As DrupalCon continues to evolve, so does our responsibility to understand and reduce the impact of the events we create.

Great digital experiences don’t exist in isolation. They are shaped not only by the technology we build and the communities we nurture, but also by the environmental footprint we leave behind.

At DrupalCon Vienna 2025, we took an important step forward by measuring the event’s carbon footprint in detail, with measurement conducted by TerraVerde Sustainability, and the results tell a meaningful story.

 

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Why measuring impact matters

Sustainability is not a one-time achievement. It is an ongoing process of learning, improving, and making better decisions over time.

The 2025 Event Carbon Measurement Report provides a comprehensive view of DrupalCon’s environmental impact, helping us move from assumptions to data-driven action.

The total carbon footprint of the event was 512.8 tCO₂e, down significantly from 1,574.57 tCO₂e in 2024.

This progress reflects not only better planning, but also more intentional decisions, particularly in location and venue selection, where more efficient energy use and improved waste management played a key role.

 

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What we learned from DrupalCon Vienna 2025

One of the most important insights is clear: Travel remains the dominant source of emissions.

94–95% of emissions came from delegate travel, mostly driven by flights.

 

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However, while travel still represents the largest share, overall travel emissions were significantly lower than in 2024, supported in part by Vienna’s central location and strong rail connectivity.

The remaining emissions are distributed across several categories. Excluding travel, the total footprint was 26.97 tCO₂e, with heating accounting for 48% of emissions, while materials, food & beverage, and accommodation were other large contributors.

Across the event, we also saw:

• Energy consumption significantly decreased compared to previous years
• Waste was reduced through improved recycling and diversion strategies

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These insights help us move from general intentions to targeted action.

 

What sustainability looks like at DrupalCon

Sustainability at DrupalCon is built through intentional choices across the entire event experience:

• Catering – Plant-forward meals, locally sourced ingredients, no disposables, and food donation
• Wellbeing – Quiet spaces, wellness activities, and opportunities to recharge
• Climate action – Energy-efficient venues, low-emission travel, and carbon reduction strategies
• Community – Inclusive programs, scholarships, and initiatives that support diverse participation
• Waste reduction – Minimal printing, refill stations, and reduced single-use materials
• Partnerships – Working with sponsors and suppliers to align on sustainability goals

 

A shared responsibility

Drupal has always been more than just technology. It is a global community built on collaboration, openness, and shared values. Sustainability is a natural extension of those values.

By sharing these insights openly, we invite the Drupal community to be part of the solution.

Whether you are:

• Choosing more sustainable travel options
• Stay in green-certified hotels
• Being mindful of materials and waste
• Supporting more responsible event practices
• Providing more detailed travel information during registration to help improve measurement accuracy

Your decisions matter.

Together, we can continue building DrupalCons that are not only impactful and inspiring, but also responsible and sustainable.

 

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Still cleaning up messy content for hours? Read this blog to learn about the Node Cleanup module that can quickly filter, manage, and safely delete unused nodes to keep your Drupal 10/11 site organized.

We're excited to announce updates to the Drupal CMS leadership team, with the addition of Bálint Kléri as our new Frontend Lead.

Bálint Kléri named Drupal CMS Frontend Lead

Bálint Kléri has been named Frontend Lead, a new leadership role created to oversee the frontend architecture for Drupal CMS, Mercury and Mercury-based themes. Bálint is a full-time contributor to Drupal Canvas, leading the development of Code Components for Acquia and a key contributor to Mercury, the Drupal CMS design system. 

During development of Mercury, Bálint stepped in to guide the Tailwind CSS implementation and advocate for the use of best practices. We are grateful for his contributions already, and are excited to have him formally join the team. The addition of this frontend role is critical as we refine the Drupal CMS design system, providing users with a modern and adaptable foundation for Drupal sites and site templates.

Pamela Barone promoted to Product Lead

Pamela Barone is now Drupal CMS Product Lead, overseeing product direction, roadmap, prioritization, and delivery. Serving as Product Owner previously, this shift recognizes the product management responsibilities that Pamela has taken on during the evolution of Drupal CMS.

She will continue to work closely with me as I lead the Drupal CMS initiative. I’ll continue to set direction, align teams, and ensure we have the support and momentum to achieve our goals.

We appreciate the ongoing support from Technocrat support in giving Pamela the time to contribute to Drupal CMS.

Tim Plunkett is stepping down as Technical Lead

Tim Plunkett is transitioning out of his role as Drupal CMS Technical Lead to dedicate his full focus to the development of Drupal Canvas. We thank Tim for his leadership and his employer Acquia for all of his contributions.

Adam Hoenich, Lead Architect for Drupal CMS, has been ably overseeing all things technical in the meantime and he will remain in that role. Adam's contribution to Drupal CMS is generously supported by Acquia.

