Updated on Jul 4th, 2023

Need to Know

  • DrupalCon 2023 emphasized the importance of continuous innovation and evolution
  • AI-enabled modules are helping teams to work faster and more efficiently
  • Drupal 10.1 introduced several empowering updates for site builders and administrators

DrupalCon is an exciting event that brings together Drupal builders and innovators to collaborate and share insights that drive its evolution. As always, our team was thrilled to engage with the vibrant global community as we continue to shape what the future of Drupal will become.

The importance of innovation in an ever-changing world was the key theme this year, from the Driesnote presentation to the upgrades we’ve seen in Drupal 10.1. With the recent update top-of-mind, many conversations were geared toward preparing for the Drupal of tomorrow, with discussions about Drupal 11 and the growing role of headless digital experiences.

Keep reading to find out our three key takeaways from DrupalCon 2023:

1. Drupal will continue to evolve.

At over 20 years old, it’s essential for Drupal to never stop innovating. As more competition enters the marketplace, remaining ahead of the curve is important in order to attract new contributors that can carry the torch. Drupal.org will soon be redesigned to align with this focus.


This year’s Driesnote presentation spoke to embracing transformative change in order to jump S-curves — in other words, investing in innovation in order to protect against the inevitable decline in the natural rhythm of growth. Experimentation and the importance of sharing different perspectives to find the most effective solutions for challenges was also a key topic.

2. The innovations in Drupal 10.1 are empowering site builders and administrators like never before.

Drupal continues to make improvements to help empower ambitious site builders. Some updates that we learned about were:

  • Single directory components, which compile everything needed for a component in the same place
  • Performance improvements, including support for lazy loading responsive images and integration of Symphony 6.3
  • The movement of the Automatic Updates module to the Drupal core to automate the security patch application
  • Drush 12 has now been released, introducing new commands and replacing Annotations with PHP8 Attributes
  • The Test Helpers module can facilitate the writing of unit tests

3. AI is everywhere, and Drupal is no exception.

CKEditor5 can now be AI-enabled using the OpenAI module to integrate ChatGPT functionalities into Drupal that can accelerate content creation, like summarizing text, changing tone, translations, and copy suggestions. It’s an amazing tool that can act as a second set of eyes on a piece of code, automate repetitive tasks, and even help with writer’s block.

One thing is clear from this year’s DrupalCon: Drupal and its community of builders, strategists, and users will continue to change and grow for many years to come. If your team is building or maintaining large-scale Drupal instances or thinking about how to prepare for Drupal 11, feel free to reach out. Our team of experts is ready to help.