We're excited to announce updates to the Drupal CMS leadership team, with the addition of Bálint Kléri as our new Frontend Lead.
Bálint Kléri has been named Frontend Lead, a new leadership role created to oversee the frontend architecture for Drupal CMS, Mercury and Mercury-based themes. Bálint is a full-time contributor to Drupal Canvas, leading the development of Code Components for Acquia and a key contributor to Mercury, the Drupal CMS design system.
During development of Mercury, Bálint stepped in to guide the Tailwind CSS implementation and advocate for the use of best practices. We are grateful for his contributions already, and are excited to have him formally join the team. The addition of this frontend role is critical as we refine the Drupal CMS design system, providing users with a modern and adaptable foundation for Drupal sites and site templates.
Pamela Barone is now Drupal CMS Product Lead, overseeing product direction, roadmap, prioritization, and delivery. Serving as Product Owner previously, this shift recognizes the product management responsibilities that Pamela has taken on during the evolution of Drupal CMS.
She will continue to work closely with me as I lead the Drupal CMS initiative. I’ll continue to set direction, align teams, and ensure we have the support and momentum to achieve our goals.
We appreciate the ongoing support from Technocrat support in giving Pamela the time to contribute to Drupal CMS.
Tim Plunkett is transitioning out of his role as Drupal CMS Technical Lead to dedicate his full focus to the development of Drupal Canvas. We thank Tim for his leadership and his employer Acquia for all of his contributions.
Adam Hoenich, Lead Architect for Drupal CMS, has been ably overseeing all things technical in the meantime and he will remain in that role. Adam's contribution to Drupal CMS is generously supported by Acquia.
During DrupalCon Chicago, our leadership team met to discuss the future of Drupal CMS. The first question we asked was 'Do we still think this initiative is important for Drupal's future?' We think it is. We're proud of what we have delivered so far in version 2, with Canvas enablement and site templates as the highlights, but we know there is a lot more to do to meet our objective: To enable marketing teams to launch fully-branded, professional websites in hours, not weeks.
The leadership team is currently working to define the product roadmap for the next 6-12 months, with a strategic focus on launching sites faster with Drupal. We'd love to see new site templates in the marketplace and want to promote easier pathways from installation to going live with a range of hosting options. Other areas we are looking to pursue are: onboarding, better AI tooling, multilingual support for Canvas and site templates, and better support for common third-party integrations.
We're excited to announce updates to the Drupal CMS leadership team, with the addition of Bálint Kléri as our new Frontend Lead.
Bálint Kléri has been named Frontend Lead, a new leadership role created to oversee the frontend architecture for Drupal CMS, Mercury and Mercury-based themes. Bálint is a full-time contributor to Drupal Canvas, leading the development of Code Components for Acquia and a key contributor to Mercury, the Drupal CMS design system.
During development of Mercury, Bálint stepped in to guide the Tailwind CSS implementation and advocate for the use of best practices. We are grateful for his contributions already, and are excited to have him formally join the team. The addition of this frontend role is critical as we refine the Drupal CMS design system, providing users with a modern and adaptable foundation for Drupal sites and site templates.
Pamela Barone is now Drupal CMS Product Lead, overseeing product direction, roadmap, prioritization, and delivery. Serving as Product Owner previously, this shift recognizes the product management responsibilities that Pamela has taken on during the evolution of Drupal CMS.
She will continue to work closely with me as I lead the Drupal CMS initiative. I’ll continue to set direction, align teams, and ensure we have the support and momentum to achieve our goals.
We appreciate the ongoing support from Technocrat support in giving Pamela the time to contribute to Drupal CMS.
Tim Plunkett is transitioning out of his role as Drupal CMS Technical Lead to dedicate his full focus to the development of Drupal Canvas. We thank Tim for his leadership and his employer Acquia for all of his contributions.
Adam Hoenich, Lead Architect for Drupal CMS, has been ably overseeing all things technical in the meantime and he will remain in that role. Adam's contribution to Drupal CMS is generously supported by Acquia.
During DrupalCon Chicago, our leadership team met to discuss the future of Drupal CMS. The first question we asked was 'Do we still think this initiative is important for Drupal's future?' We think it is. We're proud of what we have delivered so far in version 2, with Canvas enablement and site templates as the highlights, but we know there is a lot more to do to meet our objective: To enable marketing teams to launch fully-branded, professional websites in hours, not weeks.
The leadership team is currently working to define the product roadmap for the next 6-12 months, with a strategic focus on launching sites faster with Drupal. We'd love to see new site templates in the marketplace and want to promote easier pathways from installation to going live with a range of hosting options. Other areas we are looking to pursue are: onboarding, better AI tooling, multilingual support for Canvas and site templates, and better support for common third-party integrations.
We're excited to announce updates to the Drupal CMS leadership team, with the addition of Bálint Kléri as our new Frontend Lead.
Bálint Kléri has been named Frontend Lead, a new leadership role created to oversee the frontend architecture for Drupal CMS, Mercury and Mercury-based themes. Bálint is a full-time contributor to Drupal Canvas, leading the development of Code Components for Acquia and a key contributor to Mercury, the Drupal CMS design system.
During development of Mercury, Bálint stepped in to guide the Tailwind CSS implementation and advocate for the use of best practices. We are grateful for his contributions already, and are excited to have him formally join the team. The addition of this frontend role is critical as we refine the Drupal CMS design system, providing users with a modern and adaptable foundation for Drupal sites and site templates.
