WordPress 6.8 is imminent! Are your plugins ready, glowlogix?

[musamamasood]

WordPress 6.8 is scheduled for release on April 15, 2025. Are your plugins ready?

After testing your plugins and confirming compatibility, please update the "Tested up to" value in your plugin's readme.txt file to 6.8. This small update helps users trust your plugin's compatibility and encourages them to update.

Key updates plugin developers should know about:

• Password Hashing: Core now uses bcrypt for password storage. If you handle custom authentication, ensure compatibility with this new hashing algorithm. https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/02/17/wordpress-6-8-will-use-bcrypt-for-password-hashing/
• Speculative Loading: A new feature uses the Speculation Rules API to preload likely navigation targets. You can control or disable it for certain URLs using new filters. https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/06/speculative-loading-in-6-8/
• Block Editor Enhancements: Use the new should_load_block_assets_on_demand filter to prevent unnecessary block CSS/JS from loading on pages that don't need it. https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/25/miscellaneous-block-editor-changes-in-wordpress-6-8/
• REST API Menus: The new rest_menu_read_access filter lets you control which menus, menu items, and locations are publicly exposed via the REST API. https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/27/new-rest-api-filter-for-exposing-menus-publicly-in-wordpress-6-8/
• Internationalization: Remember, if your plugin is hosted on WordPress.org and requires WordPress 4.6 or higher: you don't need to use load_plugin_textdomain(). This has now been extended to plugins that are not in the directory (e.g. when developing it). https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/12/i18n-improvements-6-8/
• Miscellaneous Developer Changes: A wide range of updates improve consistency in shortcodes, media handling, post type registration, and scheduling. https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/25/miscellaneous-developer-changes-in-wordpress-6-8/

Complete details are available in the full WordPress 6.8 Field Guide: https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/03/28/wordpress-6-8-field-guide/

How to test and update your plugins

Test with the latest Release Candidate using the WordPress Beta Tester plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-beta-tester/