Struggling with repetitive code when using Drupal's AI module for chat operations? Discover how the AI Helper module simplifies your development by streamlining common tasks, letting you focus on unique solutions instead of boilerplate.

Having written a couple of Drush scripts that utilise the Chat operation of the Drupal AI module (e.g. see part 1 in this series of Drupal AI articles) it was clear that certain operations were repeated in each task. I wrote a module, AI Helper, to provide a service that would avoid the need for repeated code.

Code Stages

It made sense to me to separate the code into three stages, each of which will be explained below:

1. Pre-processing
2. Processing
3. Post-processing

1) Pre-processing

The first stage consists of converting the input into the format required for the Chat request and obtaining the Provider and Model.

1a) Prepare input

Working back from the parameters of the Chat request to the simplest input to the service, the logic was as follows:

• The chat() call...

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At AI Summit London, four Drupal agencies are stepping up with a bold message: AI should be open, accountable, and under your control. From smart content tools to compliant infrastructure, they're showing what real-world, open-source AI looks like.

What is the Drupal AI Initiative? The official launch of the Drupal AI Initative Drupal AI Initiative has been announced. This initiative aims to make Drupal the benchmark for ethical, transparent, and powerful AI in open-source digital experience platforms. It’s not about slapping ChatGPT onto your CMS; it’s about embedding AI-driven capabilities into the core of Drupal in ways that are robust, auditable, and genuinely fit for government and enterprise. Key priorities include: Trust and Compliance : Built-in audit trails, transparent governance, and flexible model selection (“bring your own LLM”) to meet the unique requirements of the public sector.

Over the last nine years DDEV has grown from a tiny side project to a development environment and ecosystem that serves about 17,000 weekly developer-users and is critical to so many developers' workflows.

We love this amazing open-source world that we're a part of. It's astonishing when communities can work together and of course the fact that we all stand on the shoulders of such giants like Linux, Debian, and hundreds of other projects.

What Happens When a Community Loses its Maintainer?

What happens when a great project loses a key maintainer? A couple of years ago Bram Moolenaar, the maintainer of the Vim editor, passed away unexpectedly. Every project faces unexpected transitions, whether a maintainer steps back, changes focus, or, as happened with Bram, passes away. The Vim community did step up successfully, but that's not the only outcome possible for so many small projects.

What can we learn from Vim's experience, and how is DDEV positioned in comparison?

One thing that the Vim community discovered was that Bram's work was truly a full-time job, even with their incredible and active community.

Many people may think that DDEV is just a tiny project that could carry on without its maintainers, but that might not be true. Right now support, maintenance, and improvements for DDEV use the full-time and consistent effort of two full-time maintainers. That's why you get the level of support and responsiveness you do. Both maintainers are currently paid, but perhaps not at a salary level that you would accept.

The Good Stuff

• Distributed controls: DDEV has two main leaders, Randy Fay and Stas Zhuk, who both have full control of the GitHub ddev organization, and a couple of other people also have full administrative privileges. This is good; we're not dependent on one person. Both of us are fully trained and capable on all of the technologies and infrastructures used in DDEV's testing and release environments. (We would like to have more full-trained maintainers, unpaid or paid. If you love DDEV, come and join us and we'll train you.)
• Financial Organization: DDEV has its own fiscal organization, the DDEV Foundation, which is a US 501(c)(3) tax-exempt entity. The organization has its own bank account, and Randy and long-term collaborator Mike Anello are signers on the account, so it's not dependent on a single person.
• Financial Reporting: DDEV does track and provide financial reports at each Advisory Group meeting.
• Control of Communications: Both maintainers have full control of our social media accounts and Discord.
• Passwords and Other Secrets: We use a group 1Password setup to manage all of our secrets, so they're not known to just one maintainer.
• Accounts management: Thanks to great advice from Advisory Group member Andrew Berry and thanks to having a free Google Workspace account (for nonprofits) we are able to use Google Groups for key email addresses, and current maintainers can be added to those groups. That way changes to maintainership don't result in loss of access to key external accounts.

Vim had serious challenges in all these areas, as there was only one "owner" of the GitHub project, and financial setups were very much ad-hoc. Bram was truly the "owner" of the whole project.

Areas to Improve

We work hard to identify areas that are dependent on a single maintainer, and to resolve those. But it's a perpetual process!

