide walks you through the process with practical steps to ensure a seamless upgrade.

Follow our step-by-step guide to upgrade your Drupal site smoothly.

Why Upgrade to Drupal 11?

Before diving into the steps, let’s explore why upgrading matters. Drupal 11 offers:

• Enhanced Security: Stricter API access controls and automatic updates keep your site safer.
• Better Performance: Optimized caching and faster database queries mean quicker page loads.
• Modern Features: Updates like CKEditor 5’s autoformatting, Symfony 7, and single directory components (SDC) make content management and development easier.
• Future-Proofing: Drupal 10 support ends in mid-2026, so upgrading now keeps you ahead.

Step 1: Prepare Your Site

Preparation is key to a smooth upgrade. Here’s what to do:

• Back Up Everything: Save your codebase, database, and files using tools like Drush (drush sql-dump) or your hosting provider’s backup feature. Test the backup to ensure it’s restorable.
• Update to Drupal 10.3+: Drupal 11 requires at least Drupal 10.3.0. Run composer update drupal/core-recommended --with-dependencies to update.
• Check Hosting Requirements: Ensure PHP 8.3+, MySQL 8.0+, MariaDB 10.6+, or PostgreSQL 16+. Note that Microsoft IIS is not supported.
• Audit Your Site: Remove unused modules, themes, or content to streamline the process.

Step 2: Check Module and Theme Compatibility

Drupal 11 removes deprecated modules and updates dependencies. Ensure compatibility with these steps:

• Install Upgrade Status Module: Use composer require drupal/upgrade_status and run drush upgrade_status:analyze. Check the report at Admin > Reports > Upgrade Status.
• Update Contributed Modules: Run composer update and verify module compatibility on Drupal.org.
• Review Custom Code: Use Drupal Rector (composer require --dev palantirnet/drupal-rector) to fix deprecated code.
• Handle Removed Modules: Install contributed versions of removed core modules (e.g., Statistics) to preserve functionality.

Step 3: Set Up a Staging Environment

Never upgrade on a live site. Create a staging environment:

• Clone Your Site: Copy your codebase and database to a separate server or local environment.
• Test Functionality: Ensure all features work as expected before proceeding.

Step 4: Perform the Upgrade

With your site prepped, follow these steps:

1. Grant Write Permissions:
    

   chmod 777 web/sites/default chmod 666 web/sites/default/*settings.php chmod 666 web/sites/default/*services.yml

2. Update Core with Composer:
    

   composer require 'drupal/core-recommended:^11' 'drupal/core-composer-scaffold:^11' 'drupal/core-project-message:^11' --no-update composer require 'drush/drush:^13' --no-update composer update

3. Run Database Updates:
    

   drush updb -y drush cr -y

4. Export Configuration:
    

   drush cex -y

5. Revert File Permissions:
    

   chmod 755 web/sites/default chmod 644 web/sites/default/*settings.php chmod 644 web/sites/default/*services.yml

Step 5: Test Thoroughly

Test your site in the staging environment:

• Check key functionalities (forms, views, content types).
• Verify custom and contributed modules.
• Test across browsers and devices.
• Review the status report (Admin > Reports > Status) for errors.

Step 6: Deploy to Production

Once tested, deploy to production:

• Back up your production site.
• Deploy the updated codebase and database.
• Run drush updb -y and drush cr -y.
• Monitor for issues.

Troubleshooting Tips

• Composer Errors: Use composer why-not drupal/core 11.0.0 to identify dependency issues.
• Missing Modules: Install contributed versions of removed core modules.
• Custom Code Issues: Check module issue queues or Drupal forums for manual fixes.
• Performance Hiccups: Optimize caching settings post-upgrade.

Final Thoughts

Upgrading from Drupal 10 to 11 is manageable with careful planning. By updating to Drupal 10.3+, auditing modules, fixing code, and testing thoroughly, you’ll minimize risks. The result? A faster, more secure site ready for Drupal 11’s modern features.

Need more tips on securing your Drupal site? Explore our security guide to keep your site safe post-upgrade.

Have questions or tips about Drupal upgrades? Share them in the comments below!