Pamela Barone is now Drupal CMS Product Lead, overseeing product direction, roadmap, prioritization, and delivery. Serving as Product Owner previously, this shift recognizes the product management responsibilities that Pamela has taken on during the evolution of Drupal CMS.
She will continue to work closely with me as I lead the Drupal CMS initiative. I’ll continue to set direction, align teams, and ensure we have the support and momentum to achieve our goals.
We appreciate the ongoing support from Technocrat support in giving Pamela the time to contribute to Drupal CMS.
Tim Plunkett is transitioning out of his role as Drupal CMS Technical Lead to dedicate his full focus to the development of Drupal Canvas. We thank Tim for his leadership and his employer Acquia for all of his contributions.
Adam Hoenich, Lead Architect for Drupal CMS, has been ably overseeing all things technical in the meantime and he will remain in that role. Adam's contribution to Drupal CMS is generously supported by Acquia.
During DrupalCon Chicago, our leadership team met to discuss the future of Drupal CMS. The first question we asked was 'Do we still think this initiative is important for Drupal's future?' We think it is. We're proud of what we have delivered so far in version 2, with Canvas enablement and site templates as the highlights, but we know there is a lot more to do to meet our objective: To enable marketing teams to launch fully-branded, professional websites in hours, not weeks.
The leadership team is currently working to define the product roadmap for the next 6-12 months, with a strategic focus on launching sites faster with Drupal. We'd love to see new site templates in the marketplace and want to promote easier pathways from installation to going live with a range of hosting options. Other areas we are looking to pursue are: onboarding, better AI tooling, multilingual support for Canvas and site templates, and better support for common third-party integrations.
We're excited to announce updates to the Drupal CMS leadership team, with the addition of Bálint Kléri as our new Frontend Lead.
Bálint Kléri has been named Frontend Lead, a new leadership role created to oversee the frontend architecture for Drupal CMS, Mercury and Mercury-based themes. Bálint is a full-time contributor to Drupal Canvas, leading the development of Code Components for Acquia and a key contributor to Mercury, the Drupal CMS design system.
During development of Mercury, Bálint stepped in to guide the Tailwind CSS implementation and advocate for the use of best practices. We are grateful for his contributions already, and are excited to have him formally join the team. The addition of this frontend role is critical as we refine the Drupal CMS design system, providing users with a modern and adaptable foundation for Drupal sites and site templates.
Pamela Barone is now Drupal CMS Product Lead, overseeing product direction, roadmap, prioritization, and delivery. Serving as Product Owner previously, this shift recognizes the product management responsibilities that Pamela has taken on during the evolution of Drupal CMS.
She will continue to work closely with me as I lead the Drupal CMS initiative. I’ll continue to set direction, align teams, and ensure we have the support and momentum to achieve our goals.
We appreciate the ongoing support from Technocrat support in giving Pamela the time to contribute to Drupal CMS.
Tim Plunkett is transitioning out of his role as Drupal CMS Technical Lead to dedicate his full focus to the development of Drupal Canvas. We thank Tim for his leadership and his employer Acquia for all of his contributions.
Adam Hoenich, Lead Architect for Drupal CMS, has been ably overseeing all things technical in the meantime and he will remain in that role. Adam's contribution to Drupal CMS is generously supported by Acquia.
During DrupalCon Chicago, our leadership team met to discuss the future of Drupal CMS. The first question we asked was 'Do we still think this initiative is important for Drupal's future?' We think it is. We're proud of what we have delivered so far in version 2, with Canvas enablement and site templates as the highlights, but we know there is a lot more to do to meet our objective: To enable marketing teams to launch fully-branded, professional websites in hours, not weeks.
The leadership team is currently working to define the product roadmap for the next 6-12 months, with a strategic focus on launching sites faster with Drupal. We'd love to see new site templates in the marketplace and want to promote easier pathways from installation to going live with a range of hosting options. Other areas we are looking to pursue are: onboarding, better AI tooling, multilingual support for Canvas and site templates, and better support for common third-party integrations.
Join us THURSDAY, April 16 at 1pm ET / 10am PT, for our regularly scheduled call to chat about all things Drupal and nonprofits. (Convert to your local time zone.)
We don't have anything specific on the agenda this month, so we'll have plenty of time to discuss anything that's on our minds at the intersection of Drupal and nonprofits. Got something specific you want to talk about? Feel free to share ahead of time in our collaborative Google document at https://nten.org/drupal/notes!
All nonprofit Drupal devs and users, regardless of experience level, are always welcome on this call.
This free call is sponsored by NTEN.org and open to everyone.
Information on joining the meeting can be found in our collaborative Google document.
Join us THURSDAY, April 16 at 1pm ET / 10am PT, for our regularly scheduled call to chat about all things Drupal and nonprofits. (Convert to your local time zone.)
We don't have anything specific on the agenda this month, so we'll have plenty of time to discuss anything that's on our minds at the intersection of Drupal and nonprofits. Got something specific you want to talk about? Feel free to share ahead of time in our collaborative Google document at https://nten.org/drupal/notes!
All nonprofit Drupal devs and users, regardless of experience level, are always welcome on this call.
This free call is sponsored by NTEN.org and open to everyone.
Information on joining the meeting can be found in our collaborative Google document.
