News Roundup

Heise reports that Drupal CMS 2.0 brings a visual page builder and optional AI tools to simplify site creation. The update shifts Drupal closer to non-technical users while improving performance at the core level. It signals a move toward a more accessible and AI-assisted open-source CMS.

MidCamp sessions from 2025 are now available on Drupal.tv. Watch the Dries fireside chat or explore event archives back to 2014. Drupal.tv offers on-demand access to years of community content.

DrupalCon Chicago 2026 invites submissions for community-led social events taking place March 23–26. While independently hosted, these events—ranging from board game nights to themed gatherings—can be officially listed for greater visibility. Accepted events will be listed on the conference website and must comply with the Drupal Code of Conduct.

Ron Ferguson used Drupal 11 to build an AI-powered eBook archive for personal use. The private system features automated metadata ingestion, Solr-based search, and Ollama-generated summaries. It functions as a local lab project focused on structure, discoverability, and experimentation.

Drupal in a Day is a free, beginner-friendly training session offered during DrupalCamp Grenoble 2026. Participants will build a complete Drupal site and engage with the open source community, supported by experienced trainers and the Drupal Open University initiative.

Dom Nicastro reports that Drupal CMS 2.0 gives marketers visual building and AI tools that reduce dependence on developers. Dries Buytaert describes the release as a response to how AI is changing both CMS expectations and agency business models. The update positions Drupal as a more accessible but still governed platform for enterprise teams.

Drupal Pivot Ghent 2026 brought together European agency leaders to discuss how Drupal must evolve in the face of AI disruption, shrinking margins, and strategic uncertainty. Talks focused on digital sovereignty, service sustainability, and rethinking Drupal’s market position. The event spotlighted a growing need for productisation, sovereign AI alignment, and actionable collaboration across the ecosystem.

DrupalSouth has extended its session submission deadline to 11:59 PM NZDT, Friday, 6 February 2026. They’re inviting Drupal community members of all experience levels to propose lightning, standard, or extended sessions, with support and encouragement for first‑time speakers. Accepted presenters get a complimentary ticket, and organisers will work with speakers on format and scheduling.

Droptica has released Open Intranet 1.7.0 with major UI and messaging improvements. The update swaps in the Gin admin theme, adds SMSAPI support, and improves accessibility. It’s a solid step for Drupal-based intranets serving non-desk staff and global teams.

DrupalCamp Poland 2026 invites proposals from developers and professionals. Sessions are capped at 45 minutes, including Q&A. The event takes place on 16 May in Wrocław.

Joe Shindelar introduces a course on Drupal Recipes via Drupalize.me. The series shows how to use and create recipes to reduce site setup time. It’s for both developers and site builders working with Drupal CMS.

ReactOnline highlights how the EU Open Source Week in Brussels is placing digital sovereignty at the top of Europe’s tech agenda. The blog connects Drupal’s open model to EU goals for independence and resilience. With policy shifts underway, open source is becoming a core strategic priority, not just a technical choice.

Grzegorz Bartman announces a new Messenger module for Open Intranet. It lets organisations contact staff via SMS and email—even without system logins. The tool avoids licensing costs and includes message tracking.

Drupal CMS 2.0 introduces visual building tools and AI-driven workflows aimed at easing adoption for non-developers. The release supports marketing teams while preserving Drupal’s open, extensible architecture. Dries Buytaert links these changes to larger trends around digital sovereignty and content control.

As part of global celebrations marking Drupal’s 25th anniversary, community veterans in Denmark gathered at Nordens Hus in Copenhagen. The event brought together early contributors to reflect on the CMS’s enduring value, from structured content to open-source resilience. Though local participation has waned, the conversation reinforced why Drupal remains a practical, powerful tool even after two decades.

Barry Fisher of Pivale says teams risk losing control by relying too much on SaaS. He calls for clear audits of digital dependencies and fallback plans. Open-source platforms like Drupal help organisations stay in charge as things change.

Acquia has extended the Engage Awards deadline to 13 February. The awards spotlight digital transformation using Drupal and Acquia tools. Teams now have more time to gather results and refine entries.

From Xuzhou to Konstanz, Edinburgh to Minneapolis, this week’s Drupal events reflect a thriving global network. Whether in person or online, these gatherings support skills-building, collaboration, and community bonding. Several meetups also explore practical development workflows and emerging tools.

The robots.txt file tells search engine bots which parts of a Drupal site to crawl and skip. Drupal includes a sensible default, but site owners can edit it directly or use a module-based UI. Smart configuration improves crawl efficiency without blocking critical assets.

Drupal Pivot convened contributors and agency leaders to assess industry pressures and the project's future. Topics included AI readiness, sovereignty, and Drupal's resilience. The event coincided with the launch of Drupal CMS 2.0, marking a moment of change.

Pivale has released Commerce Referral, a new module for Drupal Commerce. It enables flexible, promotion-based referral workflows without enforcing a fixed interaction model. Site builders can now tailor referral incentives with native Commerce controls and business rules.

Acquia will host a live webinar on February 4, 2026, featuring Dries Buytaert and industry experts. The session explores how AI is transforming content ops—from assistance to autonomous execution. Leaders will gain strategies for future-proofing digital delivery and leveraging LLMs as discovery engines.

Ivan Zugec explains how DDEV helps developers run Drupal locally using Docker. The tutorial covers initial setup commands, container management, database workflows, and IDE integration. It serves as a practical roadmap for building efficient local development environments.

AI increases Open Source input but not review capacity. Dries Buytaert urges contributor-led AI trials before adoption. Protecting maintainers is central to Drupal’s future.

