News Roundup

DrupalEasy's Michael Anello just launched a multi-day course on Single Directory Components, or SDCs. It’s an 18-hour class starting September 8, with hands-on SDC training for modern Drupal theming. Great fit for site builders and maintainers looking to deepen their component-based development skills.

The Drupal Association will share global AI survey results in a live webinar on August 28. Over 200 business leaders helped identify top AI priorities across industries. These insights will shape the Drupal AI roadmap—important context for builders and agencies tracking AI trends.

Stephen Musgrave at Capellic shares strategies for stopping AI bots from hammering Drupal faceted search pages. Cloudflare WAF, Pantheon’s AGCDN, and the new Facets 3.0 Exposed Filters submodule proved especially effective. These solutions restore cache hit ratios above 90%, making them essential for high-traffic Drupal sites.

Ala Batayneh at Vardot explains how component-based design is reshaping Drupal UI strategies. With Single Directory Components now in core and variant support in 11.2, modular theming is maturing fast. From Emulsify to Varbase CBD, this approach accelerates development, design consistency, and AI-assisted prototyping.

The Splash Awards Germany and Austria 2025 deadline is extended to August 22. The awards will be held on October 15 in Vienna, during DrupalCon Vienna. This year, winners can also qualify for the International Splash Awards, returning after six years.

Submissions are now open for Birds of a Feather sessions at DrupalCon Vienna 2025. These informal meetups let attendees connect around shared interests, from Drupal development to hobbies. Organizers encourage early proposals, with rooms assigned and posted on the schedule.

Drupal developer Luhur Abdi Rizal has released Pasir v0.1, a new PHP application server built in Rust. It offers a fast, no-config alternative to PHP-FPM and supports major frameworks including Drupal. Pasir is experimental but shows promise with features like HTTP/2 support, Docker compatibility, and request tracing.

The 2025 Pacific Northwest Drupal Summit session schedule is now live, featuring over 20 talks on accessibility, SEO, AI migrations, and more. The event runs October 18–19 at a new venue — McMenamins Edgefield Hotel near Portland. Registration is open, with an early-bird discount through August 21.

CiviCRM is now available on DrupalForge.org for instant demo site launches. This integration brings a powerful CRM tool to nonprofits and civic groups using Drupal. Salim Lakhani announced the update, crediting Vinay Gawade and the community for their contributions.

GraphQL 5.0.0-alpha3 is out for Drupal, released by Klaus Purer at Jobiqo. It modernizes plugin definitions using PHP attributes and fixes 13 issues. The update supports Drupal 10.4 and 11, with improved test coverage and type handling.

Acquia has appointed Chris Tranquill as its new CEO, effective immediately, per their August 19 release.
He brings 25+ years of experience in customer engagement software, most recently at Khoros.
For the Drupal community, this may signal a shift in how Acquia approaches digital experience strategy.

The Drupal Association has opened the 2025 Drupal Business Survey for agencies and service providers.
This year’s edition is officially Association-managed, with refined questions for stronger trend analysis.
Results will be shared at DrupalCon Europe in Vienna this October, guiding community business insights.

On TD Café #008, Martin Anderson-Clutz and Jürgen Haas dive deep into ECA 3.0 and Modeler API. They explain how the decoupled architecture streamlines contributions and enables future integrations like n8n and MCP. For Drupal devs, this means easier automation, clearer UIs, and better paths to AI-driven orchestration.

Jo Fitzgerald explains how to scaffold a custom plugin manager in Drupal using Drush’s generate command. The tutorial walks through setting the module name, plugin type, and discovery method—highlighting best practices for Drupal 10. It’s a useful guide for developers building custom or contrib modules with reusable plugin architecture.

Denis Peszka of Smartbees offers a hands-on tutorial for adding structured data in Drupal. He shows how to use the Schema.org Metatag module with Composer and Drush, plus testing tips. This is a solid guide for boosting SEO, click-throughs, and visibility with schema markup.

Travis Christopher argues Drupal’s “identity crisis” is actually its greatest strength for enterprises. While modern stacks offer clarity, they stumble on workflows, permissions, and integrations Drupal handles with ease. The takeaway? Drupal’s complexity isn’t a flaw—it’s the feature that makes it fit messy real-world needs.