• Governance: From the beginning of DDEV, Randy has been the leader, acting as what's commonly called a "Benevolent Dictator for Life", or "BDFL". While that's a common model in open source, it's not a great model for overall sustainability. The BDFL model means that leadership can be concentrated in one person, preventing the development of community decision-making capabilities. One of our key goals for 2025 is to at least start moving past that model.
• Regulatory: Randy has dealt with Colorado and US regulatory requirements, including getting the 501(c)(3) tax-exempt designation, changing the name of the organization to "DDEV Foundation", filing annual reports.
• Finance and Reporting: Randy does the bimonthly financial reporting, tracks invoices, corresponds with donors, sends thank-you notes to donors, pays maintainers.
• Promotion/Marketing: Randy seems to keep these roles year-in and year-out despite attempts to spread out the work
• Test Runner Maintenance: Although Stas knows everything and has full access to our extensive test runner infrastructure, many of the runners are in Randy's house, and when something has to be done physically to them, it becomes Randy's problem.

What Comes Next?

• Improved Marketing/Monetization: As discussed above, open-source projects generally have a hard time asking for money because people take them for granted. We do hope to move toward adding premium features and premium support options that will encourage organizations and individuals to step up to the plate and do their fair share of support.
• Financial: More than one person should know how to do (and have power to do) all the financial things, like paying contributors and other bills.
• Governance: Figure out how to move from BDFL to something that lasts beyond one person. A proposal is in progress.
• Write up regulatory and financial tasks: We have a good set of documents and a private repository that explain maintainer tasks. This all needs to be done for governance, regulatory, financial, and marketing tasks.
• You: DDEV is a collaborative open-source project. Are you interested in a role?

Current Financial Status

As of June, 2025, DDEV's monthly support is at the $7800 USD level. Our goal is $12,000. You can see this at any time on the top of ddev.com, and a full accounting updated daily is in the sponsorship-data repository. Our current bank balance is about $19,000 USD.

Share Your Thoughts!

Do you have additional ideas, suggestions, or insight into how DDEV's future could be more sustainable? We would sure love to hear from you! Or get active and join our DDEV Advisory Group.

Do you have questions or want to talk (about sponsoring or anything else)? Contact us! or join us in Discord.

Have you signed up for the monthly DDEV Newsletter? We'd love to have you.

Discover how we're actively involved in and committed to Drupal's Strategic AI Initiative and what we're doing to support Drupal AI.

AI is reshaping how we build websites. Instead of creating everything from scratch, we're moving toward setting goals where AI helps deliver results.

Today we're launching a coordinated effort to accelerate AI innovation in Drupal:

✓ Clear strategy and shared vision
✓ Funded delivery team with full-time contributors
✓ $120,000 in operational funding
✓ Active work tracks: AI Core, Products, Marketing, and UX

Join us: https://www.drupal.org/ai/
Blog post: https://dri.es/accelerating-ai-innovation-in-drupal

Today we are talking about Automated Testing Kit demo Recipe, Why Automated Testing is important, and How this recipe helps with guest André Angelantoni. We’ll also cover Taxonomy Views Integrator as our module of the week.

For show notes visit: https://www.talkingDrupal.com/506

Topics

• What is Automated Testing Kit
• Features and benefits of Automated Testing Kit
• Cypress vs Playwright
• Where should these run
• Automated Testing Kit recipe
• Demo configuration
• Installing and setting up the Kit
• Using this on an existing site
• Managing tests and repositories
• Building and using recipes
• Debugging and troubleshooting tests
• Roadmap

Resources

• Automated Testing Kit Demo Recipe
• Automated Testing Kit
• Documentation
  • https://performantlabs.com/automated-testing-kit/automated-testing-kit
  • https://performantlabs.com/testor/introduction
• Thread on nightwatch replacement
• Testor
• Automated Testing Kit Intro Video
• Automated Testing Kit Philosophy
• Recipes list
• Testery
• Testiny
• Code generators
• Drupal forge

Guests

André Angelantoni - drupal.org/project/automated_testing_kit aangel

Hosts

Nic Laflin - nLighteneddevelopment.com nicxvan John Picozzi - epam.com johnpicozzi Norah Medlin - tekNorah