In episode 548 we welcome back JD Leonard to discuss what CRMs are, what problems they solve, and which organizations benefit from them. JD explains why Drupal CRM defines CRM as "Contact Relationship Management," outlines core expectations like contact and relationship tracking and integrations, and describes Drupal CRM's Drupal-native architecture using dedicated, fieldable entity types for contacts, relationships, and contact methods. The panel compares Drupal CRM to older Drupal CRM efforts and user-based approaches, covers security considerations for PII and plans for field encryption, and highlights ecosystem projects such as CRM Email, CRM Membership (including Drupal Commerce integration), and event registration needs.
For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/548
TopicsTry the latest - https://drupal.org/project/crm Field encrypt - https://www.drupal.org/project/crm/issues/3558040 Primary entity reference - https://www.drupal.org/project/primary_entity_reference Member Platform initiative - https://www.drupal.org/project/member Financial sponsor of Steve Ayers' time working on Drupal CRM - https://www.govwebworks.com https://www.portlandwebworks.com CRM ecosystem modules - https://www.drupal.org/project/crm/ecosystem Drupal Slack #crm channel: - https://drupal.slack.com/archives/C08N90UF9TR
GuestsJD Leonard - modernbizconsulting.com jdleonard
HostsNic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi
Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Module of the Weekwith Martin Anderson-Clutz
Social Media Links Block and Field
The modules provides a configurable block that display links (icons) to your profiles on various popular networking sites. With this module, a website can be quickly extended with a "Follow us" functionality. Or you make the block available for your site editors, and they can configure the social networks themselves.
read moreThe conversation around AI is drifting into a familiar trap. We’re treating it as a question of alignment when it’s really a question of judgment. A recent reflection by Matthew Tift, written after DrupalCon, captures this tension well. Debates harden into sides, positions get defended, and nuance disappears. But the more useful observation is this: most of the people doing meaningful work with AI aren’t anchored to a fixed stance. They’re working through it, using principles they already trust.
That’s the part many organisations are skipping. Instead of grounding decisions in existing values, they’re reacting to the pace of change. This creates a false urgency to define a position quickly, often at the expense of clarity. In practice, that leads to inconsistent decisions. One team leans into AI for speed, another resists it for control, and neither is wrong. What’s missing is a shared framework that makes those decisions coherent over time.
At TDT, we see this as less of a technology shift and more of a decision-making test. AI doesn’t require new values as much as it exposes whether existing ones are actually being used. If your principles only show up in documentation but not in how choices are made under pressure, they’re not doing much work. The organisations that navigate this well won’t be the ones that pick a side early, but the ones that stay consistent in how they decide as the landscape keeps changing.
Additional developments from across the Drupal ecosystem were published during the week. Readers can follow The DropTimes on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook for ongoing updates. The publication is also active on Drupal Slack in the #thedroptimes channel.
Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor
The DropTimes
Is your website ready for AI search? Learn how AIO and GEO help your content get cited in AI-generated answers, not just ranked in search results. Discover the S1x SIGNALS framework and request a free assessment.
read moreBuilding new modules using AI
I am setting up a playground to experiment with AI. My last post discussed developing and contributing a new Entity/Field Labels module to Drupal using AI. I look forward to seeing what I can create next. Before moving forward, I want to pause and explore how AI can assist me in managing and maintaining my existing contributed modules.
Maintaining my contributed modules using AI
Over the past decade, I’ve created and managed numerous contributed modules. I'm not sure how many there are, and it's been challenging to keep them all up to date. In the long run, I believe an AI agent with the right skills could help me manage my overwhelming list of modules. First, I need to clone my modules into my local development environment.
Cloning my contributed modules via Composer
It's unrealistic for me to manually clone each module's repository. Fortunately, Composer supports Git repositories. However, setting up and testing each module's Git repository using Composer can still be very time-consuming. Since AI excels at repetitive, predictable tasks, this is a perfect opportunity for me to let my AI assistant step in and make my life easier.
Using Agent skills to make things easier
Since cloning a Drupal repository for local development is quite straightforward, this presents a great opportunity to develop a custom agent skill. As with many AI-related tasks, it's best to seek help from the AI. Therefore, I prompted Claude to assist me in planning my drupalorg-project-clone skill.
Here is the front matter description of my new drupalorg-project-clone skill, which was generated by Claude Code and Codex.
Adding a dozen repositories to one's composer.json file makes it harder for humans to review dependencies....Read More
read moreThis is part three of a series of articles looking at HTMX in Drupal. Last time I looked at using HTMX to run a "load more" feature on a Drupal page. Before moving onto looking at forms I thought a final example of using HTMX and controllers to achieve an action.
One of the key examples that helped me understand HTMX was when it was used to create a tabbed interface, without reloading the page. This was quite simple to recreate in Drupal and can be done in a single controller.
In this article we will be creating a tabbed interface in Drupal, where HTMX is used to power loading the data in a tab like interface without reloading the page.
All of the code contained in this article can be found in the Drupal HTMX examples project on GitHub, but here we will go through what the code does and what actions it performs to generate content.
The first task is to create the route for our controller.
The route we create here just points to an action in a controller.
drupal_htmx_examples_tabbed:
path: '/drupal-htmx-examples/tabbed'
defaults:
_title: 'HTMX Tabbed'
_controller: '\Drupal\drupal_htmx_examples\Controller\TabbedController::action'
requirements:
_permission: 'access content'When the user (assuming they have the access content permission) visits the path /drupal-htmx-examples/tabbed then they will trigger the action() method in the controller.
Let's build the controller that this route points to.
read moreAI coding tools have evolved fast — from inline suggestions to full-blown agents that can scaffold modules, write tests, and refactor code across files. But what does that actually mean for your day-to-day work, and where should a seasoned developer start?
