WordPress 6.9 Gene is here. This is in the new update

WordPress has released its second major update for 2025. Version 6.9 brings with it some exciting innovations!

The update is code-named ‘Gene’ (after jazz pianist Gene Harris) and focuses on better collaboration, new design possibilities and significantly faster loading times. The topic of AI also plays a role for the first time.

Collaboration becomes easier

Probably the coolest innovation: You can now Pin annotations directly to individual blocks! This makes working together on content much easier. Comments and feedback go exactly where they belong – directly to the content element in question. Whether you are working on texts or optimizing designs: The collaboration takes place seamlessly directly on the work surface. External tools for feedback are often superfluous.

Practically, the new Possibility to hide blocks with a click. They remain visible in the editor, but are not displayed on the live page. Perfect for seasonal content or if you want to build a page step by step. Hidden blocks are also completely removed from the published markup, including their scripts and styles. By keyboard you can use blocks with Ctrl + Shift + H (Windows/Linux) or ⁇ + Shift + H Show and hide (macOS).

Visual drag-and-drop: Design flows naturally

Creating layouts has now become more intuitive and flexible. With clear drawing points and live previews, you can see exactly what you're moving – a much faster way to create pages. The design now flows naturally from the hand.

Command palette now available everywhere

Your tools are always at hand from now on! The command palette is now accessible from any area of your website. No matter if you are writing your latest post, delving into the design in the website editor or searching through your plugins: All you need is a few keystrokes away.

New blocks for more design freedom

WordPress 6.9 comes with several new blocks:

Accordion block: Folding sections for each page! It is ideal for FAQs, menus or long content, which you want to make clear and easy to find.

Mathematics block: A blessing for all those who have to represent mathematical formulas. The new MathML block serves the clear presentation of complex mathematical formulas directly in the editor window without you having to install plugins. Both MathML and LaTeX are supported.

Reading duration block: Displays how long it takes to read a post with an automatic time estimate. So your readers know what to expect before they start reading.

Fit text: Typography that adapts

A typographic highlight is the new Fit text function: In paragraph and heading blocks, the font size automatically adapts to the container size and fills it perfectly. Ideal for banners, explanatory labels and outstanding moments in your design. No more manual adjustments, but a clear design in no time. Custom CSS ade!

Gallery with fixed aspect ratio

You can now set a fixed aspect ratio for images in gallery blocks. This way, your galleries look more uniform and are better aligned without additional effort or adjustments.

Faster at last!

WordPress has improved its performance. The update loads conditional and inline stylesheets smarter and uses fetchpriority support when loading scripts. Non-critical elements such as emoji detection or scripts for interactive blocks are deferred. In addition, there are optimized database queries, improved caching and a new template enhancement output buffer. The result: Faster loading times and better LCP (Largest Contentful Paint) metrics.

Fixed layout shifts caused by the video block in the editor, and the terms selector loads faster.

Accessibility is a top priority

Over 70 fixes and improvements focus on key accessibility areas, both in Core and Gutenberg (there are 44 more improvements). Among them: global hiding of CSS-generated content for support technologies, improvements in screen reader announcements and user experience, and cursor position corrections. The keyboard focus is now also retained when clicking on a suggestion of autocomplete.

Highlights include improved ARIA attributes, better contrast across different UI elements, and optimized focus management across the editor. The Caps Lock warning has been added to the login screen, and the Twenty Twenty, Twenty-Two, and Twenty-Five themes have also received accessibility fixes.

AI basics: The Abilities API

With the new Abilities API WordPress provides the technical basis for AI integration. This unified system allows developers to consistently register and execute actions in PHP, REST, and AI contexts. This allows for more flexible and networked website interactions. The API is part of the AI Building Blocks for WordPress initiative and will enable AI wizards and automation tools to understand and execute WordPress functions in the future. This should be really exciting in the future!

For developers: Major technical improvements

HTML API gets updates

The HTML API has received a wealth of silent improvements. The serialize_token()-Method is now publicly available and WordPress now understands JavaScript .dataset-Properties right. With the new functions wp_js_dataset_name() and wp_html_custom_data_attribute_name() You can map between HTML attributes and JavaScript properties.

The new method is available for unit tests assertEqualHTML(), which semantically checks whether two HTML strings are equivalent without annoying false positives due to different attribute order or quotes.

More reliable emails

The wp_mail()-Function has been significantly improved. The sender address is now configured extensibly (by default, the From address is used), encoding headers are protected between calls, and multipart messages get the right content type. For this purpose, the function now supports inline images in HTML emails and is better protected against header injection attacks.

UTF-8 support upgraded

WordPress 6.9 brings a comprehensive modernization of UTF-8 handling. The new fallback pipeline in pure PHP makes UTF-8 handling environment-independent. Some outdated features have been deprecated:

• Uses wp_is_valid_utf8() instead seems_utf8()
• Uses wp_scrub_utf8() instead wp_check_invalid_utf8()
• Uses mb_convert_encoding() instead utf8_encode() and utf8_decode()

Streaming block parser

With the WP_Block_Processor gives’s a new class for efficient scanning, understanding and modifying block structures in HTML documents – inspired by the HTML API.

Legacy code removed

WordPress 6.9 cleans up: All legacy features for Internet Explorer have been removed. Conditional comments for scripts and styles are ignored (with deprecation note at WP_DEBUG), IE-specific CSS hacks are out, and the bundled themes have been cleaned up accordingly.

Other developer highlights

Block bindings to external sources: Developers can extend the user interface of block bindings with their own sources

PHP 8.5 Beta Support: All reported issues against PHP 8.5 have been fixed

URL escaping: esc_url() and esc_url_raw() can now use HTTPS as the default protocol

Menu search improved: Search when creating menus is now limited to post titles instead of full text search

Further improvements

WordPress 6.9 comes with over 440 improvements. Among them:

• Beta support for PHP 8.5
• Preparing for Iframe integration in the post editor
• The wp_mail() function now supports inline images in HTML mails and is better protected against header injection attacks

TL:DR

Version 6.9 is a solid update, which advances WordPress in several areas. Especially the collaboration features and performance improvements are welcome additions. The fact that more than 900 people worldwide have worked on this release shows once again the strength of the WordPress community.