MOTW Correspondent

Martin Anderson-Clutz - mandclu.com mandclu

• Brief description:
  • Have you ever wanted to customize the taxonomy display view for a specific vocabulary, or even a specific taxonomy term? There’s a module for that.
• Module name/project name:
  • Taxonomy Views Integrator
• Brief history
  • How old: created in Sep 2009 by Derek Webb (derekwebb1) though the most recent release was made by Kevin Quillen, who was a guest on the podcast in episodes 406 and 500
  • Versions available: 2.0.0 which works with Drupal 8, 9, 10, and 11
• Maintainership
  • Actively maintained
  • Security coverage
  • Test coverage
  • Documentation
  • Number of open issues: 13 open issues, 4 of which are bugs against the 2.0.x branch
• Usage stats:
  • 24,130 sites
• Module features and usage
  • After enabling this module, when you edit a vocabulary or a taxonomy term, users with the necessary permissions will see an option to specify a view to show tagged content, and you can also choose which display to use
  • You can create a new view from scratch, or clone the taxonomy/term/* view provided by core, or a view defined in code. Obvious it’s critical for the view to have a contextual filter for a taxonomy term
  • Using this module could allow you to customize the presentation on a view page, for example to make the exposed filters more relevant, or even to split out the content, for example if you wanted to list only news in the main display, and have events and blog posts listed separately in attachments
  • I found this module really helpful during some recent work on the Drupal Event Platform, so I thought I would share it with our listeners

Making Regression Testing Work for... QA Testing duncan Mon, 09/06/2025 - 15:46 Why Regression Testing Matters Every time a new version of your website is prepared for deployment, whether it’s a minor update, a major upgrade, or a bug fix, there’s a risk that something unexpected breaks. That’s where regression testing comes in. Regression testing is a repeatable suite of checks designed to ensure that recent changes haven't unintentionally…

Imagine a marketer opening Drupal and with a clear goal in mind: launch a campaign for an upcoming event.

They start by uploading a brand kit to Drupal CMS: logos, fonts, and color palette. They define the campaign's audience as mid-sized business owners interested in digital transformation. Then they create a creative guide that outlines the event's goals, key messages, and tone.

With this in place, AI agents within Drupal step in to assist. Drawing from existing content and media, the agents help generate landing pages, each optimized for a specific audience segment. They suggest headlines, refine copy based on the creative guide, create components based on the brand kit, insert a sign-up form, and assemble everything into cohesive, production-ready pages.

Using Drupal's built-in support for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), the AI agents connect to analytics tools and monitor performance. If a page is not converting well, the system makes overnight updates. It might adjust layout, improve clarity, or refine the calls to action.

Every change is tracked. The marketer can review, approve, revert, or adjust anything. They stay in control, even as the system takes on more of the routine work.

Why it matters

AI is changing how websites are built and managed faster than most people expected. The digital experience space is shifting from manual workflows to outcome-driven orchestration. Instead of building everything from scratch, users will set goals, and AI will help deliver results.

This future is not about replacing people. It is about empowering them. It is about freeing up time for creative and strategic work while AI handles the rest. AI will take care of routine tasks, suggest improvements, and respond to real-time feedback. People will remain in control, but supported by powerful new tools that make their work easier and faster.

The path forward won't be perfect. Change is never easy, and there are still many lessons to learn, but standing still isn't an option. If we want AI to head in the right direction, we have to help steer it. We are excited to move fast, but just as committed to doing it thoughtfully and with purpose.

The question is not whether AI will change how we build websites, but how we as a community will shape that change.

A coordinated push forward

Drupal already has a head start in AI. At DrupalCon Barcelona 2024, I showed how Drupal's AI tools help a site creator market wine tours. Since then, we have seen a growing ecosystem of AI modules, active integrations, and a vibrant community pushing boundaries. Today, about 1,000 people are sharing ideas and collaborating in the #ai channel on Drupal Slack.

At DrupalCon Atlanta in March 2025, I shared our latest AI progress. We also brought together key contributors working on AI in Drupal. Our goal was simple: get organized and accelerate progress. After the event, the group committed to align on a shared vision and move forward together.

Since then, this team has been meeting regularly, almost every day. I've been working with the team to help guide the direction. With a lot of hard work behind us, I'm excited to introduce the Drupal AI Initiative.

The Drupal AI Initiative builds on the momentum in our community by bringing structure and shared direction to the work already in progress. By aligning around a common strategy, we can accelerate innovation.