Looking ahead

During DrupalCon Chicago, our leadership team met to discuss the future of Drupal CMS. The first question we asked was 'Do we still think this initiative is important for Drupal's future?' We think it is. We're proud of what we have delivered so far in version 2, with Canvas enablement and site templates as the highlights, but we know there is a lot more to do to meet our objective: To enable marketing teams to launch fully-branded, professional websites in hours, not weeks.

The leadership team is currently working to define the product roadmap for the next 6-12 months, with a strategic focus on launching sites faster with Drupal. We'd love to see new site templates in the marketplace and want to promote easier pathways from installation to going live with a range of hosting options. Other areas we are looking to pursue are: onboarding, better AI tooling, multilingual support for Canvas and site templates, and better support for common third-party integrations.

Join us THURSDAY, April 16 at 1pm ET / 10am PT, for our regularly scheduled call to chat about all things Drupal and nonprofits. (Convert to your local time zone.)

We don't have anything specific on the agenda this month, so we'll have plenty of time to discuss anything that's on our minds at the intersection of Drupal and nonprofits. Got something specific you want to talk about? Feel free to share ahead of time in our collaborative Google document at https://nten.org/drupal/notes!

All nonprofit Drupal devs and users, regardless of experience level, are always welcome on this call.

This free call is sponsored by NTEN.org and open to everyone.

Information on joining the meeting can be found in our collaborative Google document.

In episode 548 we welcome back JD Leonard to discuss what CRMs are, what problems they solve, and which organizations benefit from them. JD explains why Drupal CRM defines CRM as "Contact Relationship Management," outlines core expectations like contact and relationship tracking and integrations, and describes Drupal CRM's Drupal-native architecture using dedicated, fieldable entity types for contacts, relationships, and contact methods. The panel compares Drupal CRM to older Drupal CRM efforts and user-based approaches, covers security considerations for PII and plans for field encryption, and highlights ecosystem projects such as CRM Email, CRM Membership (including Drupal Commerce integration), and event registration needs.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/548

Topics

• Module of the Week: Module of the Week: Social Media Links Block and Fields
• Use Cases and Discussion
• How to Suggest Modules
• What Is a CRM
• CRM Hats and Naming
• Core CRM Features and Users
• Why Drupal CRM Exists
• Drupal CRM Architecture Deep Dive
• Demos and Legacy Alternatives
• Project Origins and Community
• Out of the Box Features
• Security and PII Considerations
• Field Encryption Limits
• Core First Drupal Native
• Search Deprecation Drupal 12
• Choosing Contrib Integrations
• Ecosystem Modules Upstream
• Getting Started
• Evaluating CRM Options
• Common CRM Pitfalls
• Community Sustainability Vision
• Funding Volunteers Sponsors
• Roadmap Toward 1.0
• Ecosystem Membership Events

Resources

Try the latest - https://drupal.org/project/crm Field encrypt - https://www.drupal.org/project/crm/issues/3558040 Primary entity reference - https://www.drupal.org/project/primary_entity_reference Member Platform initiative - https://www.drupal.org/project/member Financial sponsor of Steve Ayers' time working on Drupal CRM - https://www.govwebworks.com https://www.portlandwebworks.com CRM ecosystem modules - https://www.drupal.org/project/crm/ecosystem Drupal Slack #crm channel: - https://drupal.slack.com/archives/C08N90UF9TR

Guests

JD Leonard - modernbizconsulting.com jdleonard

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

Module of the Week

with Martin Anderson-Clutz

Social Media Links Block and Field

The modules provides a configurable block that display links (icons) to your profiles on various popular networking sites. With this module, a website can be quickly extended with a "Follow us" functionality. Or you make the block available for your site editors, and they can configure the social networks themselves.

The conversation around AI is drifting into a familiar trap. We’re treating it as a question of alignment when it’s really a question of judgment. A recent reflection by Matthew Tift, written after DrupalCon, captures this tension well. Debates harden into sides, positions get defended, and nuance disappears. But the more useful observation is this: most of the people doing meaningful work with AI aren’t anchored to a fixed stance. They’re working through it, using principles they already trust.

That’s the part many organisations are skipping. Instead of grounding decisions in existing values, they’re reacting to the pace of change. This creates a false urgency to define a position quickly, often at the expense of clarity. In practice, that leads to inconsistent decisions. One team leans into AI for speed, another resists it for control, and neither is wrong. What’s missing is a shared framework that makes those decisions coherent over time.

At TDT, we see this as less of a technology shift and more of a decision-making test. AI doesn’t require new values as much as it exposes whether existing ones are actually being used. If your principles only show up in documentation but not in how choices are made under pressure, they’re not doing much work. The organisations that navigate this well won’t be the ones that pick a side early, but the ones that stay consistent in how they decide as the landscape keeps changing.

