Why You Should Speak at DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026
Are you a Drupal enthusiast who’s ever thought, “I’m not expert enough to speak at DrupalCon”? You’re not alone. Imposter syndrome can affect even the most experienced developers, designers, and site builders. But here’s the truth: real-world experience matters far more than textbook expertise. Your lessons learned, project insights, and practical workflows are exactly what the community wants to hear.
Speaking at DrupalCon isn’t just about sharing knowledge. It’s a chance to grow personally and professionally. You’ll gain visibility in the Drupal community, advance your career through skill development and recognition, and connect with peers, mentors, and potential collaborators.
Don’t let self-doubt hold you back. If you’ve tackled real Drupal challenges, you already have a story worth sharing.
Photo by PdJohnson
What Makes a Great DrupalCon Talk ProposalWhen reviewers look at submissions, they’re seeking talks that are educational, clear, and actionable, not sales pitches. Here’s what makes a proposal stand out:
Dynamic type expressions in Drupal config schema
Drupal's config schema YAML supports dynamic expressions inside square brackets that resolve to values from the surrounding configuration data at runtime. Most developers have seen them — [%parent.type] in field formatter schema is a classic example — but few understand exactly how they work or when to use them.
I found a Todoist task from December 4th, 2024: \Drupal\Core\Config\TypedConfigManager::replaceVariable blog post. (Yeah, you do not want to see my "Overdue" list.) I have no memory of what I was working on that day or why I went deep on this. But past-me clearly thought it was worth documenting, so here we are. If you've ever stared at [%parent.type] in a schema file and just accepted it as magic — this one's for you.
How to clean up your Drupal Taxonomy faster? Go with Bulk Term Delete
Talking Drupal #547 - Why Developers Don't Choose Drupal
In episode #547, guest JD Flynn joins us to discuss why developers don't choose Drupal, focusing on Drupal adoption, discoverability, and outdated perceptions from Drupal 6/7. JD cites survey data showing low interest among non-Drupal developers, arguing Drupal's biggest problem is invisibility and that developers often pre-filter it due to PHP stigma and friction getting started.
For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/547
What’s Next for Drupal
DrupalCon Chicago 2026 outlined concrete developments already moving through the current cycle toward DrupalCon Rotterdam. The keynote highlighted progress in Drupal CMS, expanded site templates and marketplace functionality, and ongoing work on artificial intelligence features that are now transitioning from demonstration to implementation.
Drupal CMS 2.1 builds on Drupal Core 11.3 and introduces support for preconfigured site templates. The keynote demonstrated eleven templates available through a basic marketplace, all installable directly from the Drupal CMS installer. This signals that both template distribution and marketplace functionality have moved beyond concept into early rollout.
The Context Control Center now appears close to production readiness. The keynote positioned it as a central source of truth for brand voice, target audiences, key messages, product details, and editorial guidelines used by AI agents. In one demonstration, the system generated an on-brand page from a marketing brief, while a second example used Google Analytics data in a proof-of-concept workflow to improve content performance after publication.
Not all demonstrated capabilities are fully mature. Several features remain in alpha or beta stages as development continues toward DrupalCon Rotterdam. At the same time, increased AI-assisted contribution is placing pressure on maintainers, alongside a direct reminder that contributors remain responsible for the code they submit.
With that introduction, let us move to the major stories from last week.
Using AI Without Compromising Our Values
Photo by Curt Rochon, DrupalCon Chicago 2026. Licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0
I went into DrupalCon Chicago suspicious of AI. I almost didn't go. What changed my mind wasn't a demo or a keynote. It was realizing the Drupal community already has what it needs: our Values and Principles. We just did not center them in the AI conversation.
Drupal AI Summit NYC
The Drupal AI Summit NYC, taking place on May 14, 2026
Photo by Gryffindor , CC BY-SA 3.0 Wikimedia
The conversation around AI is changing.
Not long ago, most discussions focused on what AI could do. That phase is largely behind us. Organisations are now dealing with a more difficult and more important question: how do you operate AI systems in a way that holds up over time, under real conditions, and with real consequences?
The Drupal AI Summit NYC is designed to address that shift directly. This is not a standalone Drupal event. It is co-located with apidays New York and Generation AI, placing Drupal into a broader ecosystem of technology leaders, platform owners, and organisations actively working through the realities of AI adoption at scale.