What we're launching today

The Drupal AI Initiative is closely aligned with the broader Drupal CMS strategy, particularly in its focus on making site building both faster and easier. At the same time, this work is not limited to Drupal CMS. It is also intended to benefit people building custom solutions on Drupal Core, as well as those working with alternative distributions of Drupal.

To support this initiative, we are announcing:

• A clear strategy to guide Drupal's AI vision and priorities (PDF mirror).
• A Drupal AI leadership team to drive product direction, fundraising, and collaboration across work tracks.
• A funded delivery team focused on execution, with the equivalent of several full-time roles already committed, including technical leads, UX and project managers, and release coordination.
• Active work tracks covering areas like AI Core, AI Products, AI Marketing, and AI UX.
• USD $100,000 in operational funding, contributed by the initiative's founding companies.

For more details, read the full announcement on the Drupal AI Initiative page on Drupal.org.

Founding members and early support Some of the founding members of the Drupal AI initiative during our launch call on Google Hangouts.

Over the past few months, we've invested hundreds of hours shaping our AI strategy, defining structure, and taking first steps.

I want to thank the founding members of the Drupal AI Initiative. These individuals and organizations played a key role in getting things off the ground. The list is ordered alphabetically by last name to recognize all contributors equally:

• Jamie Abrahams (FreelyGive) – Innovation and AI architecture
• Baddý Breidert (1xINTERNET) – Governance, funding, and coordination
• Christoph Breidert (1xINTERNET) – Product direction and roadmap
• Dries Buytaert (Acquia / Drupal) – Strategic oversight and direction
• Dominique De Cooman (Dropsolid) – Fundraising and business alignment
• Marcus Johansson (FreelyGive) – Technical leadership
• Paul Johnson (1xINTERNET) – Marketing and outreach
• Kristen Pol (Salsa Digital) – Cross-team alignment and contributor engagement
• Lauri Timmanee (Acquia) – Experience Builder AI integration
• Frederik Wouters (Dropsolid) – Communications and outreach

These individuals, along with the companies supporting them, have already contributed significant time, energy, and funding. I am grateful for their early commitment.

I also want to thank the staff at the Drupal Association and the Drupal CMS leadership team for their support and collaboration.

What comes next

I'm glad the Drupal AI Initiative is now underway. The Drupal AI strategy is published, the structure is in place, and multiple work tracks are open and moving forward. We'll share more details and updates in the coming weeks.

With every large initiative, we are evolving how we organize, align, and collaborate. The Drupal AI Initiative builds on that progress. As part of that, we are also exploring more ways to recognize and reward meaningful contributions.

We are creating ways for more of you to get involved with Drupal AI. Whether you are a developer, designer, strategist, or sponsor, there is a place for you in this work. If you're part of an agency, we encourage you to step forward and become a Maker. The more agencies that contribute, the more momentum we build.

Update: In addition to the initiative's founding members, Amazee.io already stepped forward with another commitment of USD $20,000 and one full-time contributor. Thank you! This brings the total operating budget to USD $120,000. Please consider joining as well.

AI is changing how websites and digital experiences are built. This is our moment to be part of the change and help define what comes next.

Join us in the #ai-initiative channel on Drupal Slack to get started.

[newsletter-blog]

Discover how AI is enhancing Drupal through practical modules and real-world applications. Learn from GeoNovation’s work and explore use cases like automated tagging, personalized content, AI chatbots, and smart translation. See how development teams are embedding AI in Drupal to streamline workflows and improve digital experiences.

• Open-source leader with 290+ AI modules announces major coordinated initiative
• Transforms organic community innovation into unified product vision with industry backing
• Establishes dedicated AI team drawn from leading agencies to provide coordinated innovation at scale

June 9, 2025 – Portland, Oregon - Drupal today launched the Drupal AI Initiative, a comprehensive effort to democratize intelligent digital experiences for everyone and drive responsible AI innovation. With over 290 AI modules already available and integrations spanning 21 major providers including OpenAI, Anthropic, AWS Bedrock, Azure, and Google Vertex, Drupal, the leading open-source CMS, has built substantial momentum in AI adoption. The new initiative channels this community-driven innovation into a coordinated product vision with dedicated leadership, funding, and strategic direction.

The initiative establishes a dedicated Drupal AI team drawn from top agencies globally, unified by an AI strategy that prioritizes human expertise over technological replacement. While most technology companies build AI systems that replace human decision-making, Drupal's AI approach centers on collaboration—amplifying expertise rather than replacing it.