Drupal 11 Drupal Planet Upgrade

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Object-Oriented Form API in Drupal 11 admin Fri, 07/04/2025 - 17:09

TL;DR

After watching my enterprise client’s Drupal developers lose hours every week wrestling with raw Docker Compose for local development, I championed a switch to DDEV, the open‑source tool that gives “container superpowers with zero required Docker skills” (ddev.com). One of the snags on their Windows laptops was the Chocolatey package manager, whose install path clashed with locked‑down corporate security policies. Working with DDEV maintainer Randy Fay, I removed the Chocolatey dependency, paving the way for a leaner installer that shipped in version 1.24.5. Development team members now onboard much quicker, and leadership can point to measurable productivity gains.

The Starting Point: Docker Compose Drag

My client’s legacy workflow relied on a bespoke Docker Compose stack. Developers routinely diverted time to babysit containers as well as copying their work in and out, instead of writing code. This echeos industry findings that more than 58% of engineers lose 5‑plus hours per week to “unproductive work”. This DevOps overhead impacts their developer experience (DX), which is a distraction from their actual work.

Enter DDEV

DDEV abstracts all that Docker plumbing with simple commands (e.g. ddev start, ddev stop) while still running everything locally. Its promise, “environments in minutes, multiple concurrent projects, and less time to deployment”, resonated immediately.

Why It Mattered for Drupal

A Drupal codebase is never just PHP; it drags along Composer, Drush, front‑end toolchains, and database snapshots. DDEV’s predefined Drupal preset provides a reproducible stack with Nginx/Apache, MariaDB, and Mailhog out of the box.

A Windows Speed‑Bump Called Chocolatey

The developers work on locked‑down Windows laptops. DDEV’s install script used the Chocolatey package manager, which corporate policies block from writing to its default location. Workarounds involved various hurdles, exactly the sort of DevOps toil they wanted to eliminate.

Collaborating Upstream: Issue #6636 → PR #7049

While in research mode, I discovered Issue #6636, maintainers themselves wanted to drop Chocolatey but hadn’t had the bandwidth to do so. I volunteered a pull request that:

• removed Chocolatey from the installation process, and
• no longer required an Administrator Powershell; an unprivileged user could install it in a terminal.

The patch was merged on April 10, 2025.

Release v1.24.5: Goodbye Chocolatey

A month later, the change landed in v1.24.5 with a shout‑out in the release notes: “Chocolatey removed from automated Windows installation scripts. Thanks to @colans.” It’s now simpler for Windows developers to install DDEV, and they don’t have to be an administrator.

Business Case (as pitched to leadership)

“Container superpowers with zero required Docker skills” isn’t just marketing. Here’s the quantified rationale I presented:

1. Zero Docker config: ddev start replaces hand‑rolled Compose files.
2. No central registry maintenance: Images build locally.
3. Host‑level commands: ddev drush status or ddev composer install without docker exec.
4. Unified file system: The code lives on the host, eliminating copy‑in/out cycles.
5. Safe rebuilds: Deleting containers never loses work.
6. Always‑on Git: blame, diff, and branch with the active code without stepping into the container.
7. First‑class Composer: Composer‑managed Drupal is just a ddev composer require away.

Outcomes

• Onboarding time dropped from half a day (or more) to an hour (or less).
• Additonal support for broken sandboxes fell to nearly zero.
• Developers now focus on development, not troubleshooting containers, or moving code in and out of them.

Gratitude

I’d like to thank Randy Fay for prompt code reviews, patient feedback, and for shepherding the change into a release.

Ready to Try?

Head to the official DDEV installation documentation and give it a spin. And if you’re stuck on Windows, it’s now much easier to install.

This article was originally published on the BackUpScale blog.

Background

Our customer dashboard, which will soon be used for managing subscriptions to our backup service (and not just newsletters and our contact form, as we’re doing now), is built on the Drupal data management framework. Until now, we’ve been hosting it with a company that specializes in hosting very specific types of applications, like Drupal. This wasn’t working for us because our service is running in our Kubernetes cluster at a cloud service provider that specializes in managed Kubernetes hosting, which let’s us run whatever applications we want, and configure them however we need. The challenge was getting the dashboard to communicate securely with our other applications.

It needs to communicate with our back-end systems in the Kubernetes cluster to:

1. send requests from customers to provision services,
2. configure customer accounts, and
3. receive status information from back-end services to create log entries that users can see in their accounts.

Why the old approach broke down

In order for things to work with the old set up, we’d have to:

• expose internal applications to the Internet (so the dashboard site could access them), and
• add additional layers of security to the communications to ensure privacy.

