News Roundup

Drupal's relevance at the top end of the web remains strong, with nearly 7% adoption among the top 10,000 sites, far outpacing Adobe Experience Manager. Sebastien Lissarrague highlights a clear trend: modern Drupal versions are steadily gaining ground as Drupal 7 phases out. The data shows a vibrant, evolving CMS community ready for large-scale digital challenges.

Vignesh Sadagopal of QED42 showcases how Drupal’s structured content integrates with a custom Model Context Protocol (MCP) server for AI-powered interactions. The setup connects property listings in Drupal to an AI agent via JSON:API, enabling real-time, context-rich querying in tools like VS Code. MCP acts as a smart middleware, enhancing data flow between Drupal and language models for advanced AI applications.

Hilmar Hallbjörnsson's Drupal Open University initiative creates open-source teaching materials to bridge the gap between computer science education and modern web development with Drupal. A special "Drupal in a Day" student workshop debuts at Drupaljam 2025, offering a fast-track, hands-on introduction to Drupal. With over 100 global contributors, the initiative aims to empower students to enter the industry as skilled juniors and grow the Drupal community.

The IXP Fellowship has officially evolved from a community initiative to a full-fledged program, helping companies hire and mentor budding Drupal developers. Participating companies earn significant contribution credits, boosting their certification status while strengthening the Drupal ecosystem. Early adopters include Seed EM, Bluefly, Digital Projex, and Digital Polygon, with registrations now open worldwide.

Metadrop has released an updated version of its Entity Mesh module for Drupal, improving stability and fixing key bugs. The tool offers D3-based visualizations of live content relationships, aiding admins in spotting broken or outdated links. Used internally, it helped Metadrop uncover legacy links and highlight critical pages like UI Catalogue and QA Assurance.

At DrupalCon Atlanta 2025, Amitai Burstein of Gizra showcased a code-first theming strategy using Pluggable Entity View Builder (PEVB), bypassing complex layout tools. Integrated into Gizra's “Drupal Starter,” this method leverages reusable Twig components and theme traits for predictable, maintainable output. The approach prioritizes clarity, reusability, and “rigid flexibility,” eliminating reliance on preprocess functions or UI-driven configuration.

The Drupal community gears up for a vibrant week of connection and collaboration with local meetups and regional camps. Developers and enthusiasts worldwide are coming together to exchange ideas, updates, and best practices.

The Drupal Association announced a major update to its core leadership structure and is developing a new Drupal core strategy with community feedback. The term "Drupal Core Leadership Team" now replaces "Core committers," recognizing a broader leadership role. Four new leaders, including Griffyn Heels, Juraj Nemec, Drew Webber, and Pierre Dureau, have joined to help drive Drupal’s next phase.

DrupalCon Vienna 2025 has announced its Track Team leadership, with Aikaterine Tsiboukas and Jeremy Chinquist as Track Chair Co-Leads. Leaders will oversee content across Coding, Business, Community Health, InfoSec, and Open Web tracks. The event will be held from October 14–17, 2025, in Vienna, Austria.

The University of Florida topped this year’s unofficial Open Source CMS March Madness, highlighting open-source use among NCAA schools. Of the 68 teams, 62% use open-source platforms, with Drupal leading—used by 37%, and exclusively by 26%. A regional divide shows Drupal thriving in the South, East, and West, while the Midwest lags behind.

Andrew Brown releases his first contributed Drupal module, Custom Status Report, offering enhanced control over the default status page. The module enables adding, hiding, and reordering custom status cards, improving clarity for admins and developers. Compatible with Claro and Gin themes, it launched as a stable 1.0.0 release under Drupal's security advisory policy.

DrupalSouth Melbourne 2025 showcased a bold, future-focused Drupal community, with keynotes, BoFs, and global innovation led by Australia and New Zealand. Dave Sparks of Sparks Interactive called it a “professional reset,” highlighting the growing push for core contributions and impactful storytelling. With eyes now on DrupalSouth 2026 in New Zealand, the momentum is unmistakable.

Drupal Delhi April Meetup is calling for speaker session proposals until April 21, ahead of its event on April 26, 2025, at OpenSense Labs, Saket. The meetup promises expert talks, networking, and discussions on future Drupal initiatives. Registration for attendees remains open until April 25, 2025.

Álvaro Hurtado wins the Drupal Iberia Mascot Contest with a viral photo of Franz Jozef, securing a free pass to DrupalCon Vienna 2025. The playful contest celebrates community spirit, inviting attendees to snap and share creative mascot moments. With Franz Jozef still touring, more chances to win are on the horizon.

The Drupal Meetup Ahmedabad on April 12 gathered developers and open-source enthusiasts for a vibrant day of tech talks and networking. Key sessions covered no-code workflows, smart data collection, and API security in headless setups. Sponsored by cmsMinds, the event highlighted community collaboration and technical insights.

Drupal Association seeks volunteers for new Marketplace team, following Dries Buytaert’s DrupalCon Atlanta reveal of reusable site templates coming in 2025. The initiative explores launching a public marketplace to simplify site building and invites community input to shape its direction. Volunteers will help define success and guide this potentially transformative feature.