Drupal already has a head start with our growing ecosystem of AI modules and active community," said Dries Buytaert, Drupal Founder and Project Lead. "What we are doing now is turning that creative energy into a coordinated product vision.”

The Drupal AI Initiative promises to fundamentally change how organizations approach digital experiences. Teams will create engaging, targeted content in days rather than weeks, while AI agents handle routine tasks like performance optimization and audience targeting. Content creators will focus on strategy and creativity as AI manages translation, layout generation, and SEO optimization automatically. The result is faster time-to-market for campaigns, better performance insights, consistent brand voice, and marketing teams freed from manual work to concentrate on strategic innovation.

A Different Philosophy

Most AI solutions force organizations to choose between powerful capabilities and meaningful control. Drupal's strategy is built around four principles:

• AI-Human Partnership: Technology that makes people more capable, not less relevant
• Comprehensive Trust Infrastructure: Advanced governance framework with approval workflows, audit trails, and compliance tools for responsible AI management
• True Freedom of Choice: Use any AI provider without vendor lock-in
• Community-Driven Innovation: Development guided by real-world needs, not corporate roadmaps

"We're not just adding AI features," said Dries Buytaert, Drupal Founder and Project Lead. "We're rethinking what responsible AI leadership looks like. This is about building a foundation that organizations can trust with their most important digital experiences."

Industry Leadership and AI Team

The initiative launches with unprecedented support from leading Drupal agencies worldwide, including founding members FreelyGive, Dropsolid, 1xINTERNET, Salsa Digital, and Acquia. This collaboration represents the equivalent of multiple full-time roles committed to development, with dedicated technical leads, UX designers and project managers.

Jamie Abrahams (FreelyGive), Baddý Breidert (1xINTERNET), Christoph Breidert (1xINTERNET), Dominique De Cooman (Dropsolid), and Kristen Pol (Salsa Digital) lead the initiative, representing the founding member agencies and bringing together diverse expertise in innovation, coordination, development, marketing, and community engagement.

Resources

• Strategy Document: drupal.org/ai/strategy
• Drupal AI Landing Page: drupal.org/ai  
• Dries’s Announces the AI Initiative: drupal.org/ai/announcement 

About Drupal Drupal powers over 500,000 websites worldwide, including NASA, the BBC, and government agencies across six continents. Since 2001, this open-source platform has helped organizations create flexible, secure digital experiences while maintaining complete control over their technology. Recognized as a Digital Public Good, Drupal generates an estimated $3.5 billion annually through its global ecosystem of agencies and service providers.

Media Contact 

Ryan Witcombe (Australia)
Director, Product Marketing, Drupal Association
ryan.witcombe@association.drupal.org
+61 3 431 983 295

Nick Koger (USA)
Manager, Product Marketing, Drupal Association
nick.koger@association.drupal.org
+1 410 868 6425

The future of Drupal is AI-powered. Discover the groundbreaking initiative driving responsible, innovative AI integration to the Drupal ecosystem.

“In such an emergency as we are right now everyone needs to take more responsibility… and use whatever platform they have… to push in the right direction. I think that is our duty as human beings.”

—Greta Thunberg

Humanity’s greatest strength is our willingness to speak out—to oppose injustice, genocide, and hate—even when neutrality feels easier. Choosing silence often means accepting the unacceptable. As individuals and as a global society, we hold a collective duty to defend human dignity. When we embrace our responsibility to speak up, we help shape communities that uphold justice, empathy, and solidarity.

Drupal embodies this principle. Project leadership and contributors have consistently spoken out against racism, oppression, and violence. In 2020, Drupal founder Dries Buytaert affirmed that “Drupal is a force for good in the world,” renewing the project's commitment to justice and equality. The Drupal Association's official statement against racism encouraged the community to not only speak up but also take informed, intentional action. This includes educating ourselves, actively listening, and building inclusive spaces for all.

This isn’t just philosophy—it’s action. The Drupal Diversity & Inclusion initiative amplifies the voices of underrepresented individuals and supports genuine inclusion through mentorships, speaker training, and community-driven support. Contributors across the globe give their time not only to build software but to shape a culture rooted in empathy and fairness. The Drupal community proves that open source isn’t just about code; it’s about creating a world we want to live in.