Our next session on Tuesday, April 14th at 11:30am Pacific (what is that in my timezone?) is led by Scott Falconer of the Drupal AI Initiative, breaks down the current landscape of AI-assisted coding into clear, practical tiers: inline completions (think autocomplete on steroids), chat-in-your-IDE copilot workflows, and the newer "agentic" coding loops where AI plans and executes multi-step tasks with your oversight. We'll look at what each style is good at, where it falls down, and — critically — how much control you keep at each level.
You'll come away understanding what tools like GitHub Copilot, Cursor, Claude Code, and others actually do under the hood, how to evaluate which approach fits your workflow, and how to move up the ladder at your own pace without feeling like you're handing the keys to a junior dev who doesn't know what <?php print 'hello world'; ?> does.
No hype, no "AI will replace you" nonsense — just a clear-eyed look at what's useful now and how to adopt it without abandoning the engineering discipline that got you here.
➡️ Register here: https://luma.com/namxz1gf
Coming out of DrupalCon Chicago 2026, we're starting the #ai-learners club, where we share tips and tricks and answer questions about how to use Drupal and AI together. Think of it kind of like Drupal Dojo, but for AI.
For our inaugural meeting, the topic is: What's your Drupal + AI setup?
Join us on Wednesday, April 8 at 9:30am Pacific (What is that in my timezone?) for a live "show and tell" of what folks who attend are using for things like: models, modules, skills, tools, agents, IDEs, workflows... whatever! Let's share what's working and what's not and try and help each other level up. :)
Note: The session will be recorded and uploaded afterwards for those who can't make it live. But it's way more fun if you can! ;)
➡️ Register here: https://luma.com/8tzrlljr
To say that there is not an agreement of using large language models (LLMs) for Drupal development would be an understatement. I've been using Claude Code for a while to assits with my Drupal development and I shared a month ago how I brought back the Drupal 7 module upgrader tool from the dead. That was a bit of an involved example, so I wanted to find a simpler one and this time rely even more on Claude.
We’re excited to announce the release of LocalGov Bus Data — a new Drupal module built with and for councils, now available for the entire local government community to use.
Managing a council website is a high-stakes balancing act where a single accidental “publish“ can impact public trust. Learn more about how LocalGov Drupal solves this problem for councils.
read moreDrupal site-builders rejoice! We currently have two major page building projects approaching production-maturity: Drupal Canvas and Display Builder. In this article series, I compare the two projects by implementing real world use cases from the perspective of a site-builder.
read more
Discover how 1xINTERNET and UICC apply responsible AI to real-world digital experiences. Webinar and podcast recordings are ready to watch!
read moreA personal, powerful Driesnote shows how Drupal’s community, AI innovation, and leadership shape the future of digital experiences.
read moreAre you a Drupal enthusiast who’s ever thought, “I’m not expert enough to speak at DrupalCon”? You’re not alone. Imposter syndrome can affect even the most experienced developers, designers, and site builders. But here’s the truth: real-world experience matters far more than textbook expertise. Your lessons learned, project insights, and practical workflows are exactly what the community wants to hear.
Speaking at DrupalCon isn’t just about sharing knowledge. It’s a chance to grow personally and professionally. You’ll gain visibility in the Drupal community, advance your career through skill development and recognition, and connect with peers, mentors, and potential collaborators.
Don’t let self-doubt hold you back. If you’ve tackled real Drupal challenges, you already have a story worth sharing.
Photo by PdJohnson
When reviewers look at submissions, they’re seeking talks that are educational, clear, and actionable, not sales pitches. Here’s what makes a proposal stand out:
Need inspiration? Here are some trending topics that resonate with the community and demonstrate thought leadership:
Your unique experience in these areas could spark the next great DrupalCon session.
Photo by PdJohnson
Wondering how your proposal moves from idea to spotlight? Here’s a peek behind the curtain:
Remember, clarity and relevance are key. The more concrete your examples and lessons, the stronger your submission.
Don’t miss your chance to speak at DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026!
Deadline: 13 April 2026
Tracks:
Formats: Sessions (45 or 20 minutes), workshops (45 or 2x45 minutes), panels (45 minutes)
How to submit:
Whether you’re a first-time speaker or a seasoned presenter, DrupalCon is the perfect platform to share your story, contribute to the community, and grow your career. Your insights matter, so step up to the mic and make your mark!
Drupal's config schema YAML supports dynamic expressions inside square brackets that resolve to values from the surrounding configuration data at runtime. Most developers have seen them — [%parent.type] in field formatter schema is a classic example — but few understand exactly how they work or when to use them.
I found a Todoist task from December 4th, 2024: \Drupal\Core\Config\TypedConfigManager::replaceVariable blog post. (Yeah, you do not want to see my "Overdue" list.) I have no memory of what I was working on that day or why I went deep on this. But past-me clearly thought it was worth documenting, so here we are. If you've ever stared at [%parent.type] in a schema file and just accepted it as magic — this one's for you.
In episode #547, guest JD Flynn joins us to discuss why developers don't choose Drupal, focusing on Drupal adoption, discoverability, and outdated perceptions from Drupal 6/7. JD cites survey data showing low interest among non-Drupal developers, arguing Drupal's biggest problem is invisibility and that developers often pre-filter it due to PHP stigma and friction getting started.
