In my previous post, [The great digital agency unbundling](https://dri.es/ai-and-the-great-digital-agency-unbundling), I explored how AI is transforming the work of digital agencies. As AI automates more technical tasks, agencies will be shifting their focus toward orchestration, strategic thinking, and accountability. This shift also changes what they need from their tools. Content management systems like [Drupal](https://new.drupal.org/home) must evolve with them. This is not just about adding AI features. It is about becoming a platform that strengthens the new agency model. Because as agencies take on new roles, they will adopt the tools that help them succeed. As I wrote then: > "As the Project Lead of Drupal, I think about how Drupal, the product, and its ecosystem of digital agencies can evolve _together_. They need to move in step to navigate change and help shape what comes next" The good news is that the Drupal community is embracing AI in a coordinated and purposeful way. Today, Drupal CMS already ships with 22 AI agents, and through the [Drupal AI Initiative](https://dri.es/accelerating-ai-innovation-in-drupal), we are building additional infrastructure and tooling to bring more AI capabilities to Drupal. In this post, I want to share why I believe Drupal is not just ready to evolve, but uniquely positioned to thrive in the AI era. ### Drupal is built for AI Imagine an AI agent that plans, executes, and measures complex marketing campaigns across your CMS, CRM, email platform, and analytics tools without requiring manual handoff at every step. To support that level of orchestration, a platform must expose its content models, configuration data, state, user roles and permissions, and business logic in a structured, machine-readable way. That means making things like entity types, field definitions, relationships, and workflows available through APIs that AI systems can discover, inspect, and act on safely. Most platforms were not designed with this kind of structured access in mind. Drupal has been moving in that direction for more than a decade. Since Drupal 7, the community has invested deeply in modernizing the platform. We introduced a unified Entity API, adopted a service container with dependency injection, and expanded support for REST, JSON:API, and GraphQL. We also built a robust configuration management system, improved testability, and added more powerful workflows with granular revisioning and strong rollback support. Drupal also has excellent API documentation. These changes made Drupal not only more programmable but also more introspectable. AI agents can query Drupal's structure, understand relationships between entities, and make informed decisions based on both content and configuration. This enables AI to take meaningful action inside the system rather than just operating at the surface. And because Drupal's APIs are open and well-documented, these capabilities are easier for developers and AI systems to discover and build on. Making these architectural improvements was not easy. Upgrading from Drupal 7 was painful for many, and at the time, the benefits of Drupal 8's redesign were not obvious. We were not thinking about AI at the time, but in hindsight, we built exactly the kind of modern, flexible foundation that makes deep AI integration possible today. As is often the case, there is [pain before the payoff](https://dri.es/the-pain-before-the-payoff). ### AI makes Drupal's power more accessible I think this is exciting because AI can help make Drupal's flexibility more accessible. Drupal is one of the most flexible content management systems available. It powers everything from small websites to large, complex digital platforms. That flexibility is a strength, but it also introduces complexity. For newcomers, Drupal's flexibility can be overwhelming. Building a Drupal site requires understanding how to select and configure contributed modules, creating content types and relationships, defining roles and permissions, building Views, developing a custom theme, and more. The learning curve is steep and often prevents people from experiencing Drupal's power and flexibility. AI has the potential to change that. In the future, you might describe your needs by saying something like, "I need a multi-language news site with editorial workflows and social media integration". An AI assistant could ask a few follow-up questions, then generate a working starting point. I've demonstrated early prototypes of this vision in recent [DriesNotes](https://dri.es/tag/state-of-drupal), including [DrupalCon Barcelona 2024](https://dri.es/state-of-drupal-presentation-september-2024) and [DrupalCon Atlanta 2025](https://dri.es/state-of-drupal-presentation-march-2025). Much of that code has been productized in the [Drupal AI modules](https://www.drupal.org/project/ai). In my Barcelona keynote, I said that "AI is the new UI". AI helps lower the barrier to entry by turning complex setup tasks into simple prompts and conversations. With the right design, it can guide new users while still giving experts full control. In my last post, [The great digital agency unbundling](https://dri.es/ai-and-the-great-digital-agency-unbundling), I shared a similar perspective: > "Some of the hardest challenges the Drupal community has faced, such as improving usability or maintaining documentation, may finally become more manageable. I see ways AI can support Drupal's mission, lower barriers to online publishing, make Drupal more accessible, and help build a stronger, more inclusive Open Web. The future is both exciting and uncertain." Of course, AI comes with both promise and risk. It raises ethical questions and often fails to meet expectations. But ignoring AI is _not_ a strategy. AI is already changing how digital work gets done. If we want Drupal to stay relevant, we need to explore its potential. That means experimenting thoughtfully, sharing what we learn, and helping shape how these tools are built and used. ### Drupal's AI roadmap helps agencies AI is changing how digital work gets done. Some platforms can now generate full websites, marketing campaigns, or content strategies in minutes. For simple use cases, that may be enough. But many client needs are more complex. As requirements grow and automations become more sophisticated, agencies continue to play a critical role. They bring context, strategy, and accountability to challenges that off-the-shelf tools cannot solve. That is the future we want Drupal to support. We are _not_ building AI to replace digital agencies, but to strengthen them. Through the [Drupal AI Initiative](https://dri.es/accelerating-ai-innovation-in-drupal), Drupal agencies are actively helping shape the tools they want to use in an AI-driven world. As agencies evolve in response to AI, they will need tools that evolve with them. Drupal is not only keeping pace but helping lead the way. By investing in AI in collaboration with the agencies who rely on it, we are making Drupal stronger, more capable, and more relevant. ### Now is the moment to move The shift toward AI-powered digital work is inevitable. Platforms will succeed or fail based on how well they adapt to this reality. Drupal's investments in modern architecture, open development, and community collaboration has created something unique: a platform that doesn't just add AI features but fundamentally supports AI-driven workflows. While other systems scramble to retrofit AI capabilities, Drupal's foundation makes deep integration possible. The question isn't whether AI will change digital agencies and content management. It already has. The question is which platforms will help agencies and developers thrive in that new reality. Drupal is positioning itself to be one of them.