Drupal also powers websites for humanitarian organisations like Human Rights Watch, UNICEF, and Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders). These aren’t just technical achievements—they’re acts of alignment with values that matter. Supporting truth, justice, and human rights is built into the very fabric of what we create. Because speaking up isn't about making noise—it's about making a difference.

INTERVIEW

• The Code and Commitment That Carries Drupal: A Conversation with David Bekker
• Building Drupal, Building Community: Avi Schwab Talks

DISCOVER DRUPAL

• Inside Drupal Autotesting: Expert Insights from Aliaksandr Shabanau
• Developer Enables 360° VR Video Playback in Drupal Using A-Frame.js
• Bhumika Madan Launches Smart FAQ Chatbot AI Module for Drupal Using Google Gemini

DRUPAL COMMUNITY

• Drupal Association Announces 2025 At-Large Board Election Candidates: Voting Starts 18 June

EVENTS

• How Drupal Events Like MidCamp 2025 Prioritize Accessibility and Inclusion in Tech Conferences
• DrupalCamp Poland 2025: What to Expect from the June 7 Conference in Warsaw
• Why the London Drupal Engineering Meetup on June 9 Is a Must-Attend for Web Developers in 2025
• DrupalCon Vienna 2025: Selected Session Notifications Sent to Speakers Today
• Splash Awards 2025 to Recognize Top Drupal Projects at DrupalCon Vienna
• Free Drupal AI Webinar Series Backed by Dropsolid, FreelyGive, and EU

ORGANIZATION NEWS

• Drupal Association Pledges June Swag Shop Profits to LGBTQ+ Organization

We acknowledge that there are more stories to share. However, due to selection constraints, we must pause further exploration for now.

To get timely updates, follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook. You can also join us on Drupal Slack at #thedroptimes.

Thank you,

Sincerely,
Kazima Abbas
Sub-editor, The DropTimes

The Drupal IXP program officially launched a couple of months ago, marking a significant step in our community's effort to build future talent. Modeled after traditional apprenticeship approaches (with the Drupal-y twist of 250 contribution credits,) the program aims to connect newcomers at the beginning of their Drupal journey with organizations willing to hire and mentor them. While the initiative is poised to address a critical talent gap, its launch occurs during a challenging period for the Drupal community, prompting a reflection on the timing and rationale.

A challenge, and an opportunity

The primary challenge is the current landscape where many experienced Drupal developers are suddenly seeking employment. It is not unreasonable to assume that some percentage of these people will find non-Drupal jobs. Combine this potentiality with the fact that the Drupal developer community is getting older and that fewer and fewer new Drupal developers have been joining us suggests a long-term need for new talent. The single goal of the IXP program is to cultivate new Drupal developers so that we can maintain a community hearty enough to carry Drupal Core and Drupal CMS into the future.

Despite the external market conditions, the decision to launch the IXP program now was driven by the significant volunteer effort and organizational support from the Drupal Association. It just didn't make sense to not launch the program with the pending need so great, and while it had momentum. The program has reached a stage where it is ready to provide tangible opportunities for newcomers and benefits for participating organizations.

Advantages for new developers and businesses

The IXP program focuses on individuals with less than three months of paid Drupal experience, specifically targeting that crucial transition point between learning and professional practice to bridge the gap between learning Drupal and securing the first professional role. It serves as a structured pathway and a "safe learning environment" to help new developers navigate this complexity and build their skills under the guidance of experienced mentors. By providing paid experience in real-life use cases with structured mentorship (at least one hour of mentorship for every ten hours worked,) the program directly addresses the difficulty newcomers face in gaining practical experience.

IXP developers are expected to have knowledge about Drupal (either gained on their own or via courses like Drupal Career Online or Professional Module Development) - the program isn't asking hiring organizations to provide basic Drupal knowledge.

For businesses, hiring new Drupal developers through the IXP program presents potential advantages including the fact that they are not entering the workforce with the same level of expertise or salary expectations as seasoned developers. The program allows organizations to shape talent according to their specific practices and needs, representing a strategic investment in future talent. IXPs gain paid work experience and build a portfolio, while organizations benefit from fresh perspectives and enthusiasm.

IXPs can also be a low-cost way for organizations to invest in learning about and leveraging new developments in the Drupal community, including Drupal CMS as well as Drupal AI modules and techniques. Other potential tasks that IXPs can perform for hiring organizations include Drupal core and module updates, Drupal site-building, and quality assurance. These tasks can be foundational for various projects, including those potentially for smaller clients.