For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/547
TopicsWhy Developers Don't Choose Drupal (And What We Can Do About It) - https://www.fldrupal.camp/session/why-developers-dont-choose-drupal-and-what-we-can-do-about-it JD's stream - http://twitch.tv/jddoesdev Drupal is Great! Its Perception Might Not be. -https://picozzi.com/notebook/2025/jan/drupal-great-its-perception-might-not-be Drupal Forge - https://www.drupalforge.org/
Guests HostsNic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Rod Martin - DrupalHelps.com imrodmartin
Module of the Week CorrespondentMartin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu
Native Observability brings real observability into Drupal. Trace requests, inspect execution, analyze performance, and explore runtime behavior — directly inside your application.
No core patches. No external dependencies required to get started. Just install, enable, and start seeing what actually happens inside your system.
read moreDrupalCon Chicago 2026 outlined concrete developments already moving through the current cycle toward DrupalCon Rotterdam. The keynote highlighted progress in Drupal CMS, expanded site templates and marketplace functionality, and ongoing work on artificial intelligence features that are now transitioning from demonstration to implementation.
Drupal CMS 2.1 builds on Drupal Core 11.3 and introduces support for preconfigured site templates. The keynote demonstrated eleven templates available through a basic marketplace, all installable directly from the Drupal CMS installer. This signals that both template distribution and marketplace functionality have moved beyond concept into early rollout.
The Context Control Center now appears close to production readiness. The keynote positioned it as a central source of truth for brand voice, target audiences, key messages, product details, and editorial guidelines used by AI agents. In one demonstration, the system generated an on-brand page from a marketing brief, while a second example used Google Analytics data in a proof-of-concept workflow to improve content performance after publication.
Not all demonstrated capabilities are fully mature. Several features remain in alpha or beta stages as development continues toward DrupalCon Rotterdam. At the same time, increased AI-assisted contribution is placing pressure on maintainers, alongside a direct reminder that contributors remain responsible for the code they submit.
With that introduction, let us move to the major stories from last week.
Additional developments from across the Drupal ecosystem were published during the week. Readers may follow The DropTimes on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook for continuing updates. The publication also maintains a presence on Drupal Slack in the #thedroptimes channel.
Thank you.
KAZIMA ABBAS
Sub-editor
The DropTimes
Photo by Gryffindor , CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia
The conversation around AI is changing.
Not long ago, most discussions focused on what AI could do. That phase is largely behind us. Organisations are now dealing with a more difficult and more important question: how do you operate AI systems in a way that holds up over time, under real conditions, and with real consequences?
The Drupal AI Summit NYC is designed to address that shift directly. This is not a standalone Drupal event. It is co-located with apidays New York and Generation AI, placing Drupal into a broader ecosystem of technology leaders, platform owners, and organisations actively working through the realities of AI adoption at scale.
This Summit is not structured as a traditional developer track, and it is not focused on early-stage experimentation. The intent is to create space for people who are already responsible for delivery and are dealing with the complexity that comes with it.
The audience includes CTOs, digital leaders, and platform owners who are navigating challenges such as governance, compliance, data ownership, and long-term operational stability. These are not theoretical concerns. They emerge quickly once AI is integrated into production systems and begin to affect real users, real data, and real outcomes.
AI is already embedded in how organisations operate, whether they realise it or not. It is present in content workflows, search systems, personalisation engines, and automation pipelines. In many cases, it has been introduced incrementally, often without a clear understanding of how data is being handled or where control ultimately resides.
This creates a gap between perceived responsibility and actual control.
The Drupal AI Initiative has been working to close that gap by focusing on approaches that are open, inspectable, and governable. This is not an abstract position. It is a practical requirement for organisations that need to understand how their systems behave, where their data is processed, and how decisions can be audited over time.
The programme is centred on real implementation work. The goal is to surface the decisions, trade-offs, and operational realities that teams encounter when AI moves beyond pilot projects and into production environments.
Sessions will focus on areas such as:
The emphasis is on experience rather than theory. Attendees should expect to hear what actually happens when systems are deployed, maintained, and evolved over time.
This builds on the foundation established by the first Drupal AI Summit in Paris, which brought together global contributors to focus on practical architecture, governance, and real-world application of open source AI systems.
Drupal is not approaching AI as an external add-on. The work being done through the Drupal AI Initiative is focused on integrating AI directly into the platform in a way that preserves control, flexibility, and transparency.
That includes the ability to choose where models run, how data is processed, and how AI capabilities are embedded into content and workflow systems. It also reflects Drupal’s long-standing strengths as an open source platform built around extensibility, governance, and long-term ownership.
For organisations that need to operate AI responsibly, those characteristics are not optional. They are foundational.
This Summit is intended for organisations and individuals who are already engaged in applying AI in meaningful ways and are now working through the implications of doing so at scale. In short, YOU SHOULD ATTEND.
It is particularly relevant for those who are responsible for platform decisions, architectural direction, or operational oversight, and who need to ensure that AI systems remain reliable, governable, and aligned with organisational requirements.
Early bird tickets are currently available for $150 until April 13. For an event of this scale, and with access to a much larger federated conference environment, that price is difficult to justify passing up.
The Drupal AI Summit NYC is an opportunity to engage directly with practitioners who are doing this work today, in environments where the stakes are real and the outcomes matter.
Photo by Gryffindor , CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia
The conversation around AI is changing.
Not long ago, most discussions focused on what AI could do. That phase is largely behind us. Organisations are now dealing with a more difficult and more important question: how do you operate AI systems in a way that holds up over time, under real conditions, and with real consequences?
The Drupal AI Summit NYC is designed to address that shift directly. This is not a standalone Drupal event. It is co-located with apidays New York and Generation AI, placing Drupal into a broader ecosystem of technology leaders, platform owners, and organisations actively working through the realities of AI adoption at scale.