Drupal's ECA module has been released 3 years ago, and provides an incredible workflow automation and orchestration platform together with an intuitive UI based on BPMN diagrams. Other complex configuration requirements can now be managed with the same tools as the newly introduced Modeler API provides the framework to serve applications like ECA or AI Agents with modern, exchangeable UIs without having to re-implement any of those ever again. This blog post describes the architecture, and the benefits that come out of all this for software developers and end-users alike.
Learn why periodic software refactoring is essential for long-term success. We update Drupal modules and dependencies to reduce costs, improve performance, and accelerate future development cycles.
The second webinar in the Bringing Drupal AI Into Your DNA series focused on rolling up your sleeves and getting Drupal's AI module working on real sites. Hosted by Jamie Abrahams, co-founder of FreelyGive, and Marcus Johansson, lead developer on the Drupal AI initiative, this session balanced developer-focused walkthroughs with honest takes on what's working and what still needs your help.
This session is part of a free, public training series backed by the European Commission in partnership with the Drupal community. The goal: to equip builders, developers, and digital agencies with ethical, open-source tools and knowledge to bring AI into Drupal sites responsibly.
The first session in the series - "Bringing Drupal AI Into Your DNA: Introduction" - featured Jamie alongside Dries Buytaert and introduced the strategic initiative, the long-term vision, and the open contribution model being built around AI in Drupal.
This second session moves from vision to implementation: it's about getting the AI module installed, configured, and ready to use.
Keep Calm and Install AI
Right from the top, Jamie made the audience feel comfortable diving in, regardless of where they're starting from:
This one is going to be slightly more developer focused, but you're going to know how to get started.
Jamie Abrahams
The session covered:
Installing the AI module via Composer and verifying dependencies.
Connecting the module to OpenAI or your LLM of choice, with examples for local dev and production.
Managing permissions and API keys securely.
Running a basic content generation test to confirm that the setup works end-to-end.
Community Matters
Jamie's role as co-founder of FreelyGive and maintainer of the AI module keeps him right at the centre of this fast-growing ecosystem. He shared that:
I've been focusing on native Drupal CRM and been particularly obsessed with AI recently
Jamie Abrahams
He made it clear this is all a work in progress. That's exactly why the Drupal community's input is so critical. Expect a bit of trial and error, but know that the maintainers genuinely want your feedback.
Marcus' Hands on Demos
Marcus, who leads parts of the Drupal AI initiative, gave the developer audience concrete examples of how to work with AI functionality, from voice output to local installations. These live demos showed exactly how flexible the AI module can be and where it's heading next. Expect more video walkthroughs, local dev examples, and client modules that link to other providers.
Join In!
If you're interested in Drupal + AI, there's no better time to get involved. Your contributions, whether that's testing new releases, sharing feedback, or writing documentation, matter.
This webinar is exactly what more open source projects need: practical, transparent, and focused on real implementation, not hype. Install the AI module. Test it. Break it. Improve it. And share what you learn, because that's how Drupal AI moves forward.
Upcoming Sessions
In the coming months, the webinar series continues with targeted training sessions that build upon each other. All sessions are free, recorded, and open to the public.
The Drupal Association is excited to announce the winner of 2025 Community At-Large Board Elections and additional board members joining this year.
We extend a sincere thank you to Fei Lauren, Lynne Capozzi and Rosa Ordinana for their service and dedication, not only to Drupal, but to the Drupal community. Your time spent on the board made such a difference to the future of the Drupal project, and we thank you all for participating with grace, thoughtfulness, and insightful contributions.