Version 1.2.0-alpha1 of the MCP Drupal module has been announced. It adds early support for Anthropic’s Model Context Protocol, enabling LLMs to interact with Drupal systems. Features include per-tool configuration and a low-code MCP Studio for workflow building.

Alejandro Madrigal Leiva will host an online session on August 23 to explore new ways of contributing Single Directory Components in Drupal. He aims to move beyond packaging components in modules or themes. The session will test ideas live and is open to all interested in theming and SDCs.

The Drupal AI Initiative held a two-day off-site to refine strategy and set concrete roadmap goals. They secured $300,000 in new funding and expanded their network of contributing agencies, known as “Makers.” Survey results shaped feature priorities, with a webinar planned for August 28.

Denys Mykhaiskyi from Fabrity breaks down when going headless with Drupal makes sense. He highlights the flexibility and performance gains of separating backend and frontend layers. But warns it's best suited for teams with the resources to handle the added complexity.

Fons Vandamme has unveiled Webhaven, a new Drupal Starter built to simplify project setup. It includes essential modules, multilingual support, SEO tools, and a customizable theme. Designed for flexibility and accessibility, Webhaven aims to make Drupal more approachable for teams of all sizes.

Dries Buytaert is calling on governments to treat Open Source software as public infrastructure. He warns that critical digital systems rely on underfunded contributors. Buytaert proposes long-term public investment and policy changes to secure Open Source’s future.

This week’s Drupal events run from August 18 to 24 and span virtual, hybrid, and in-person formats. Highlights include a DrupalCon Nara preview at Drupal PH, theming discussions in Chattanooga, and community planning in Mumbai and Chicago. Sessions also explore contributed SDCs and regional collaboration.

Drupal AI 1.2.0-alpha2 is now out, bringing key stability and feature upgrades. New tools include AI access to Views, improved field widgets, and better support for streamed responses. Contributors from across the Drupal ecosystem helped move the project closer to a production-ready state.

DrupalCon Vienna 2025 has opened its official hotel booking portal. Attendees can now reserve discounted rooms near the Austria Center Vienna. Organizers recommend booking early, as nearby options may sell out fast.

The first Drupal Meetup Uruguay took place with around 30 attendees and four presentations. Topics ranged from AI and deployment automation to contributing with Drupal. A new community logo was also selected, with plans already in motion for a follow-up event.

DrupalCon is returning to Asia in 2025, with Nara, Japan as the host city. Sponsorship packages are now open, offering companies a chance to connect with the global Drupal community. Options include networking access, brand exposure, and learning opportunities.

The Splash Awards Germany & Austria 2025 will be held on October 15 in Vienna, for the first time hosted in Austria. Organized alongside DrupalCon Vienna, the event highlights top Drupal projects from both countries. Submissions are open until August 15 and also qualify for the revived International Splash Awards.

Voting is open for the official DrupalCon Vienna 2025 T-shirt design. Four community-submitted designs have been shortlisted by the Advisory Committee. Voting runs on the DrupalCon Vienna website from August 11 to 22, 2025.

The Quarterly Women in Drupal meeting takes place today, August 13, at 12 PM CDT. It’s a virtual space for female-identifying and non-binary community members to connect and share experiences. Organized by Jennifer Dust and Monica F, the event is sponsored by Aten Design Group and Lullabot.

The Drupal Association has launched the Drupal AI Initiative to speed up AI adoption in the Drupal ecosystem. The program will fund a full-time team through sponsorships, with benefits like early access to new AI features and roadmap influence. Founding sponsors include Acquia, 1xINTERNET, Dropsolid, Salsa Digital, amazee.io, and others.

DrupalForge.org now offers direct Claude AI integration with Drupal CMS in a cloud-based environment. The new Drupal AI code app combines Drupal CMS, Drupal AI, Claude Code, and a pre-installed Gemini CLI in a browser-based VS Code setup. Developers can code, test, and manage Drupal projects instantly without local setup.

Drupal developer Mansoor Aziz has launched DrupalZone, a free learning platform for Drupal developers, designers, and learners. The site offers tutorials from beginner basics to advanced site building, with complete source code and offline progress tracking. Upcoming lessons will cover core concepts, theming, Drush commands, and more.