I spent March 22-24 at the CloudFest Hackathon in Rust, Germany. While I had visited CloudFest before, this was the first time I participated in the hackathon. And I have to say, it was awesome. The teamwork, the innovation and the sheer energy in the room reminded me of the early days of WordPress contributing. Back then, like here at the hackathon, contributor days meant real progress, real innovation and a whole lot of fun.
Building together: innovation at its best
The winning project, Visua11y, led by Anne-Mieke Bovelett, was truly impressive. Her team’s solution made infographics accessible using AI, which makes visual content more inclusive for people with visual impairments. Seeing that kind of impactful accessibility innovation happen in real time was inspiring.
I was part of another project: WPCLI as MCP host, which ended up taking second place. We worked hard, solved real problems and — most importantly — had so much fun doing it. And one thing I particularly enjoyed: a lot of people at the hackathon know me as “Joost from Yoast” and apparently think of me as “just” a business guy. They did not know that I am actually also a developer and that I love coding. It was very refreshing to take my role as just another developer, which for me, is probably my most natural role.
If you’re into these things, our project also has major potential, in my opinion. It can help people navigate all the features of WordPress much more easily.
A reminder of what WordPress can be
Before coming to the hackathon, I’ll admit I was a bit skeptical. It sometimes feels like the energy and progress we used to have in the WordPress community are harder to find these days. But this event reminded me that with the right format and the right people, we can still make great progress. The enthusiasm was there, with many from the WordPress community and other open source projects like TYPO3 that were there. The willingness to innovate was there. The people were eager to build something new and move forward.
That’s what excites me about WordPress and open source in general. When we create the right environment, we can push things forward. But we need to ask ourselves: are we still setting the right stage for that to happen?
The bigger picture: WordPress & its future
Later that week, I attended SMX Munich and something struck me: the crowd there was considerably younger than what I usually see at WordPress events, younger than the crowd I saw at Cloudfest (while there were some exceptions there). There were so many people in their twenties at SMX, eager to learn and explore new opportunities. It made me wonder: how do we keep attracting fresh talent and excitement to WordPress?
Meanwhile, Matt Mullenweg recently proposed that WordPress move to a once-a-year release cycle. That proposal, combined with the noticeable decline in active contributions from multiple large contributors to the project, raises an important question: Are we still fostering an environment where people feel safe and motivated to contribute? The hackathon showed me that the passion is still there. We just need to cultivate the right conditions for it to thrive.
Moving forward
The CloudFest Hackathon gave me hope. It reminded me that WordPress still has so much potential—if we create the right structure for people to contribute meaningfully. The excitement, the energy and the innovation I saw there? That’s what we need to cultivate more in the broader WordPress ecosystem.
So here’s my takeaway: we should look at what works. If we want WordPress to stay innovative and competitive, we need to ensure that our community has the opportunities, motivation and excitement to build together, just like we did at CloudFest.
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