We didn’t feel as confident with this set-up as moving everything into our private Kubernetes network, which protects all of our services with a single firewall. Keeping non-public facing services within that network ensures that they’re not accessible by anyone on the greater Internet (except our staff using the company VPN), which ensures greater security and privacy for our users.

In order to make the change, we needed to be able to run a Drupal site within Kubernetes. Given that Drupal is a popular framework, and Kubernetes is a popular container orchestration system, we assumed that there would be good options for putting them together using open-source infrastructure as code (IaC) to handle the automated provisioning (we automate everything here). However, we weren’t able to find anything that could help us.

Evaluated options

We explored the following options:

• Bitnami’s Helm chart (no longer supported as of 2021)
• Jeff Geerling’s Drupal Operator (no longer supported as of early 2025)

The Bitnami Helm chart did at least one very strange thing: It was placing the Drupal code files on the persistent volume instead of placing them in the container image. We wanted the Drupal code (or at least the Composer files that build it along with any custom code) to be version controlled with Git. When we tried to work around this, they made it very difficult to make these changes.

Jeff Geerling simply stopped recommending his earlier approach (except for potentially hosting many sites on a hosting platform), and said that he currently uses his own Kubernetes primitives. So we took that idea, and expanded on it to build a fairly complete solution. Once we had something that worked for us, we believed we could make it generic enough to make it available to everyone else. So that’s what we did.

This move eliminated two Internet-facing endpoints and let us apply a single network-policy layer to all microservices. Additionally, running inside the cluster removes a public load balancer, and shrinks latency.

Meet “Drubernetes”

Because we automate all of our infrastructure with Terraform, we just released Drubernetes, a new module in the Terraform Registry, which provisions Drupal onto a generic Kubernetes cluster. It shouldn’t matter where your cluster is, who’s managing it for you, or if you’re managing it yourself on your own hardware. We wanted to provide something standardized that everyone can use and build from.

Contribute

Contributions are welcome! Please try it, and provide any feedback that you may have. The project is hosted on Gitlab.com, and any issues can be opened from the board.

As always, if you have questions or feedback, feel free to reach out. We appreciate your support and can’t wait to bring you the next chapter of BackupScale.

Noah’s Page Builder rolls out its biggest update yet bringing AI-assisted text, instant multilingual translation, reusable widgets, and a revamped interface to the Drupal ecosystem. Built with full transparency and no paywalls, this tool continues to prioritize the community over monetisation.

The BIG Idea: Open, Safe AI for Everyone

At its core, the Drupal AI Initiative is about helping organisations adopt AI responsibly. As Paul Johnson put it:

“We’re looking to tell the amazing story of how Drupal AI can help organisations that want to adopt AI that is safe and in a way where freedom remains to make their own choices.” - Paul Johnson

The group shared updates on work happening in AI Core, including modules for agents, logging, testing, and a new Experience Builder that aims to make page creation smarter without compromising on security or trust.

“I’m not a programmer myself. Everything we've done with AI we’ve tried to build in a way that analysts, PMs, even content editors can make use of.” - Jamie Abrahams

Key Points From the Q&A

Attendees asked important questions, and were answered transparently:

• Funding: Smaller agencies raised concerns about staying competitive in a rapidly evolving AI space. The group discussed options like the Makers funding program and collaborative approaches to share costs.

• Safe adoption: Several participants asked how to keep up with AI’s breakneck pace while avoiding dead-ends. The consensus: stick to open standards, contribute upstream, and share what works.

• Contribution paths: For developers and marketers alike, there are plenty of ways to get involved, from writing documentation to building modules to promoting best practices. Join the Drupal AI Marketing Weekly to pitch in.

“Most important, we are here to listen to your feedback.” - Baddy Breidert

How To Get Involved

All the slides from the session are available here. You’ll also find handy links:

• Drupal AI Strategy PDF

• Starshot AI Initiative page

• Developer Docs

• Connect with Dominique or Jamie to get hands-on.

What Can You Do Next?

• Watch the recording: Welcome to the Drupal AI Initiative

• Join the conversation: Hop into the AI issue queue, Slack channels, or reach out to the working group.

• Stay tuned: More sessions, training, and contribution sprints are on the way, including the Drupal GovCon AI training and hack-a-thon later this year.

This initiative will only succeed if it’s shaped by the whole community. If you care about building a safe, open, and innovative Drupal AI ecosystem. Your input matters.

“Please stay tuned for the upcoming webinars and upcoming news.” - Lenny Moskalyk

And See you next time!