Make the choice

Yes, launching the Drupal IXP program now comes at a time with challenges. However, we really can’t afford putting off such a sound solution to address the long-term health of the community by creating structured pathways for new talent. Supported by a dedicated community of volunteers as well as the Drupal Association, we reached a point where launching was the necessary step to start building the future talent pipeline, offering paid experience and mentorship to new developers while rewarding organizations for their investment in the ecosystem.

If you're a hiring organization and want to get involved, start here.

AI was used for the initial outline of this blog post.
 

I'm often asked, Will AI agents replace digital marketers and site builders?. The answer is yes, at least for certain kinds of tasks.

To explore this idea, I prototyped two AI agents to automate marketing tasks on my personal website. They update meta descriptions to improve SEO and optimize tags to improve content discovery.

Watching the AI agents in action is incredible. In the video below, you'll see them effortlessly navigate my Drupal site: logging in, finding posts, and editing content. It's a glimpse into how AI could transform the role of digital marketers.

The experiment

I built two AI agents to help optimize my blog posts. Here is how they work together:

• Agent 1: Content analysis: This agent finds a blog post, reviews its content, and suggests improved summaries and tags to enhance SEO and increase discoverability.
• Agent 2: Applying updates: After manual approval, this agent logs into the site and updates the summary and tags suggested by the first agent.

All of this could be done in one step, or with a single agent, but keeping a 'human-in-the-loop' is good for quality assurance.

This was achieved with just 120 lines of Python code and a few hours of trial and error. As the video demonstrates, the code is approachable for developers with basic programming skills.

The secret ingredient is the browser_use framework, which acts as a bridge between various LLMs and Playwright, a framework for browser automation and testing.

The magic and the reality check

What makes this exciting is the agent's ability to problem-solve. It's almost human-like.

Watching the AI agents operate my site, I noticed they often face the same UX challenges as humans. It likely means that the more we simplify a CMS like Drupal for human users, the more accessible it becomes for AI agents. I find this link between human and AI usability both striking and thought-provoking.

In the first part of the video, the agent was tasked with finding my DrupalCon Lille 2023 keynote. When scrolling through the blog section failed, it adapted by using Google search instead.

In the second part of the video, it navigated Drupal's more complex UI elements, like auto-complete taxonomy fields, though it required one trial-and-error attempt.

The results are incredible, but not flawless. I ran the agents multiple times, and while they performed well most of the time, they aren't reliable enough for production use. However, this field is evolving quickly, and agents like this could become highly reliable within a year or two.

Native agents versus explorer agents

In my mind, agents can be categorized as "explorer agents" or "native agents". I haven't seen these terms used before, so here is how I define them:

• Explorer agents: These agents operate across multiple websites. For example, an agent might use Google to search for a product, compare prices on different sites, and order the cheapest option.
• Native agents: These agents work within a specific site, directly integrating with the CMS to leverage its APIs and built-in features.

The browser_use framework, in my view, is best suited for explorer agents. While it can be applied to a single website, as shown in my demo, it's not the most efficient approach.

Native agents that directly interact with the CMS's APIs should be more effective. Rather than imitating human behavior to "search" for content, the agent could retrieve it directly through a single API call. It could then programmatically propose changes within a CMS-supported content editing workflow, complete with role-based permissions and moderation states

I can also imagine a future where native agents and explorer agents work together (hybrid agents), combining the strengths of both approaches to unlock even greater opportunities.

Next steps

A next step for me is to build a similar solution using Drupal's AI agent capabilities. Drupal's native AI agents should make finding and updating content more efficiently.

Of course, other digital marketing use cases might benefit from explorer agents. I'd be happy to explore these possibilities as well. Let me know if you have ideas.

[newsletter-blog] Conclusions

Building an AI assistant to handle digital marketing tasks is no longer science fiction. It's clear that, soon, AI agents will be working alongside digital marketers and site builders.

These tools are advancing rapidly and are surprisingly easy to create, even though they're not yet perfect. Their potential disruption is both exciting and hard to fully understand.

As Drupal, we need to stay ahead by asking questions like: are we fully imagining the disruption AI could bring? The future is ours to shape, but we need to rise to the challenge.