This Summit is not structured as a traditional developer track, and it is not focused on early-stage experimentation. The intent is to create space for people who are already responsible for delivery and are dealing with the complexity that comes with it.
The audience includes CTOs, digital leaders, and platform owners who are navigating challenges such as governance, compliance, data ownership, and long-term operational stability. These are not theoretical concerns. They emerge quickly once AI is integrated into production systems and begin to affect real users, real data, and real outcomes.
AI is already embedded in how organisations operate, whether they realise it or not. It is present in content workflows, search systems, personalisation engines, and automation pipelines. In many cases, it has been introduced incrementally, often without a clear understanding of how data is being handled or where control ultimately resides.
This creates a gap between perceived responsibility and actual control.
The Drupal AI Initiative has been working to close that gap by focusing on approaches that are open, inspectable, and governable. This is not an abstract position. It is a practical requirement for organisations that need to understand how their systems behave, where their data is processed, and how decisions can be audited over time.
The programme is centred on real implementation work. The goal is to surface the decisions, trade-offs, and operational realities that teams encounter when AI moves beyond pilot projects and into production environments.
Sessions will focus on areas such as:
The emphasis is on experience rather than theory. Attendees should expect to hear what actually happens when systems are deployed, maintained, and evolved over time.
This builds on the foundation established by the first Drupal AI Summit in Paris, which brought together global contributors to focus on practical architecture, governance, and real-world application of open source AI systems.
Drupal is not approaching AI as an external add-on. The work being done through the Drupal AI Initiative is focused on integrating AI directly into the platform in a way that preserves control, flexibility, and transparency.
That includes the ability to choose where models run, how data is processed, and how AI capabilities are embedded into content and workflow systems. It also reflects Drupal’s long-standing strengths as an open source platform built around extensibility, governance, and long-term ownership.
For organisations that need to operate AI responsibly, those characteristics are not optional. They are foundational.
This Summit is intended for organisations and individuals who are already engaged in applying AI in meaningful ways and are now working through the implications of doing so at scale. In short, YOU SHOULD ATTEND.
It is particularly relevant for those who are responsible for platform decisions, architectural direction, or operational oversight, and who need to ensure that AI systems remain reliable, governable, and aligned with organisational requirements.
Early bird tickets are currently available for $150 until April 13. For an event of this scale, and with access to a much larger federated conference environment, that price is difficult to justify passing up.
The Drupal AI Summit NYC is an opportunity to engage directly with practitioners who are doing this work today, in environments where the stakes are real and the outcomes matter.
Inspired by Mark Conroy's blog series, I’m starting a series of blog posts detailing Dripyard’s contributions. My hope is that it brings a bit of visibility to 1) inspire y’all to buy our themes, and 2) inspire folks to contribute on their own.
March 2026 was especially busy for us, as 1) we made a bunch of contributions to the Drupal CMS installer, 2) created a badass new module (see below), and 3) did a bunch of work at DrupalCon Chicago.
read moreWe’re all familiar with cookie consent banners — the popups asking us to agree to “cookies” that track data from our visits. They’re everywhere. And honestly, they’re a bit annoying.
But here’s the thing most organizations get wrong: they treat the banner as the entire conversation. Find a tool, install a popup, check the box. Done.
That’s backwards. The banner is just the visible output of a much more important process — understanding what your website actually collects, why it collects it, and whether anyone made a deliberate decision about any of it.
read moreDrupal is evolving so quickly that it’s hard to guess what’s coming next, until the DrupalCon keynote by Drupal Founder, Dries Buytaert, warmly known as the ‘Driesnote’ pulls back the curtain. That’s the moment when the community leans in, ready to see the newest ideas take shape.
read moreNOTE: To compensate against other articles on the web that contain hallucinations, here's a take from the author of the discussed code.
read moreOver the past few years, we stepped away from classic agency work to explore what it means to build our own product. We learned a lot, built a lot, and stayed deeply connected to Drupal throughout. Now, we’re bringing those experiences back into a more focused service offering.
read more
Drupal powers websites for governments, universities, major media organisations, and global brands - but historically it's demanded specialist knowledge just to get started. Last year's release of Drupal CMS changed that, putting Drupal's power within reach of the marketers, content teams, and site builders who actually run websites day to day.
Last week at DrupalCon Chicago, that vision took another huge step forward with the pilot launch of the Drupal Site Template Marketplace at marketplace.drupal.org.
The marketplace launches with an initial set of purpose-built site templates covering the use cases where Drupal has always excelled: nonprofits, higher education, healthcare, government, events, SaaS, and more, with more templates to follow as the programme grows.
Each template is a complete, working starting point. Not a design skin, but a fully configured site with real content models, editorial workflows, and Drupal's full architecture underneath. Install one inside DrupalCMS and you have a professional, sector-appropriate website that's ready to customise, not a blank slate dressed up nicely.
Free and premium options are available.
This distinction matters, and it's worth being direct about it.
Theme marketplaces, the kind WordPress is known for, offer visual overlays. They change how a site looks. They don't change how it works. That's fine for simple sites, but organisations that need real editorial workflows, structured content, access controls, multilingual support, or compliance requirements quickly find that a theme doesn't help. They're building the architecture from scratch regardless of how they started.
A Drupal site template includes that architecture from day one. The content models, the configuration, the editorial structure, all of it is already there, built to production standards, ready to extend.