A limited batch of Very Early Bird tickets for DrupalCon Vienna 2025 is now on sale for 775 €, with only 50 tickets available at this rate. The event, happening from October 14–17 in Vienna, will gather the global Drupal community for sessions, sprints, and networking. Organisers promise a focus on innovation, accessibility, and the future of open-source web development.

Drupal Tokyo Meetup #102 happens June 6, 2025, bringing developers together to discuss AI, recap DrupalCon Atlanta, and share project updates. Held in Minato-ku, Tokyo, the ¥500 event encourages open dialogue and community connection. Sponsored by Digital Circus, it remains a hub for Japan’s Drupal scene.

Humberto Luna wins the DrupalCon Atlanta Mascot Contest with the most-liked photo of Franz Jozef, earning a free ticket to DrupalCon Vienna 2025. The travelling mascot campaign continues to connect Drupal enthusiasts across Europe through fun photo contests. Snap a pic with Franz Jozef and tag #DrupalConVienna for your chance to win!

Drupal 11.2 enters alpha the week of May 7, 2025, prompting developers to finalize minor-release-only changes. The 11.2.x and 10.6.x branches will be created, with alpha modules removed from 11.2.x and security updates continuing for prior versions. Beta release is expected mid-May, and the release candidate phase starts the week of June 2.

Sergio Morais releases Draggable Mapper, a new Drupal module that lets editors place interactive, responsive markers on images using a drag-and-drop interface. Built with custom entities and paragraphs, it supports use cases like floor plans, annotated diagrams, and educational tools. The module integrates seamlessly and invites community contributions via Patreon.

A new Drupal module, Book Library API, offers a modern way to manage book collections with RESTful API support. Developed by Frank Thoeny, it features structured fields, taxonomy integration, and fine-grained permission controls. Designed for current Drupal versions, it's a complete rebuild from its outdated predecessor.

The London Drupal User Group will host its April meetup on April 24, featuring real-world insights into enterprise-level Drupal. Vijay Chandran Mani will present a headless Drupal case study, followed by Rajeev Kumar's rapid recap of DrupalCon Atlanta highlights. The free event includes Q&A sessions and wraps up with informal networking.

Drupal launches the Marketplace Initiative to explore a curated platform for reusable site templates, aiming to boost accessibility and contribution. A diverse working group will present a go/no-go recommendation by DrupalCon Vienna 2025. Community input is encouraged through surveys, Slack prompts, and volunteer opportunities.

Acquia India has been named one of India’s Top 50 Best Workplaces™ in Health and Wellness for the third consecutive year by Great Place To Work®. The recognition highlights Acquia’s ongoing investment in employee well-being, including mental health support, flexible policies, and work-life balance. This honour reaffirms its strong internal culture focused on people and performance.

Over 100 participants gathered for the "Future of the Drupal Economy" BoF session at DrupalCon, prompting a room upgrade. Pantheon’s Josh Koenig highlighted growing momentum around open web development and praised Acquia’s open-source Experience Builder, linked to the new Starshot strategy. He also emphasized a shift in the Drupal business model from one-off launches to value-driven, recurring service offerings.

Drupal events worldwide from April 14–20, 2025, offer a vibrant mix of technical sessions, community meetups, and collaborative planning. Highlights include Drupal Developer Days in Leuven, PHP 8.4 discussions in Austin, and a deep dive into the recipe system in Seattle. Boston, Waterloo, and Utrecht host talks on real-world Drupal use, government open-source collaboration, and more. The week also features an open planning session for MidCamp 2025, inviting contributions from across the community.

Drupal gets a major interoperability boost with the new experimental MCP Client module, letting it act as a client to AI-integrated platforms like Slack, Figma, and OpenAI. Developed by Marcus Johansson and James Abrahams, the module enables cross-system automation without third-party tools like Zapier. Still in prototype phase, it promises a transformative leap in how Drupal connects and collaborates with other software.

Drupal developer Balint Pekker has integrated Anthropic’s Claude AI into GitHub workflows to automate code reviews, offering human-like inline feedback on pull requests. This setup enhances development quality by focusing on custom Drupal files and excluding core and contrib code. It marks a growing trend in using AI to streamline open-source development processes.

PHP 9.0 is on the horizon—stricter, cleaner, and more predictable. Big changes are coming, so it’s time to prep your code and embrace the future of PHP!

Capellic unveils Hyperdrive, a new Drupal theme architecture built for speed, simplicity, and future readiness. It ditches heavy frameworks in favor of SDC, TailwindCSS, AlpineJS, and Vite—cutting build times dramatically. Designed to align closely with upcoming Drupal features like Experience Builder.

Pierre Dureau’s DrupalCon Atlanta 2025 session, “Design systems, the Drupal way,” is now streaming on the Drupal Association’s YouTube channel. The talk dives into building portable, declarative design systems tightly integrated with Drupal, using tools like SDC and the new Icon API. Dureau also shares insights in a recent DropTimes interview announcing a new Display Builder for the UI Suite initiative.

QED42 shared highlights from the Drupal Meetup Pune, emphasizing the power of in-person collaboration in strengthening the community. Organized by Hash Kite, the event brought together developers and contributors for networking and shared learning. The gathering reflected the enduring spirit of Drupal in India, driven by knowledge exchange and connection.