Discover Drupal

• UI Suite Pushes Core APIs and Display Builder Toward RC1 Ahead of Drupal Freeze
• Drupal 11.3.6 Released With Bug Fixes and Stability Improvements

Events

• DrupalCamp Ottawa 2026 to Take Place on 1 May with Free Registration
• Drupal Camp Asheville Opens Training Proposal Submissions
• Drupal Pune Meetup Set for 18 April With Session Submissions Open
• Florida DrupalCamp 2027 Scheduled for 29–30 January in Orlando
• DrupalCamp Grenoble Begins Today with Expanded Bilingual Programme
• DrupalSouth Wellington 2026 Opens Ironstar Community Awards Nominations
• Drupal Mountain Camp 2027 Set for 2–4 March in Davos
• Acquia Engage 2026 to Focus on Enterprise AI Adoption and Governance in Denver
• DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026 Opens Registration With 20% Lower Early Bird Pricing

Free Software

• Open Source Licensing Emerges as Key Fault Line in EU Cloud Sovereignty Debate

Organisation News

• DXPR Builder 2.8 Adds AI Page Creation and Editing Tools to Drupal

Additional developments from across the Drupal ecosystem were published during the week. Readers can follow The DropTimes on LinkedIn, Twitter, Bluesky, and Facebook for ongoing updates. The publication is also active on Drupal Slack in the #thedroptimes channel.

Alka Elizabeth
Sub-editor
The DropTimes

Is your website ready for AI search? Learn how AIO and GEO help your content get cited in AI-generated answers, not just ranked in search results. Discover the S1x SIGNALS framework and request a free assessment.

Building new modules using AI

I am setting up a playground to experiment with AI. My last post discussed developing and contributing a new Entity/Field Labels module to Drupal using AI. I look forward to seeing what I can create next. Before moving forward, I want to pause and explore how AI can assist me in managing and maintaining my existing contributed modules.

Maintaining my contributed modules using AI

Over the past decade, I’ve created and managed numerous contributed modules. I'm not sure how many there are, and it's been challenging to keep them all up to date. In the long run, I believe an AI agent with the right skills could help me manage my overwhelming list of modules. First, I need to clone my modules into my local development environment.

Cloning my contributed modules via Composer

It's unrealistic for me to manually clone each module's repository. Fortunately, Composer supports Git repositories. However, setting up and testing each module's Git repository using Composer can still be very time-consuming. Since AI excels at repetitive, predictable tasks, this is a perfect opportunity for me to let my AI assistant step in and make my life easier.

Using Agent skills to make things easier

Since cloning a Drupal repository for local development is quite straightforward, this presents a great opportunity to develop a custom agent skill. As with many AI-related tasks, it's best to seek help from the AI. Therefore, I prompted Claude to assist me in planning my drupalorg-project-clone skill.

Here is the front matter description of my new drupalorg-project-clone skill, which was generated by Claude Code and Codex.

Adding a dozen repositories to one's composer.json file makes it harder for humans to review dependencies....Read More

This is part three of a series of articles looking at HTMX in Drupal. Last time I looked at using HTMX to run a "load more" feature on a Drupal page. Before moving onto looking at forms I thought a final example of using HTMX and controllers to achieve an action.

One of the key examples that helped me understand HTMX was when it was used to create a tabbed interface, without reloading the page. This was quite simple to recreate in Drupal and can be done in a single controller.

In this article we will be creating a tabbed interface in Drupal, where HTMX is used to power loading the data in a tab like interface without reloading the page.

All of the code contained in this article can be found in the Drupal HTMX examples project on GitHub, but here we will go through what the code does and what actions it performs to generate content.   

The first task is to create the route for our controller.

The Route

The route we create here just points to an action in a controller.

drupal_htmx_examples_tabbed: path: '/drupal-htmx-examples/tabbed' defaults: _title: 'HTMX Tabbed' _controller: '\Drupal\drupal_htmx_examples\Controller\TabbedController::action' requirements: _permission: 'access content'

When the user (assuming they have the access content permission) visits the path /drupal-htmx-examples/tabbed then they will trigger the action() method in the controller.

Let's build the controller that this route points to.

Read more

Solving a small Drupal issue with plenty added tests: most basic Claude Code setup, without writing a single line of code, issue commentary or commit message myself

To say that there is not an agreement of using large language models (LLMs) for Drupal development would be an understatement. I've been using Claude Code for a while to assits with my Drupal development and I shared a month ago how I brought back the Drupal 7 module upgrader tool from the dead. That was a bit of an involved example, so I wanted to find a simpler one and this time rely even more on Claude.

