Field Guide: client-side media, Abilities API, enforced iframed editor
v7.1
This guide outlines major developer features and breaking changes in 7.1 and is published during the Release Candidate phase to help inform WordPress extenders, Core developers, and everyone else interested in the latest WordPress development.
There are more than 310 Core Trac tickets included in WordPress 7.1, over 100 of which are enhancements and feature requests, and more than 180 bug fixes. This release includes 40+ tickets focused on the Editor, with the most attention going to accessibility (46), UI (40), and administration (28) focuses. Additionally, this release includes almost 600 enhancements and more than 630 bug fixes, coming from Gutenberg.
A quick search of the diff between 7.0.2 and the current trunk (7.1-beta4) reveals 20 new hooks (19 filters and 1 action), 1480 total files changed with 88163 insertions and 18601 deletions. Kudos to everyone who contributed to the 7.1 release, in any way, shape, or form.
Below is a breakdown of the most important developer-related changes included in WordPress 7.1.
- Media
- Client-side media processing
- Media library
- Accessibility
- Administration
- Accessible tooltips in core
- Abilities API
- Global styles
- SVG Icon API
- DataViews, DataForm, and View Config APIs
- Editor
- New Block Support
- Enforced iframed editor
- Editor components
- Design System
- Persistent Admin Bar
- External libraries
- Other updates
- But wait, there’s more!
- What changes didn't make the 7.1 release
- Classic block
- Real-time collaboration
- "On This Day" widget
- Merge proposals
Media
WordPress 7.1 continues the modernisation of media workflows across the editor, REST API, and Media Library. The release introduces client-side processing capabilities, improves the handling and registration of image sizes, and changes the default Media Library browsing experience.
Client-side media processing
New client-side media processing APIs allow supported image operations to happen in the browser before a file is uploaded. Related REST API changes support validating image dimensions, selecting size-aware encoding quality, and registering a sideloaded file for multiple image sizes.
Related tickets:
- #64798 — REST API: Add dimension validation to sideload endpoint
- #65262 — REST API: expose size-aware encode quality on attachment responses
- #65481 — REST API: Support registering one sideloaded file under multiple image sizes
Media library
Infinite scrolling is enabled by default in the Media Library grid, with a per-user option to restore the previous pagination behaviour. The release also includes fixes for upload counts, duplicate caption IDs, and other media-management details.
Media Library infinite scrolling is now enabled by default, with a per-user opt-out
Other media changes:
- #65053 – Correct the media-upload count when uploading multiple files from the post editor
- #65315 – Prevent duplicate figcaption IDs when the same image has different captions
Accessibility
WordPress 7.1 includes accessibility improvements across administration screens, list tables, setup flows, widgets, navigation, and editor-related interfaces. The changes improve semantics, keyboard and pointer interaction, focus behaviour, contrast, and the presentation of contextual information.
Administration
Administration improvements make hierarchical relationships and table structure clearer to assistive technologies. They also refine focus behaviour, controls, contrast, and interaction patterns across several screens.
Accessible tooltips in core
WordPress 7.1 introduces a shared mechanism for accessible name and informational tooltips. Core now uses this mechanism in selected interfaces, giving developers a consistent pattern for presenting supplementary information without relying on inaccessible title attributes or pointer-only interactions.
Introducing name and informational tool tips in WordPress 7.1
- #51006 — Add a mechanism for accessible tooltips in core
- #55343 — Add Tooltip to “Remember Me” (WP Login Form)
- #50921 — Consider adding tooltips for metabox order buttons
Other accessibility improvements:
- #64932 – Make subpage hierarchy in post list tables accessible.
- #65027 – Add IDs to section titles generated by the Settings API
- #65250 – Correct mouse interaction for the first submenu item when “Collapse Menu” is enabled
- #65382 – Improve admin colour scheme contrast for the editor chrome.
- #65454 – Improve accessibility of setup-config.php and install.php
- #47670 – Fix the accessibility problem caused by multiple RSS widgets
- Improving visibility, contrast, layout, and overall accessibility in #65419, #65530, #65532, #65630 and more.
Abilities API
WordPress 7.1 builds on the Abilities API introduced in WordPress 6.9, making abilities easier to discover, expose, validate, and integrate with external clients. The release adds filtering to wp_get_abilities(), execution lifecycle hooks, a unified public exposure flag, client-compatible JSON Schema preparation, and several smaller API refinements.
JSON Schema preparation for client compatibility in WordPress 7.1
Filtering registered abilities with wp_get_abilities() in WordPress 7.1
New execution lifecycle filters for the Abilities API in WordPress 7.1
A unified public exposure flag for Abilities in WordPress 7.1
Global styles
WordPress 7.1 expands the styling tools available to block and theme developers, with responsive style variations, configurable viewports, additional interaction states, and text-shadow support. These changes give themes and blocks more expressive styling options while keeping their configuration within the Global Styles system.
Responsive block styles and configurable viewports in WordPress 7.1
SVG Icon API
Starting with WordPress 7.1, the SVG Icon API provides a standardised way to register and render custom icons in WordPress.
DataViews, DataForm, and View Config APIs
The DataViews and DataForm APIs continue to mature in WordPress 7.1, alongside new View Config capabilities for controlling Site Editor screens. Developers can use the expanded APIs to customize data-driven interfaces and filter which views and layouts are available in supported editor contexts.
