{"id":20324,"date":"2026-03-26T18:37:28","date_gmt":"2026-03-26T18:37:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/?p=20324"},"modified":"2026-03-27T22:54:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-27T22:54:09","slug":"wordpress-7-0-release-candidate-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2026\/03\/wordpress-7-0-release-candidate-2\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress 7.0 Release Candidate 2"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The second Release Candidate (\u201cRC2\u201d) for WordPress 7.0 is ready for download and testing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>This version of the WordPress software is under development<\/strong>.<strong> Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites.<\/strong> Instead, it\u2019s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Reaching this phase of the release cycle is an important milestone. While release candidates are considered ready for release, testing remains crucial to ensure that everything in WordPress 7.0 is the best it can be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">You can test WordPress 7.0 RC2 in four ways:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-fixed-layout\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Plugin<\/strong><\/td><td>Install and activate the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/plugins\/wordpress-beta-tester\/\">WordPress Beta Tester<\/a> plugin on a WordPress install. (Select the \u201cBleeding edge\u201d channel and \u201cBeta\/RC Only\u201d stream.)<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Direct Download<\/strong><\/td><td>Download the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/wordpress-7.0-RC2.zip\">RC2 version (zip)<\/a> and install it on a WordPress website.<\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>Command Line<\/strong><\/td><td>Use this <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/cli\/\">WP-CLI<\/a> command: <br><code>wp core update --version=7.0-RC2<\/code><\/td><\/tr><tr><td><strong>WordPress Playground<\/strong><\/td><td>Use the <a href=\"https:\/\/playground.wordpress.net\/?php=8.0&amp;wp=beta&amp;networking=no&amp;language=&amp;multisite=no&amp;random=y4q1rn88xn\">WordPress Playground instance<\/a> to test the software directly in your browser.&nbsp; No setup required \u2013 just click and go!&nbsp;<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The scheduled final release date for WordPress 7.0 is <strong>April 9, 2026<\/strong>. The full <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2026\/02\/12\/wordpress-7-0-release-party-schedule\/\">release schedule can be found here<\/a>. Your help testing Beta and RC versions is vital to making this release as stable and powerful as possible. Thank you to everyone who helps with testing!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Please continue checking the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/\">Make WordPress Core blog<\/a> for <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/tag\/7-0\">7.0-related posts<\/a> in the coming weeks for more information.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What\u2019s in WordPress 7.0 RC2?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>What\u2019s new in WordPress 7.0<\/strong>? Check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2026\/02\/wordpress-7-0-beta-1\/\">Beta 1 announcement<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/tag\/dev-notes+7-0\/\">7.0 Developer Notes<\/a> for details and highlights. For technical information related to issues addressed since <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/2026\/03\/wordpress-7-0-release-candidate-1\/\">RC1<\/a>, you can browse the following links:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/github.com\/WordPress\/gutenberg\/commits\/wp\/7.0?since=2026-03-24&amp;until=2026-03-26\">GitHub commits<\/a> since March 24, 2026<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/core.trac.wordpress.org\/query?status=closed&amp;changetime=03%2F24%2F2026..03%2F26%2F2026&amp;milestone=7.0&amp;group=component&amp;col=id&amp;col=milestone&amp;col=owner&amp;col=type&amp;col=priority&amp;order=id\">Closed Trac tickets<\/a> since March 24, 2026<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How you can contribute<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WordPress is open source software made possible by a passionate community of people collaborating on and contributing to its development. The resources below outline various ways you can help the world\u2019s most popular open source web platform, regardless of your technical expertise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Get involved in testing<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Testing for issues is crucial to the development of any software. It\u2019s also a meaningful way for anyone to contribute.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Your help testing the WordPress 7.0 RC1 version is key to ensuring that the final release is the best it can be. While testing the upgrade process is essential, trying out new features is equally important. This <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/2026\/02\/20\/help-test-wordpress-7-0\/\">detailed guide<\/a> will walk you through testing features in WordPress 7.0.