At DrupalCon Asia in Singapore a few weeks ago, I delivered my traditional State of Drupal keynote. This event marked DrupalCon's return to Asia after an eight-year hiatus, with the last one being DrupalCon Mumbai in 2016.

It was so fun to reconnect with the Drupal community across Asia and feel the passion and enthusiasm for Drupal. The positive energy was so contagious that three weeks later, I still feel inspired by it.

If you missed the keynote, you can watch the video below, or download my slides (196 MB).

I talked about the significant progress we've made on Drupal CMS (code name Drupal Starshot) since DrupalCon Barcelona just a few months ago.

Our vision for Drupal CMS is clear: to set the standard for no-code website building. My updates highlighted how Drupal CMS empowers digital marketers and content creators to design sophisticated digital experiences while preserving Drupal's power and flexibility.

For more background on Drupal CMS, I recommend reading our three-year strategy document. We're about a quarter of the way through, time-wise, and as you'll see from my keynote, we're making very fast progress.

A slide from my recent DrupalCon Singapore State of Drupal keynote showcasing key contributors to Drupal CMS. This slide showcases how we recognize and celebrate Makers in our community, encouraging active participation in the project.

Below are some of the key improvements I showcased in my keynote, highlighted in short video segments. These videos demonstrate just 7 recipes, but we have nearly 20 in development.

Watching these demos, it will become very clear how much time and effort Drupal CMS can save for both beginners and experienced developers. Manually assembling these features would take weeks for a Drupal expert and months for a novice. These recipes pack a wealth of expertise and best practices. What once took a Drupal expert weeks can now be done by a novice in hours.

AI support in Drupal

We're integrating AI agents into Drupal to assist with complex site-building tasks, going far beyond just content creation. Users can choose to have AI complete tasks automatically or provide step-by-step guidance, helping them learn Drupal as they go.

Search

We're including enhanced search functionality that includes autocomplete and faceted search, delivering enterprise-grade functionality out-of-the-box.

Privacy

With increasing global privacy regulations, marketers need robust compliance solutions, yet very few content management systems offer this out-of-the-box. I demonstrated how Drupal CMS will offer a user-centric approach to privacy and consent management, making compliance easier and more effective.

Media management

Our improved media management tools now include features like focal point control and image style presets, enabling editors to handle visual content efficiently while maintaining accessibility standards.

Accessibility tools

Our accessibility tools provide real-time feedback during content creation, helping identify and resolve potential issues that could affect the user experience for visually-impaired visitors.

Analytics

Analytics integration streamlines the setup of Google Analytics and Tag Manager, something that 75% of all marketers use.

Experience Builder

Drupal's new Experience Builder will bring a massive improvement in visual page building. It combines drag-and-drop simplicity with an enterprise-grade component architecture. It looks fantastic, and I'm really excited for it!

Conclusion Drupal CMS has been a catalyst for innovation and collaboration, driving strong growth in organizational credits. Development of Drupal CMS began in 2024, and we expect a significant increase in contributions this year. Credits have tripled from 2019 to 2024, demonstrating our growing success in driving strategic innovation in Drupal.

In addition to our progress on Drupal CMS, the product, we've made real strides in other areas, such as marketing, modernizing Drupal.org, and improving documentation. These are all important parts of the Drupal Starshot initiative.

Overall, I'm incredibly proud of the progress we've made. So much so that we've released our first release candidate at DrupalCon Singapore, which you can try today by following my installation instructions for Drupal CMS.

While we still have a lot of work left, we are on track for the official release on January 15, 2025! To mark the occasion, we're inviting the Drupal community to organize release parties around the world. Whether you want to host your own event or join a party near you, you can find all the details and sign-up links for Drupal CMS release parties. I'll be celebrating from Boston and hope to drop in on other parties via Zoom!

Finally, I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to Drupal CMS and DrupalCon Singapore. Your hard work and dedication have made this possible. Thank you!

Avi Schwab, Community Organizer, Drupal Architect, and Technical Product Consultant at ImageX, has spent over a decade shaping not just Drupal projects, but the community that powers them. In this interview with Alka Elizabeth of The DropTimes, Avi opens up about the evolution of Open Y, the real costs of SaaS platforms, the importance of non-code contributions, and how local events like MidCamp keep the Drupal spirit alive. Whether you're a longtime contributor or new to open source, Avi’s reflections offer a grounded, human perspective on what it takes to lead and sustain meaningful work in tech.

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