Editor
WordPress 7.1 includes a broad collection of editor improvements spanning block behaviour, extensibility APIs, interface components, styling tools, and the editing environment itself. The sections below highlight the changes most likely to affect block, theme, and plugin developers.
New Block Support
WordPress 7.1 adds block support for background gradients and minimum width, allowing blocks to opt into these design controls through their metadata. The release also improves the Custom HTML block by allowing supported blocks to remain editable inside its preview.
New Block Support in WordPress 7.1: Background Gradient (background.gradient)
Enforced iframed editor
WordPress 7.1 completes the move to an iframe-based post editor, including for sites that register legacy meta boxes. This creates a more consistent editing environment, but plugins that rely on reaching across the editor document boundary should review their JavaScript and CSS for compatibility.
Editor components
The editor component library receives new features, refinements, and API updates in WordPress 7.1. Developers building editor interfaces should review the component changes for new capabilities, updated behaviour, and any migration considerations.
Design System
WordPress 7.1 introduces a theming foundation for the WordPress Design System. The new approach uses design tokens and shared styles to make interfaces more consistent while giving supported environments a structured way to apply different visual themes.
Persistent Admin Bar
The WordPress toolbar now remains available while navigating supported editor screens, creating a more consistent path between the front end, administration area, Site Editor, and Block Editor. Developers extending the toolbar should review how their items behave across these contexts and during client-side navigation.
Consistent navigation in WordPress 7.1 with persistent toolbar
External libraries
WordPress 7.1 updates bundled third-party dependencies to improve compatibility, maintenance, and security. The most notable change is the update to jQuery UI 1.14.2, which may require testing for plugins that depend on jQuery UI behaviour or styling.
Other updates
Several developer-facing changes in WordPress 7.1 do not fall under any of the larger feature areas but may still affect existing integrations. These include adjustments to notification filtering and other focused API or behavioural changes.
The notify_post_author filter now has the final say on post author notifications
But wait, there’s more!
7.1 offers so much more! More than 180 Core bugs, over 630 Gutenberg bugs, 100 enhancements and feature requests, and more than 20 blessed tasks have been marked as fixed in WordPress 7.1.
The following highlights call attention to smaller changes that may affect integrations, expected return values, generated markup, compatibility, or established developer workflows:
AI – #65504 – AI Client – updates execute_abilities() to mirror has_ability_calls() by checking is_ability_call() before executing, and adds regression coverage for mixed ability and non-ability calls.
Comments – #65392 – “Show more comments” fails for comment types other than comment
Editor and blocks:
- #64838 – Prevent block pseudo-state styles from being applied to the default state
- #65039 – Add context to _doing_it_wrong() messages in WP_Block_Type_Registry::register()
- #65373 – Query Loop block: add an option to exclude the current post
Formatting and compatibility – #42517 – Make sure get_file_data() recognises headers prefixed by a
Login, installation, and multisite – #65506 – Fix incorrect HTTP URLs in multisite signup and activation when SSL is enabled
Privacy
- #44498 – Run _wp_personal_data_cleanup_requests() on cron
- #44723 – Return the WP_User_Request user ID as the documented type
REST API and XML
- #65536 – XML-RPC: fix the argument mismatch in _multisite_getUsersBlogs
- #65670 – Prevent WP_REST_Attachments_Controller::get_attachment_filesize() from failing on non-integer metadata
Themes and templates
- #42513 – Improve WP_Theme::get_post_templates() performance for large themes
- #64848 – Prevent implicit coercion in WP_Theme_JSON::to_ruleset()
- #65049 – Templates: add a date field
What changes didn’t make the 7.1 release
Not every feature explored during the release cycle was ultimately included in WordPress 7.1. The following initiatives were deferred, changed direction, or remained experimental, giving contributors more time to validate their design and implementation before they reach Core.
… as sometimes what we don’t add is more valuable than what we do.
Anne McCarthy in #7-1-release-leads
Classic block
An initial proposal would have hidden the Classic block from the inserter for new content while preserving existing instances. After further discussion and testing, the change was reverted, so the Classic block remains available in WordPress 7.1.
The React 19 upgrade was also deferred beyond WordPress 7.1 and continues as an experiment in the Gutenberg plugin.
React 19: punted beyond WordPress 7.1, experiment in Gutenberg
Real-time collaboration
Real-time collaborative editing received extensive testing and feedback during the WordPress 7.1 cycle, but it is not enabled in the final release. Work continues on the editing experience, conflict handling, compatibility, and the path toward a future Core integration.
“On This Day” widget
The proposed “On This Day” dashboard widget was considered during the WordPress 7.1 cycle but was not included in the release. Further work and discussion can continue in the associated Trac ticket #65801.
Merge proposals
Several projects presented merge proposals during the WordPress 7.1 cycle. Some related foundations were included in the release, while the broader proposals continue to evolve and may be considered again after further testing, documentation, and feedback.
Thank you to everyone who contributed to this version of WordPress, whether through code, testing, or something else – your contributions matter and help Make WordPress.
Props to @joedolson and @benjamin_zekavica for collaboration and review.
Fetched August 5, 2026