That means the ceiling is genuinely different. Other tools can generate something that looks right. Drupal templates give you something that actually works, at scale, with a team, under real operational conditions.
Each template is designed around a specific use case, which means the features that matter for that sector are already configured and ready.
A nonprofit template arrives with the tools a nonprofit actually needs. A healthcare template is built around the trust and clarity that patients expect. A government template starts from the accessibility and security standards that aren't optional in the public sector.
Drupal's sector expertise, applied earlier in the process, so organisations can spend their time on what's specific to them, not on rebuilding foundations that have already been solved.
Every template in the marketplace connects you directly to the team that built it. If you need help customising, extending, or getting the most out of your starting point, the expertise is right there.
The marketplace is launching as a pilot, a deliberate decision to get the foundations right before scaling. The initial templates have been built to a high bar by agencies with deep Drupal expertise, and the programme will expand as more makers come on board.
It's an early but meaningful moment. The vision: a rich catalogue of sector-specific, production-ready starting points that make Drupal accessible to any organisation, is now becoming real.
Browse the current templates at marketplace.drupal.org.
Drupal powers websites for governments, universities, major media organisations, and global brands - but historically it's demanded specialist knowledge just to get started. Last year's release of Drupal CMS changed that, putting Drupal's power within reach of the marketers, content teams, and site builders who actually run websites day to day.
Last week at DrupalCon Chicago, that vision took another huge step forward with the pilot launch of the Drupal Site Template Marketplace at marketplace.drupal.org.
The marketplace launches with an initial set of purpose-built site templates covering the use cases where Drupal has always excelled: nonprofits, higher education, healthcare, government, events, SaaS, and more, with more templates to follow as the programme grows.
Each template is a complete, working starting point. Not a design skin, but a fully configured site with real content models, editorial workflows, and Drupal's full architecture underneath. Install one inside DrupalCMS and you have a professional, sector-appropriate website that's ready to customise, not a blank slate dressed up nicely.
Free and premium options are available.
This distinction matters, and it's worth being direct about it.
Theme marketplaces, the kind WordPress is known for, offer visual overlays. They change how a site looks. They don't change how it works. That's fine for simple sites, but organisations that need real editorial workflows, structured content, access controls, multilingual support, or compliance requirements quickly find that a theme doesn't help. They're building the architecture from scratch regardless of how they started.
A Drupal site template includes that architecture from day one. The content models, the configuration, the editorial structure, all of it is already there, built to production standards, ready to extend.
That means the ceiling is genuinely different. Other tools can generate something that looks right. Drupal templates give you something that actually works, at scale, with a team, under real operational conditions.
Each template is designed around a specific use case, which means the features that matter for that sector are already configured and ready.
A nonprofit template arrives with the tools a nonprofit actually needs. A healthcare template is built around the trust and clarity that patients expect. A government template starts from the accessibility and security standards that aren't optional in the public sector.
Drupal's sector expertise, applied earlier in the process, so organisations can spend their time on what's specific to them, not on rebuilding foundations that have already been solved.
Every template in the marketplace connects you directly to the team that built it. If you need help customising, extending, or getting the most out of your starting point, the expertise is right there.
The marketplace is launching as a pilot, a deliberate decision to get the foundations right before scaling. The initial templates have been built to a high bar by agencies with deep Drupal expertise, and the programme will expand as more makers come on board.
It's an early but meaningful moment. The vision: a rich catalogue of sector-specific, production-ready starting points that make Drupal accessible to any organisation, is now becoming real.
Browse the current templates at marketplace.drupal.org.
At DrupalCon Chicago 2026, the Drupal Community Working Group was honored to announce April Sides as the recipient of the 2026 Aaron Winborn Award. Named in memory of longtime contributor Aaron Winborn, this award recognizes individuals who embody kindness, integrity, and a deep, above-and-beyond commitment to the Drupal community.
April Sides truly embodies the spirit of the Aaron Winborn Award through the care, consistency, and intention she brings to everything she does in the Drupal community. She has been a driving force behind initiatives like A11yTalks and Drupal Camp Asheville, while also contributing to programs like MOSA and serving on the CWG Community Health Team to foster a more welcoming and supportive space for all. As a speaker, trainer, organizer, and volunteer at nearly every camp she attends, April shows up again and again for this community. Her work is grounded in accessibility, inclusion, and genuine care for people, and her impact is felt not just in what she builds but in how she supports and uplifts everyone around her.
April is not just a stellar professional. They are a habitual contributor. Serving their local Drupal community and now serving on a non-profit board over Drupal events, April is an inspiration. When I think of April, I remember how they brighten the room, with humble fashion sense, making the multitudes of duties seem easy.
April Sides deserves the Aaron Winborn Award because she consistently shows up for the Drupal community with care, integrity, and a deep sense of responsibility for the people in it. April does the kind of work that often goes unnoticed, not because it isn’t important, but because it’s rooted in trust, discretion, and kindness. She makes space for people when they need it most and does so without expectation of recognition. Over the years, I’ve seen April take on some of the hardest and emotionally demanding roles in our community, including event leadership, community health work, and serving as a code of conduct contact. These roles require empathy, patience, and fairness, and April approaches them in a way that makes people feel heard and supported. When situations are complicated or uncomfortable, she listens, she helps, and she follows through. April’s commitment goes beyond maintaining community spaces. She actively works to make them better. April leads with kindness and integrity, and her quiet, consistent dedication has made the Drupal community a safer, more welcoming place for so many of us.