An additional congratulations to Maya Schaeffer for winning the community-elected seat during our 2025 At-Large Board Elections.
We cannot wait to see all the amazing things the new board members will accomplish while on the Drupal Association Board.
Detailed Voting Results
There were 7 candidates in this year's At-Large board member election. 528 voters cast their ballots out of a pool of 1459 eligible voters.
Under Approval Voting, each voter can give a vote to one or more candidates.
The final total of votes were as follows:
Candidate
Votes
Alexander Varwijk
114
Carlos Mario Ospina Anzola
140
Matthew Saunders
158
Matt Glaman
264
Maya Schaeffer
269
Vladimir Roudakov
106
Will Huggins
120
On behalf of all the staff and board of the Drupal Association, a heartfelt Drupal Thanks to all of you who stood for the elections this year. It truly is a big commitment to contribution, the Drupal Association, and the community, and we are so grateful for all of your voices. Thank you for your willingness to serve, and we hope you'll consider participating again in 2026!
Proper Robots.txt file configuration is a cornerstone of SEO optimization for every Drupal website. In Drupal, RobotsTxt can serve as an excellent tool for controlling web crawlers' access, as it affects how your site appears in search engines. Let's explore how to efficiently create a robots.txt file in Drupal using the RobotsTxt module.
Want to set up a Drupal website quick and easy? Read this article to learn about Lando and how you can leverage it to set up your local Drupal website.
Today we are talking about Working from home, heading back to the office, and the current state of remote work with guest Kaleem Clarkson. We'll also cover Microsoft 365 Connector as our module of the week.
Have you ever wanted your Drupal site to integrate with Microsoft 365, so users can log in with their Azure AD credentials, and then have direct access to shared files, see recent emails, and more? There's a module for that.
How old: created in July 2019 by immoreel, though the most recent release is by Boris Doesborg (batigolix), both of Finalist, a Dutch Drupal shop
Versions available: 5.0.22 and 5.1.0-beta1, the latter of which supports Drupal 9.4, 10, and 11
Maintainership
Actively maintained
Security coverage
Test coverage
Two documentation guide available
Number of open issues: 18 open issues, 1 of which is a bug, though it is postponed waiting for more info
Usage stats:
365 sites
Module features and usage
This module integrates your Drupal site with the Microsoft Graph API, a unified API that provides a single endpoint for accessing data and intelligence from Microsoft 365 services, including Exchange, SharePoint, OneDrive, and more
Microsoft 365 Connector includes more than a dozen submodules, each of which provide specific capabilities like Single Sign-On, syncing data to Drupal user accounts, sending Teams messages from within Drupal, and more
You can also use this module to do things like automatically add an event node to your Outlook calendar, and invite other people at the same time
It's worth noting that in the documentation guide the submodules are named "Office 365", which is probably what the module was named until around 5 years ago when Microsoft retired the Office 365 name
Finally, setting up this module requires registering an app in Azure AD, so it's not for the casual user. But if you're working on an intranet or similar collaboration platform for an organization that is heavily invested in the Microsoft 365 suite, this could make for a compelling integration
Drupal has evolved significantly from it's initial developer-focused content management system. In 2025, it's entering one of its most notable moments yet, characterized by low-code content creation, AI-driven personalization, out-of-the-box website templates, and enterprise scalability. This shift reflects Drupal's commitment to accessibility, innovation, and performance as it moves away from legacy systems like Drupal 7 and marches toward the future. Here are 10 key things to watch for in 2025: 1. Drupal CMS 2.0 Drupal CMS 2.0 is planned for Q3 2025, October, as a major release. It succeeds
In the coming weeks, we are going to see some big changes in how (and where) credits are given when working on issues. The new system can do everything that the current system can, but it will enable us to progress further in the GitLab issue migration.
User and organisation profiles won't change, and they will still have the same credit listings, only reading them from the new system. Likewise, marketplace ranking won't change either.
Opening the door for GitLab issues
The next significant milestone for us (Drupal Association and the Drupal community) is to migrate Drupal.org issues to GitLab issues, as this will provide everyone with the advantages of using a proven and dedicated system for managing project issues. This is part of the GitLab acceleration initiative that we started years ago.
However, an important part of working with Drupal is the credit recognition, for both individuals and organisations. Note that GitLab issues, while having numerous advantages when dealing with issues, queues, labels… lack the ability to attribute credit to individuals and organisations out of the box. You could attribute commits, but remember that many contributions do not require any code (and therefore commits), so we cannot rely on that.
Due to this, we will "decouple" the Contribution Records system from the issue management. We will connect them, but they will be two separate systems. This also opens the door to different ways of recording contributions for the future, such as providing credit for translations for Drupal from localize.drupal.org, for example.