Gábor Hojtsy Fri, 04/10/2026 - 12:20

Introducing LocalGov Bus Data: Bringing Bus Information into Your Council Website

We’re excited to announce the release of LocalGov Bus Data — a new Drupal module built with and for councils, now available for the entire local government community to use.

markconroy 10th Apr 2026

Managing a council website is a high-stakes balancing act where a single accidental “publish“ can impact public trust. Learn more about how LocalGov Drupal solves this problem for councils.

Drupal site-builders rejoice! We currently have two major page building projects approaching production-maturity: Drupal Canvas and Display Builder. In this article series, I compare the two projects by implementing real world use cases from the perspective of a site-builder.

DrupalCamp Grenoble begins today in Grenoble, France, bringing together more than 110 attendees for three days of sessions, keynotes, and contribution work. The event introduces a third English-language track alongside two French tracks, reflecting a broader European outreach while maintaining its Francophone roots. With topics ranging from Symfony’s evolution to security and sociotechnical reflection, the programme signals a balance between technical depth and community introspection.

Off the Clock: an evening happy hour hosted by Phase2 & Yext kdavis Wed, 04/08/2026 - 19:26 Topic Data & Insights Summary Join Phase2 and Yext at Sunday's Best, Salt Lake City's most unapologetically fun brunch spot, for an evening that feels nothing like work. Mimosas, music, and the kind of conversation that doesn't need a prompt.

Discover how 1xINTERNET and UICC apply responsible AI to real-world digital experiences. Webinar and podcast recordings are ready to watch!

A personal, powerful Driesnote shows how Drupal’s community, AI innovation, and leadership shape the future of digital experiences.

Overall SummaryOur 34th monthly meeting brought together a smaller-than-usual but engaged group of contributors to review the state of the UI Suite ecosystem. With Drupal's core freeze just six weeks away, we focused on what it takes to get our APIs — Style API, Design Tokens, and Icon API — across the finish line for Drupal 11.1 or 11.4. We also reviewed the rapid cadence of Display Builder beta releases, celebrated impressive adoption numbers for UI Icons, and opened an exciting conversation about AI agent integration with our UI Pattern suite. The session closed with a deep-dive discussion on how Display Builder can eventually work alongside or replace Paragraphs-based workflows for site builders.

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.
 

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                               Photo by PdJohnson

What Makes a Great DrupalCon Talk Proposal

When 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:

• Clear takeaway: What will attendees actually learn?
• Specific audience: Who benefits most from your talk?
• Drupal relevance: Make it explicit why this matters to the community.

Tips for a strong proposal:

• Avoid vague titles like “Drupal Tips & Tricks”
• Focus on outcomes rather than just features
• Be specific about your context, challenges, and solutions

Top Ideas for DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026 Talks

Need inspiration? Here are some trending topics that resonate with the community and demonstrate thought leadership:

• AI and Drupal: How AI tools can enhance content creation and user experiences
• Decoupled & composable architectures: Building flexible, modern sites
• Accessibility & inclusive design: Making Drupal sites usable for everyone
• Performance at scale: Lessons from high-traffic projects
• Real client success stories: Challenges, solutions, and wins
• Content workflows & editorial UX: Improving efficiency and satisfaction

Your unique experience in these areas could spark the next great DrupalCon session.

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                               Photo by PdJohnson

From Submission to Stage: How to Get Selected

Wondering how your proposal moves from idea to spotlight? Here’s a peek behind the curtain:

1. Choose the right track and format: DrupalCon has multiple tracks: technical, design, strategy, and more. Pick the one your talk aligns with.
2. Craft a compelling description: Clearly state the problem, your approach, and what attendees will take away.
3. Match difficulty level to audience: Beginners, intermediate, or advanced. Be honest to set expectations.
4. Focus on practical value: Share actionable insights, not theory alone.

Remember, clarity and relevance are key. The more concrete your examples and lessons, the stronger your submission.

Call for Papers: Key Dates & How to Submit

Don’t miss your chance to speak at DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026!

Deadline: 13 April 2026

Tracks: 

• Community Health
• Digital Sovereignty & Open Web
• Drupal CMS
• Development AI and Agentic Architecture
• Agency, Business & Marketing
• Success Stories and Innovation
• User Experience, Accessibility, and Design

Formats: Sessions (45 or 20 minutes), workshops (45 or 2x45 minutes), panels (45 minutes)

How to submit:

1. Visit the DrupalCon CFP page
2. Choose your track and format
3. Write your title and description with clear takeaways
4. Submit before the deadline!

Whether you’re a first-time speaker or a seasoned presenter, DrupalCon is the perfect platform to share your story, contribute to the community, and grow your career. Your insights matter, so step up to the mic and make your mark!

SUBMIT YOUR SESSION
 

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.