&nbsp;For those new to testing, follow <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/handbook\/get-setup-for-testing\/\">this general testing guide<\/a> for more details on getting set up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">What else to test:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/2026\/03\/11\/its-time-to-test-real-time-collaboration\/\">Real Time Collaboration<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/2026\/02\/27\/call-for-testing-pattern-editing-and-content-only-interactivity-in-wordpress-7-0\/\">Pattern Editing and content-only Interactivity<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you encounter an issue, please report it to the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/forum\/alphabeta\/\">Alpha\/Beta area<\/a> of the support forums or directly to <a href=\"https:\/\/core.trac.wordpress.org\/newticket\">WordPress Trac<\/a> if you are comfortable writing a reproducible bug report.&nbsp; You can also check your issue against a list of <a href=\"https:\/\/core.trac.wordpress.org\/tickets\/major\">known bugs<\/a>.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Curious about testing releases in general?&nbsp; Follow along with the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/test\/\">testing initiatives in Make Core<\/a> and join the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.slack.com\/messages\/core-test\/\">#core-test channel<\/a> on <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.slack.com\/\">Making WordPress Slack<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Test on your hosting platforms<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Web hosts provide vital infrastructure for supporting WordPress and its users. Testing on hosting systems helps inform the development process while ensuring that WordPress and hosting platforms are fully compatible, free of errors, optimized for the best possible user experience, and that updates roll out to customer sites without issue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Want to test WordPress on your hosting system? <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/hosting\/test-results-getting-started\/\">Get started with configuring distributed hosting tests here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Update your theme or plugin<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">For plugin and theme authors, your products play an integral role in extending the functionality and value of WordPress for all users.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Thanks for continuing to test your themes and plugins with the WordPress 7.0 beta releases. If you haven\u2019t yet, make sure to conclude your testing and update the <em>&#8220;Tested up to\u201d<\/em> version in your <a href=\"https:\/\/developer.wordpress.org\/plugins\/wordpress-org\/how-your-readme-txt-works\/\">plugin\u2019s readme file<\/a> to <code>7.0<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">If you find compatibility issues, please post detailed information to the <a href=\"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/support\/forum\/alphabeta\/\">support forum<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Help translate WordPress<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Do you speak a language other than English? \u00bfEspa\u00f1ol? Fran\u00e7ais? \u0420\u0443\u0441\u0441\u043a\u0438\u0439? \u65e5\u672c\u8a9e? \u0939\u093f\u0928\u094d\u0926\u0940? \u09ac\u09be\u0982\u09b2\u09be? \u092e\u0930\u093e\u0920\u0940? \u0c95\u0ca8\u0ccd\u0ca8\u0ca1?&nbsp; You can <a href=\"https:\/\/translate.wordpress.org\/projects\/wp\/dev\/\">help translate WordPress into more than 100 languages<\/a>. This release milestone (RC2) also marks the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/polyglots\/handbook\/glossary\/#hard-freeze\">hard string freeze<\/a> point of the <a href=\"https:\/\/make.wordpress.org\/core\/2026\/03\/25\/wordpress-7-0-release-candidate-phase\/\">7.0 release cycle<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">An RC2 haiku<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>At first just a dream<\/em>,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>RC2 flows like a stream<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><em>with seven-oh gleam.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right wp-block-paragraph\"><em>Props to <a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/amykamala\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>amykamala<\/a> <\/em><a href='https:\/\/profiles.wordpress.org\/annezazu\/' class='mention'><span class='mentions-prefix'>@<\/span>annezazu<\/a> <em>for proofreading and review.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The second Release Candidate (\u201cRC2\u201d) for WordPress 7.0 is ready for download and testing! This version of the WordPress software is under development. Please do not install, run, or test this version of WordPress on production or mission-critical websites. Instead, it\u2019s recommended that you evaluate RC2 on a test server and site. Reaching this phase [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":23149404,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false},"categories":[5,10,14],"tags":[626,184,632,409],"class_list":["post-20324","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-development","category-general","category-releases","tag-7-0","tag-development","tag-general","tag-releases","mentions-amykamala","mentions-annezazu"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pZhYe-5hO","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20324","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/23149404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20324"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":20338,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20324\/revisions\/20338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}