April is such a great person and cares so much about the community. She's an organizer of the second best DrupalCamp in the world (which is no small feat). I believe that camp would not exist without her hard work.
Special thank you to Annertech and CSGov in Czechia for creating and delivering the award this year.
Take a look at how the award was made.
The award is named after a long-time Drupal contributor who lost his battle with ALS in 2015. This award recognizes an individual who, like Aaron, demonstrates personal integrity, kindness, and an above-and-beyond commitment to the Drupal project and community.
Previous winners of the award are Cathy Theys, Gabór Hojtsy, Nikki Stevens, Kevin Thull, Leslie Glynn, Baddý Breidert, AmyJune Hineline, Angie Byron, Randy Fay, Mike Anello, and Kristen Pol. Current CWG Conflict Resolution Team members, along with previous winners, selected the winner based on nominations submitted by Drupal community members.
Nominations for next year's award will open in early 2027.
Author: Priyanka Jeph
At DrupalCon Vienna, Dries Buytaert opened his keynote with a question the room was already asking: what happens to Drupal in a world full of AI?
He answered with a live demonstration showcasing three things the initiative had built and shipped:
The keynote highlighted an important aspect: humans stay in the loop and approve every change before anything goes live.
Since Vienna, 10 new organisations have joined as partners, bringing the total to 31. The initiative has now secured the equivalent of $1.5 million in combined support, comprising both direct funding and a committed contribution of 50 staff dedicated to advancing the work.
What is most exciting to me is not just what we’ve built, but how we’ve built it. With a growing group of contributors and more than $1.5 million in funding, this is now a coordinated effort to bring AI into Drupal in a way that is open, trusted, and built to last.
Dries Buytaert
A portion of funds is being invested in delivery management. The initiative conducted a formal Request for Proposal (RFP) process to appoint delivery partners responsible for coordinating work across both the innovation and product development streams. QED42 and 1xINTERNET were selected to lead the innovation and product development work streams respectively.
Progress is also visible in what has shipped since Vienna. Drupal AI 1.2.0 came first. MCP support followed. Drupal CMS 2.0 launched with Canvas as the default editing experience.
Drupal AI 1.3.0 introduced governance controls, editorial workflows, and production visibility for organisations running AI seriously.
With the increased momentum in development it has been essential to scale marketing capacity. Paul Johnson announced the appointment of 10 marketing leads. Each will specialise on delivering specific key elements of the marketing strategy.
The initiative has been successful in bringing Drupal to external audiences across multiple global locations including Oaisys Conference in Pune, Drupal AI Summit Paris, DrupalCon Nara in Japan, the European Commission hackathon, and a growing number of workshops and meetups kept the work visible across contributors, regions, and practical discussions.
In the near future we have Drupal AI Summit New York City, May 14th, intended to bring the same conversation to enterprise leaders and practitioners. The team will exhibit at The AI Summit London as part of London Tech week which sees more than 45 000 attendees from around 90 countries across multiple days of programming.
Drupal AI has moved beyond being merely a set of separate features. It is now realised through connected capabilities. Content, context, and editorial decisions begin to work together inside the same system.
Early in his Keynote at DrupalCon Chicago, Dries Buytaert widened the conversation. He said AI is now affecting three parts of Drupal at once. The product. The agencies around it. The open source community behind both.
That makes Chicago feel larger for Drupal AI. The releases matter. But they now sit inside a broader shift already affecting how Drupal is built, funded, and extended.
Photo: Paul Johnson
Drupal AI is being deliberately designed as a native part of the platform, embedded within how Drupal operates rather than introduced as an additional layer on top. In doing so, AI becomes more useful as it works inside systems that already carry structure and context.
That is why Canvas AI mattered in Chicago. The demonstration was less about generating a page quickly and more about showing how content could move through Drupal while keeping structure, linking, and reusable patterns intact.
The same logic appeared when Dries returned to the Context Control Center, first introduced in Vienna. If AI is expected to assist meaningfully, organisational knowledge cannot remain outside the system. Brand rules, editorial priorities, and internal decisions need to stay close to where content is shaped.
That is what Chicago makes clearer: Drupal AI is being positioned around context as much as capability.
One of the clearest shifts in Chicago came when the conversation moved from product to agency work.
AI is rapidly reducing the cost of production, but that does not reduce the need for judgment. It changes where the value sits.
Dries brought in Aidan Foster's observation directly: the bottleneck is no longer making things. The harder part is deciding what should be made, how it should work, and what quality still means when output becomes easier to create.
That is why agencies remain part of the same conversation. As production speeds up, strategy, interpretation, and institutional understanding begin to matter more, not less.
In that sense, as production becomes easier, the harder part shifts elsewhere. Context, judgment, and internal knowledge begin to matter more, which is exactly where Drupal is placing more emphasis.
The initiative now feels materially different from where it stood even a few months ago. Prototypes are moving into alpha and beta stages, stable releases are approaching, and coordination across teams is visibly stronger. More people are involved, and the relationship between Drupal CMS, Drupal AI, and core has become easier to follow.
That shift matters because the work no longer reads as parallel experimentation. Product releases, editorial workflows, and context systems are beginning to move toward the same operating idea: AI becomes more useful when it works inside structures organisations already trust.
Photo: Jeremy Chinquist (jjchinquist)
The roadmap shown in Chicago reinforces that direction. For organisations already evaluating open source AI for digital platforms, Drupal AI now presents a clearer path to adoption.
For a complete view of how Drupal AI is framing that next stage, Dries Buytaert’s full DriesNote from Chicago is worth watching.
