WordPress 7.0 marks the official launch of Gutenberg Phase 3, focused on collaboration and workflows. The release has been delayed 3–4 weeks from the original April 9 date. Here are the 10 most important changes landing in the betas and RC.
1. Real-Time Collaborative Editing
Multiple users can now edit the same post or page simultaneously. Each collaborator gets a color-coded cursor with presence indicators. When someone pauses or moves to another block, changes sync instantly to all connected editors with a brief highlight animation. No more “post locked” screens.
2. Notes (Block-Level Comments)
Building on the foundation introduced in 6.9, Notes in 7.0 expand into a full inline communication system. Select a block, click Add Note, tag a user, and leave feedback directly in the editor. Notes sync in real time and have their own keyboard shortcut for quick creation.
3. Visual Revisions
The revisions panel now shows color-coded overlays directly in the document inspector. Green outlines mark added blocks, red marks removed blocks, and yellow indicates modified settings. For text content, additions appear green and underlined while deletions show red with strikethrough. No more scanning raw diffs.
4. Connectors UI + WP AI Client
A new Settings → Connectors page provides centralized management of external AI provider credentials. The underlying php-ai-client package offers a provider-agnostic interface — plugins for OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic are already in the Plugin Directory. This is infrastructure, not a content writer. Plugins build features on top of it; the core just manages the plumbing and credentials.
5. View Transitions
Cross-document view transitions bring visual continuity to the WordPress dashboard. Instead of hard page reloads as you navigate between screens, you get smooth animated transitions that make wp-admin feel more like a single-page application.
6. Command Palette in the Admin Bar
The Command Palette has existed in the editor since 6.3, but 7.0 promotes it to the top admin bar site-wide. A ⌘K / Ctrl+K field appears in the Omnibar for all logged-in users, giving access to the palette from anywhere — editing, designing, browsing plugins, or viewing the front end.
7. Viewport-Based Block Visibility
WordPress 6.9 introduced the ability to hide a block from the front end. Version 7.0 adds viewport-based controls, letting you show or hide blocks based on screen size — no plugin required. A native responsive visibility solution baked into core.
8. New Blocks and Design Tools
Several new blocks ship in 7.0: an Icons block, a Breadcrumbs block, and heading levels (H1–H6) promoted to full block variations so you can insert “Heading 2” directly from the inserter. The Cover block gains video embed backgrounds, and the Grid block gets responsive controls. The Font Library is now enabled for all themes.
9. DataViews in the Site Editor
DataViews replaces traditional list tables within the Site Editor — not across all of wp-admin (yet). Templates, patterns, and pages in the editor get a modern component-based interface with inline filtering, sorting, and the ability to switch between grid and list layouts without page reloads.