DDEV
DDEV Extended Advisory Group and Board Meeting 2026-01-14 #7863
Replies: 2 comments 7 replies
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Thanks for this outstanding summary of the meeting. I'm sorry I wasn't able to make it. For me, my action item for 2026 is to create an execute a fundraising drive to get us closer to the $12,000/month goal. I'll be starting this effort after Florida DrupalCamp in February (for which I'm currently raising funds.) I would love for the other board members to help me brainstorm a list of potential larger (> $250/month) sponsors that I can contact directly. Ideally, not just the names of companies, but also a specific contact person, and if possible, and introduction of some type (DM, email, etc...) -mike |
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Getting traction in wordpress will always be difficult so long as DDEV
There's also foibles with needing an absolute url, and the typical methods for changing urls are not robust enough. I started making an addon for wp that addresses all of this at https://github.com/nickchomey/ddev-wordpress, but I ultimately left it unfinished because I primarily work on a single site, so don't actually need any of it. Also, even the need to install addons would be a substantial hurdle for most wp users - good WP support out of the box would be important. It seems there's a bunch of TUIs and GUIs starting to be developed latetly - great to see! Though none are anywhere close to what I'd consider "production ready", especially for the high-needs WP crowd. It's also my impressions that many serious wp devs (eg core team) use the nodejs-based wp-env for local dev. It might be good to incorporate that. Likewise composer packages like wp coding standards checks, and tooling for developing Gutenberg blocks (https://developer.wordpress.org/block-editor/reference-guides/packages/packages-scripts/), though I believe support for php-only blocks is on the horizon. Ultimately, DDEV needs to be as turnkey and, ideally, visual as possible if it is to ever have a chance of meaningfully breaking into the WP market - not just the general user but also probably real devs who are already comfortable with their tools. I hope this helps. |
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I think it's Terminal UI? |
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I just happened to see a discussion pop up on the WP Core Slack channel about an Xdebug conflict. I took it as an opportunity to inquire about why WP rolls all its own tooling and if there's any interest in a collaboration with DDEV. I will update here if anything comes of it. |
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Someone from the core team shared these notes from a wp summit on dev tooling a couple years ago. There was some discussion in that post of wp-now, which has since been deprecated in favour of WP Playground , which can run wp in the browser with php wasm, or from cli with sqlite or mysql. It seems to be fast to get started, but obviously much slower due to wasm. And not useful for Unit tests, CI etc... Anyway, as expected, wp-env is the primary concern for core devs.
It is an npm package, but docker-based, so surely not a huge lift to get integrated with ddev. It has a json config and uses cli flags and env vars - again, hopefully not a huge thing to convert to ddev yaml. The config can define plugins to install, wp core version etc, which could all be handled by wp-cli. It uses composer, phpunit and some other things that should be available in ddev. Anyway, I'm sure there's appetite for a cleaner, unified solution to all of this. It's a matter of will/time to make it happen, and then spread the word. I don't think I have time to do this, but am happy to assist. It may be a way to get a foothold in the largest php project, by far. Or maybe just leave wp-env to the side and focus on gui/TUI and a cleaner integration with wp-config, etc - for the site admin crowd. Though they're already happy with Local etc, and won't see the need for DDEV, xdebug etc I'm happy to discuss if there's interest. |
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I think there are some lovely WP GUIs, but of course they are WordPress-captured, or hosting-provider-captured, and not useful for other target environments. People who want flexibility to work on multiple CMSs really like DDEV. Same problem with Laravel-focused local dev tools, and same result of happy users with DDEV. Would love to have you explore wpenv. |
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I agree, ddev is just a far better experience - multi-cms or not. As mentioned, I don't have time to actually do the work to explore wp-env + ddev. It would have to be something that comes from others (ddev or wp teams). I'm happy to help get the ball rolling though. Here's a link to the slack thread where a discussion started in case you want to express interest there. |
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Meeting time: 2026-01-14, 8am US MT, 4pm CET, here's your time: https://www.timeanddate.com/worldclock/fixedtime.html?msg=DDEV+Advisory+Group&iso=20260114T08&p1=5472&ah=1
Previous meeting: November 5, 2025
Next meeting: March 4, 2026
Resources:
Agenda
This is our annual 2-hour review of 2025 and plans for 2026 meeting.
Financials and planning
Financial Summary:
Reports:
Today's bank balance is about $7600.
2025 DDEV Foundation Balance Sheet 2025-12-31.pdf
2025 DDEV Foundation Profit and Loss 2025-12-31.pdf
Anything on anybody's mind!
Recording
https://youtu.be/ZuxeTgjH6Ig
AI-generated Meeting Notes
The meeting began with introductions and informal conversation before moving into substantive discussions about DDEV’s organizational structure, including updates on the board of directors, financial responsibilities, and advisory group processes.
The team reviewed DDEV’s progress in the Drupal community, highlighting sponsorship growth, ecosystem improvements, and add-on tooling advances. The group also explored the possibility of increased engagement with the WordPress community, acknowledging both the opportunity and the challenges.
The meeting concluded with:
Action Items
Board Updates and Organizational Planning
Participants included Stas Zhuk, Andrew Berry, Cary Borden, Paul Gilzow, and Pierre-Paul Kirtal.
Key updates:
Andrew noted that the board is still learning how and when to exercise authority, while the group reaffirmed the importance of advisory group input and community collaboration.
Community Engagement and Drupal Growth
Randy emphasized that despite a more formal governance structure, community involvement remains essential. He highlighted:
Andrew asked about WordPress engagement. Randy acknowledged long-standing interest but noted the absence of a clear, scalable strategy so far.
WordPress Tools and Engagement Discussion
The group discussed challenges specific to the WordPress ecosystem:
Paul suggested focusing on non-controversial, helpful entry points into the WordPress community and offered to share ideas. Randy noted recent success in sponsorship communication, sparked by publisher outreach and supported by the creation of a sponsorship data repository.
DDEV Sponsorship and Ecosystem Updates
Randy reported significant improvements in sponsorship health:
Technical highlights included:
Upcoming work includes:
DDEV Release and Developer Experience Enhancements
The upcoming DDEV v1.25 release (targeted for end of month) includes:
Randy highlighted how community contributions and selective AI assistance have accelerated improvements while maintaining quality.
2025 Review and Funding Strategies
The group reviewed the draft 2025 Year-in-Review, covering:
They also discussed broader ecosystem risks, such as Bitnami’s withdrawal from open source, and explored alternatives.
Randy invited feedback on community tone and engagement, particularly around support interactions in Discord and Slack.
Community Achievements and Board Planning
Notable achievements:
Randy expressed appreciation for the community’s momentum and noted that AI tooling and improved syntax have lowered barriers to entry.
Potential board topics discussed:
AI Strategy for DDEV Development
The group explored AI-related opportunities, including:
The goal is to make DDEV attractive to AI-forward developers while remaining cautious about security, correctness, and scope.
Product Scope vs. AI and Hosting Expansion
Cary emphasized the importance of maintaining focus on core product value. Randy acknowledged that while AI can increase interest, over-expansion risks sustainability.
Hosting was discussed in response to user inquiries. Randy clarified:
DDEV Hosting, Governance, and Risk Management
The advisory group briefly discussed the idea of transferring DDEV to a hosting company, with Hosting.com mentioned as a hypothetical example. No decisions were made.
Randy and Stas discussed:
The group acknowledged Stas’s ongoing challenges in Ukraine and reinforced the importance of shared governance and resilience planning for DDEV’s long-term stability.
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