The new Contribution Records system
The new system is built on the modern new.drupal.org site, and this will be the first part of the new site that the community will interact with.
It will look like the screenshot below, with a full page dedicated to the Contribution Record. We can see how the source issue is linked to it. All the fields will be pre-populated, including the contributors and their participation in the issue, so you won't need to re-enter them again. There will be a link on every drupal.org issue that will take you directly to the Contribution Record page.
Maintainers will then, with the information given, choose whether or not to grant credit to each contributor. This is the case already with the current system.
As maintainer, you wiill still have a section to copy/paste the commit message, using the new commit message format.
And as a contributor, you will still be able to attribute your work as you do now.
Endpoints to query this information
Our initial integration makes the www.drupal.org read the credit information from new.drupal.org via API calls. These are:
You should add filters to those endpoints, to limit the data to be retrieved. The options are documented in the README file of the underlying module.
What's next?
The first step is to adopt the usage of the new system, to check that all the data and marketplace calculations are unaffected, and to fix any possible issues that the new system could have.
We will have Drupal.org issues connected to the new Contribution Records, so we will all need to get used to going "to the new place" to record credit information. Remember that when we use GitLab issues, the workflow will be exactly the same.
This leads to what many of us have been waiting for a long time: the move to GitLab issues! We will open an opt-in period for projects to move their issues to GitLab and help us iron out the integration. After that opt-in period, we will progressively move issues for the rest of the projects. There will be a time when some projects will manage their issues via Drupal.org and some others via GitLab, but one thing will remain the same: the new Contribution Records system.
If you want to report bugs or give feedback you can do it via the issue queue for the Contribution Records module.
The uncomfortable truth is finally being spoken aloud in Drupal circles: the boutique agency model might be dying.John Faber, Managing Partner atChapter Three, deserves credit for finally asking the question that many have been avoiding: can pure-play Drupal agencies survive the current market? His recent LinkedIn post wasn't just provocative, it was overdue. For too long, we've watched agencies struggle with razor-thin margins, scramble for projects, and pretend that "craft over scale" is a sustainable business strategy when AI tools can now deliver functional websites faster than a junior developer can set up their local environment.
What makes this moment particularly telling isn't the economic pressure alone that's been building for years. It's the structural shift underneath. The value of a "developer hour" has fundamentally changed when clients can get 80% of what they need from AI-powered platforms for a fraction of the cost. The agencies caught in the middle (too small to pivot to enterprise consulting, too expensive to compete with automated solutions) are finding themselves in an increasingly uncomfortable squeeze. The responses to Faber's post revealed a community grappling with whether to double down on specialization or admit that the market has moved beyond their traditional offerings.
The irony is rich: Drupal, built on the principle of democratizing web publishing, may now be too complex for the very market segment that sustained its agency ecosystem. While enterprise clients still need sophisticated digital architecture, the small-to-medium projects that kept boutique shops profitable are evaporating. The question isn't whether agencies need to evolve, it's whether they have the capital and courage to transform before the window closes entirely.
Can AI actually help with real Drupal development? I wanted to find out.
This morning, I fired up Claude Code and pointed it at my personal Drupal site. In a 30-minute session, I asked it to help me build new features and modernize some of my code. I expected mixed results but was surprised by how useful it proved to be.
I didn't touch my IDE once or write a single line of code myself. Claude handled everything from creating a custom Drush command to refactoring constructors and converting Drupal annotations to PHP attributes.
If you're curious what AI-assisted Drupal development actually feels like, this video captures the experience.
Since the deprecation of Universal Analytics in 2023, Google Analytics 4 (GA4) has been the standard for web analysis. Becoming proficient in event-based tracking is the secret to achieving the maximum potential of GA4 on conversion and user insight. To be able to understand how your users interact with your site is to know how to optimize performance and convert. GA4 introduces a powerful event-based tracking model that is more developed than traditional URL path or file type filtering and offers a more precise, adaptive, and actionable way to measure user behavior. This guide discusses why
Monitoring tools for Kubernetes: Prometheus vs Grafana vs Datadog
EditorFri, 07/25/2025 - 13:01
Kubernetes operates without pause; that's why it needs ongoing monitoring. Otherwise, small issues will turn into big losses: from a decrease in system performance to the loss of users. This is particularly true for Drupal projects, where a mere lag of a few seconds might cause users to leave. Honestly, for us, monitoring isn't just "nice to have"-it's the bedrock of staying competitive online. It's how we catch problems before they blow up, figure out where our resources are really going, and constantly boost efficiency. The main contenders here are Datadog, Grafana, and Prometheus, and they each tackle metric collection and processing in their own unique way. So, how do these tools actually compare? Let's get into their unique features.
Dive into the Drupal AI Initiative's progress in June 2025. Discover how 1xINTERNET is helping to build a foundation for AI-powered content management through key contributions in workflow, collaboration, and outreach.