Droptica identifies common maintenance mistakes that jeopardise Drupal sites. Issues include missing tests, manual deployments, and neglected audits. The guide also explains practical ways to keep Drupal stable, secure, and efficient.

Dominique De Cooman outlines Dropsolid’s journey toward an open, AI‑enabled digital experience platform. He explains how market pressures and long‑term investments shaped the split into Dropsolid Solutions and Dropsolid AI. This episode examines what it takes for a Drupal business to adapt to changing technology and market conditions

Joachim Noreiko shared a step-by-step tutorial on using Rector to convert Drupal hooks into class methods. The process leverages HookConvertRector to modernise procedural code and applies PHPCS for cleanup. It's a useful guide for updating legacy modules to align with Drupal's shift to object-oriented programming.

Dries Buytaert built a content export pipeline from Drupal to GitHub. It uses SSH, cron-like scheduling, and a custom Drush command to convert nodes to Markdown and track changes. This pattern provides developers with a clean way to version content outside the CMS.

Mike Herchel shared how an unclosed HTML tag broke Drupal JavaScript on a single settings page. The DOM was malformed, placing the drupalSettings script inside an unexpected <em> tag. It’s a sharp reminder that even small markup errors can cause major frontend failures.

Drupal CRM enters beta with entity-based architecture. Built to replace unscalable node-based CRM patterns. Now adopted by real-world Drupal initiatives.

Priyanka Phukan of Specbee explains what Drupal consulting covers and when it's needed. From migrations to governance, consultants help align Drupal with business goals and reduce technical debt. The post also outlines typical costs and tips for choosing the right partner.

Drupal CMS 2.0 delivers a real-time builder and AI-assisted workflows. Templates and components speed up professional site delivery. Built for non-developers, it keeps Drupal’s enterprise depth.

Acquia has deployed Drupal AI across its editorial workflows, as detailed in a new blog by Greg O'Toole. Live use cases include one-click content translation, tone control for brand voice, and AI-generated alt text. This rollout shows how Drupal AI tools can scale multilingual and accessible content production.

Drupal.org is rolling out a new GitLab-based issue workflow for migrated projects. Maintainers now manage labels, boards, and contributions directly through GitLab's interface. This flexible, project-centric shift modernises collaboration and aligns with open-source standards.

Zoocha has announced a company-wide rebrand as a digital experience agency powered by Drupal. Driven by client demand, the agency now delivers end-to-end CX services that go beyond UX/UI and development. The move signals Zoocha’s expanded role in digital transformation while keeping Drupal at its core.

FlowDrop Episode 4 introduces working loop execution, as shown by creator Shibin Das. The demo processes a chat message with a ForEach loop, displaying step-by-step output in the UI. This update makes FlowDrop more viable for real-world workflow automation in Drupal-based systems.

Drupal maintainer Théodore Biadala tested Claude Code during a live month of development work. The tool solved some tasks but also caused hidden bugs, subtle regressions, and time sinks that didn’t build his domain knowledge. He later quit cold, warning about burnout and the illusion of productivity.

Ivan Mendoza at Capellic shows how to fix mixed content sorting in Drupal Views when types use different date fields. He uses a custom Search API processor to index a unified date field per content type so Views can sort consistently. This keeps Views simple, improves performance, and scales to new content types without field duplication.

DrupalCamp Grenoble has opened ticket sales for its April 2026 edition. The three‑day event brings together the Drupal community for talks, contribution sessions, and networking, with discounted tickets available by contacting the organisers.

drunomics becomes a Silver Maker in the Drupal AI initiative, deepening its involvement in building production‑ready AI capabilities for Drupal. Current work includes maintaining and extending the Mistral provider module, supporting European data sovereignty, and advancing Canvas AI, governance workflows, and human‑centred AI collaboration.

Why do government agencies use Drupal for public websites? It meets strict rules on security, accessibility, and compliance. The CMS also scales well and supports multilingual, transparent delivery.

Drupal sites that rely on SimpleSAMLphp for SSO face blocked Drupal 11 upgrades due to Symfony dependency conflicts. Robert Arias explains how to migrate to the SAML Authentication module (which uses the OneLogin toolkit) and outlines environment‑specific considerations and common pitfalls for a seamless transition.

Mike Herchel appeared on a Pantheon livestream with Chris Reynolds to explore Drupal’s commercial future. They discussed Dripyard’s component-based themes and the emerging marketplace. Key topics included site templates and single directory components.

The Ottawa Drupal community meets on February 19 to explore Drupal CMS 2.0 updates. Hosted by Salman J., it includes hybrid access and a preview of DrupalCamp Ottawa 2026. Expect hands-on discussion, upgrade stories, and early hints at a 2027 community project.

Deuteros makes Drupal unit testing faster and easier by providing test doubles for entities, eliminating the need for slow kernel tests. Developed at Tag1 using AI‑assisted tools, it is now free and open source for anyone to use.

New CKEditor features include footnotes for inline citations, line height control for layout consistency, and restricted editing for defined editable regions. Improvements span watermark support in export and compatibility fixes. Structured workflows and editorial precision are enhanced without promoting proprietary plans.

TD Cafe #013 explores the “Drupal in a Day” initiative aimed at computer science students. Hilmar Hallbjörnsson and Martin Anderson-Clutz discuss its format, campus rollouts, and community potential. It’s a one-day jumpstart that’s bringing fresh talent into Drupal from the classroom up.

SparkFabrik outlines how Drupal handles multilingual content in the GenAI era without losing editorial control. TMGMT, combined with AI services like Lara Translate, enables scalable, workflow-based translation. It’s a hybrid model—automation speeds things up, but strategy and human review preserve quality.