Merge pull request #689 from humanmade/v26-beta-release

Draft doc for v26 release

Author: filter182

other-docs/guides/upgrading/README.md

@@ -43,6 +43,7 @@ with "BREAKING: " in the version release notes.
 
 ## Upgrade Guides
 
+- [Version 26](./v26.md)
 - [Version 25](./v25.md)
 - [Version 24](./v24.md)
 - [Version 23](./v23.md)

other-docs/guides/upgrading/v26.md

@@ -0,0 +1,73 @@
+---
+order: 26
+---
+
+# Upgrading to v26
+
+*If you are migrating from WordPress to Altis, check out the [migrating guide](../migrating/) first.*
+
+To upgrade to Altis v26, edit your `composer.json` and change the version constraint for `altis/altis` and any local environment
+modules to `^26.0.0`.
+
+```json
+{
+    "require": {
+        "altis/altis": "^26.0.0"
+    },
+    "require-dev": {
+        "altis/local-server": "^26.0.0"
+    },
+    "config": {
+        "platform": {
+            "php": "8.3"
+        }
+    }
+}
+```
+
+Once you have made these changes, run `composer update` and then run the `wp altis migrate` command:
+
+```sh
+# For cloud environments
+wp altis migrate
+
+# For local server
+composer server cli -- altis migrate
+```
+
+## WordPress 6.9
+
+Altis adds support to WordPress 6.9, “Gene”, which brings collaboration-focused editor features plus meaningful frontend performance improvements:
+
+- **Collaboration & workflow**: New **Notes** enable block-level commenting for reviews, and the **Command Palette** is expanded for faster navigation/actions across the dashboard.
+- **Editor & blocks**: New **Fit text to container** typography option, improved drag-and-drop, and new blocks (including **Accordion**, **Time to Read**, and **Math**) to structure content.
+- **Infrastructure/performance**: Major script/style loading optimizations (e.g. `fetchpriority`, footer script modules, on-demand block styles for classic themes, skipping assets for hidden blocks, larger inline CSS limit, and minified/inlined block-theme styles), plus **WP-Cron spawning at shutdown** to reduce impact on request time.
+- **Platform compatibility**: **Beta support for PHP 8.5** (review runtime/CI and extension compatibility matrices).
+
+For more details check the [WordPress 6.9 Field Guide](https://make.wordpress.org/core/2025/11/25/wordpress-6-9-field-guide/)
+
+## Headline Features
+
+- **Afterburner** has been upgraded to v1.0, which changes the architecture to move the object cache drop-in to user land PHP.
+- **PHP 8.3** is the new default version and the minimum required version is PHP 8.2.
+
+### Altis Dashboard Features
+
+- Enabled self-managed IP allow and block lists by default for all customer environments.
+- Added validation to prevent blocking IPs that are already on the allowlist.
+- Updated AI bot detection list with new bot identifiers.
+- Updated multiple composer dependencies to their latest versions.
+
+### Altis Local Server Improvements
+
+- **Traefik** has been upgraded to **v3**, improving local server stability and ensuring compatibility with the latest versions of **Docker** and **Docker Desktop**. If you have added **custom Docker containers** to your local stack, you’ll need to update any **Traefik labels/annotations** in your add-ons to be compatible with Traefik v3. Refer to the Docker provider documentation for updated label formats and options of [Traefik for Docker](https://doc.traefik.io/traefik/providers/docker/)
+- **MySQL** has been upgraded to **v8.0.44** which is a maintenance release focused on fixes and incremental performance improvements, including updates across **InnoDB stability**, **query/optimizer correctness**, and **bundled OpenSSL refreshes on supported platforms**.
+
+### Altis Core improvements
+
+We have incorporated many updates to modules and libraries in Altis to bring in important bug fixes and improvements.
+
+### Documentation
+
+Our developer focused documentation has been improved again. As usual, feedback from our customers and partners is always welcome.
+Please [send us any feedback you have](support://new).