This is a different kind of conversation
This Summit is not structured as a traditional developer track, and it is not focused on early-stage experimentation. The intent is to create space for people who are already responsible for delivery and are dealing with the complexity that comes with it.
The audience includes CTOs, digital leaders, and platform owners who are navigating challenges such as governance, compliance, data ownership, and long-term operational stability. These are not theoretical concerns. They emerge quickly once AI is integrated into production systems and begin to affect real users, real data, and real outcomes.
Does your mechanic talk about their tools, or your problems?
Dripyard's Drupal Contributions for March 2026
Inspired by Mark Conroy's blog series, I’m starting a series of blog posts detailing Dripyard’s contributions. My hope is that it brings a bit of visibility to 1) inspire y’all to buy our themes, and 2) inspire folks to contribute on their own.
March 2026 was especially busy for us, as 1) we made a bunch of contributions to the Drupal CMS installer, 2) created a badass new module (see below), and 3) did a bunch of work at DrupalCon Chicago.
Why Manage Cookie Compliance?
We’re all familiar with cookie consent banners — the popups asking us to agree to “cookies” that track data from our visits. They’re everywhere. And honestly, they’re a bit annoying.
But here’s the thing most organizations get wrong: they treat the banner as the entire conversation. Find a tool, install a popup, check the box. Done.
That’s backwards. The banner is just the visible output of a much more important process — understanding what your website actually collects, why it collects it, and whether anyone made a deliberate decision about any of it.
Catching the Drupal Breeze: Insights from Driesnote Chicago 2026
Drupal is evolving so quickly that it’s hard to guess what’s coming next, until the DrupalCon keynote by Drupal Founder, Dries Buytaert, warmly known as the ‘Driesnote’ pulls back the curtain. That’s the moment when the community leans in, ready to see the newest ideas take shape.
Finally: Explicit #[TwigAllowed] Method Access (w/o The Hallucinations)
NOTE: To compensate against other articles on the web that contain hallucinations, here's a take from the author of the discussed code.
Drupal, we're back! (and never left)
Over the past few years, we stepped away from classic agency work to explore what it means to build our own product. We learned a lot, built a lot, and stayed deeply connected to Drupal throughout. Now, we’re bringing those experiences back into a more focused service offering.
DrupalCon Rotterdam: Why Digital Sovereignty is Now Front and Center
The Call for Papers for DrupalCon Rotterdam is officially open. We have an important update regarding one of our most vital tracks.
This year, we officially expanded the scope of our discussions. What was previously the Open Web track has evolved into the Digital Sovereignty and Open Web track.
Why the Change?`
Today, many large companies control our data and our platforms. The Open Web is about more than just code. It is about who has control. Digital Sovereignty means that people, organizations, and countries have the right to control their own digital lives.
By adding this to the name, we show that DrupalCon is the place for these big talks. We want to build a web that is fair, open, and not controlled by just a few large companies.
Who Should Submit?
We are looking for more than just technical sessions. To solve the challenges of the modern web, we need a broad range of perspectives. We want to hear from the following groups.
- Policymakers navigating the GDPR and the AI Act.
- Advocates fighting for digital equity and accessibility.
- Site Builders and Developers implementing privacy first architectures.
- Community Leaders fostering sustainable open source ecosystems.
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Potential Topics
If you are wondering whether your idea fits, here are a few topics we would love to see on the stage.
💬 Talk to Your Drupal Page Builder 🚀 DXPR Builder 2.8 AI Release!
This is the biggest DXPR Builder release we have ever shipped.
In a 2023 interview with The DropTimes, I described our ultimate goal: "You will be able to put your granny in front of a computer and let her create a mobile-friendly webpage about her hobby." I talked about the day someone could just describe what they want and get a webpage instantly. Back then, I said the AI was too buggy for production. I said "I don't see this happening in 2023."
It is happening now.With DXPR Builder 2.8, you can describe what you want and watch AI build it for you: complete pages with sections, columns, images, and cards. All styled by your theme. All ready to publish. DXPR Builder is the first Drupal page builder you can talk to, and it will create and edit complex webpages. If you have never heard of Drupal: it is the open-source CMS behind sites like Tesla.com, the European Commission, and thousands of universities. DXPR Builder is the most popular way to build pages in Drupal without writing code. Thousands of sites rely on it, from Fortune 500 companies to government agencies to solo creators. Now every one of them gets AI superpowers.
Speed up your PHPUnit Browser tests with this one trick
It's true, no April fools. You can make your Browser tests run much quicker. How? By deleting them!
You will of course need to add a corresponding Kernel test - and that's the trick. Kernel tests run much faster than Browser tests.
But Browser tests make requests to the test site using an internal web browser, I hear you say, whereas Kernel tests make API calls directly. Kernel tests have their uses for testing APIs, but Browser tests are needed to test actual HTML output.
Aha! Kernel tests can now make HTTP requests.
This is subject to a number of caveats and limitations: there is no session, and forms can't be submitted. And functionality such as a current user, blocks on the page, and page caching will need additional setup.
And more generally, with Kernel tests, modules are enabled but not installed: you need to handle things like entity schemas, database tables, and install config yourself in the test. The benefit though is that you only set up the parts of the module that you need for your test.
So not all Browser tests are suitable for conversion. But a lot of them are. We're already working on converting tests in core, and as this feature has been backported to Drupal core 11.x, contrib modules can make use of it too.
The benefits to conversion are tests that run faster, so less time developing and less time waiting for CI pipelines to run, and a lower energy footprint and lower costs for drupal.org. And they're easier to debug too.
And if you haven't yet written any tests for your module, now is an excellent time to start!
DrupalCon Lightening Talk: Our Evolving Strategy for Taming Performance Nightmares on Drupal Faceted Search Pages
Drupal’s Global Shift Continues
Across the global web ecosystem, Drupal continues to hold a steady position as a platform shaped by long-term reliability and structured flexibility. Its presence in government systems, higher education platforms, and enterprise environments reflects a consistent preference for stability over rapid change. This pattern has allowed Drupal to remain relevant across regions where durability, governance, and scalability are essential.
A recent reflection shared by Josh Koenig on LinkedIn, drawing on Drupal.org usage statistics, argues that Drupal adoption has declined across successive major releases since 2016. He frames this as a broader economic challenge for the ecosystem, pointing to reduced growth and a shift toward maintenance-driven work. While such data includes development environments and does not directly represent deployment scale, it continues to inform discussion about how Drupal’s role is evolving.
Within this context, Drupal’s role appears increasingly aligned with long-term systems rather than rapid expansion cycles. Much of the work around Drupal today centres on sustained platforms, incremental improvements, and continuity for existing implementations. This reflects how organisations engage with Drupal not as a short-term solution, but as infrastructure that supports complex digital operations over extended periods.
My DrupalCon Chicago Retrospective
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DrupalCon Chicago 2026 was one of the most exciting DrupalCons I've attended. Not because everything was perfect, but because the conversations were real. I came in pushing two conversations: the International Federation and what I call "the little guy". I left with more energy than I arrived with, and a clearer picture of what needs to happen next.
The Driesnote EnergyDries opened with the story of Chicago literally lifting its buildings to rebuild its foundations. Perfect metaphor for where Drupal is right now. He talked about the stable triangle that has held Drupal together for 25 years: the product, the agencies, and the open source community. And he was honest about all three legs being under pressure from AI at the same time.
The demo was impressive. Using Lovable to generate a beautiful website in 15 minutes. Then migrating it to Drupal using Canvas CLI and OpenAI Codex in about two to three hours. The new pitch Dries proposed: "We use AI to prototype fast, then we use Drupal to build systems that last." I think that's a strong message.
How Drupal's chained fast backend keeps APCu cache consistent across your web servers
Drupal's cache.backend.chainedfast makes your site faster without any configuration. All you need is to have APCu on your server. It shows up in the bootstrap, config, and discovery cache bins, and most developers never think about it or even know it is being leveraged.
The chained-fast backend combines two backends: a fast, inconsistent backend (APCu, local to each web server process) and a consistent backend (the database, which is shared across all servers). APCu alone is dangerous in a multi-server environment because each server has its own copy of the data; invalidations on one server don't propagate to others. The chained backend solves this with a last-write timestamp.
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