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Originally published June 9, 2023. Updated June 2026 to reflect the current state of Phase 3, including WordPress 6.9, WordPress 7.0, and official Make WordPress Core updates.
Gutenberg, the block editor that came with WordPress 5.0, has been growing steadily since 2018. What started as a new way to write posts has become a four-phase project to change how content is created, managed, and published on WordPress.
When this post was first written in June 2023, Phase 3 was still in the planning stage. It was a wish list from the community, tied to an announcement post by Gutenberg lead architect Matias Ventura. Today, Phase 3 is actively happening. The first collaboration features have shipped in WordPress core, real-time co-editing has been beta-tested by real editorial teams, and the 2026 WordPress roadmap puts collaboration front and center.
A lot has changed. This update brings everything up to speed.
What are the 4-phases of the Gutenberg Roadmap?
The Gutenberg project is built around four phases:
Phase 1 – Easier Editing: The block editor, shipped with WordPress 5.0 in December 2018, with ongoing improvements.
Phase 2 – Customization: Full Site Editing, block patterns, block directory, and block themes. Completed with WordPress 6.3 in 2023, which brought the Site Editor out of beta.
Phase 3 – Collaboration: A better way to co-author content across the entire WordPress experience. This is the current phase, and it is now actively in progress.
Phase 4 – Multilingual: Core support for multilingual sites. Planned for the future.
In 2023, the community was guessing what collaboration in WordPress might look like. In 2026, the first features have landed in core, and more are close behind.
Where Phase 3 actually stands in 2026
Back in 2023, Phase 3 was described as “in the planning stage.” Here is a straightforward status update based on the official Make WordPress Core Phase 3 posts.
The six phase 3 project areas
When Matias Ventura laid out the Phase 3 roadmap in July 2023, he defined six main project areas:
- Real-Time Collaboration
- Workflows (publishing flows, suggestion mode, editorial commenting)
- Revisions
- Media Library
- Block Library
- Admin Design (a full redesign of the wp-admin experience)
Phase 3 is much bigger than just co-editing. It covers how teams work inside WordPress from top to bottom, including the admin interface, the media library, and editorial workflows.
What has shipped:
Block-level Commenting (“Notes”) – WordPress 6.9, December 2, 2025
This is the biggest collaboration feature to ship in WordPress core so far. WordPress 6.9 introduced block-level commenting, called “Notes.” Editors and contributors can now leave comments tied to specific blocks, reply to threads, and resolve discussions without leaving the WordPress editor.
This is the first real Phase 3 collaboration feature in core. Feedback collected from 45 beta participants between October and December 2025 was very positive. One communications team called Notes “revolutionary.” Teams liked being able to leave feedback directly in the editor without needing to switch to Google Docs or Slack.
Real-Time Collaboration Beta – WordPress VIP, October 2025
From October 2025, WordPress VIP customers got access to a beta version of real-time collaboration. It was built using Yjs, a framework developed by Kevin Jahns and sponsored by Automattic. Feedback came from organizations in news and media, higher education, research, and enterprise publishing.
The main takeaway: real-time collaboration works well when sites are built on modern WordPress. Teams using native WordPress blocks reported smooth experiences. Groups tested editing dozens of blocks at the same time, pasting large chunks of content in parallel, and having whole teams edit the same post together. It held up well.
Admin Redesign – WordPress 7.0, May 20, 2026
WordPress 7.0 shipped the first major visual redesign of the WordPress admin since WordPress 3.8 in 2013. It uses a new DataViews interface and extends it to more screens. This was part of the Admin Design project area Ventura defined in July 2023.
Experimental Block Comments – Gutenberg 19.6, November 2024
The early version of block commenting landed in Gutenberg 19.6 behind an Experiments flag. This gave the community a chance to test and shape the feature before it moved into WordPress core with version 6.9.
What is still in progress:
Real-Time Collaboration – Removed from WordPress 7.0
Real-time collaboration, the Google Docs-style simultaneous editing feature, was supposed to be the headline feature of WordPress 7.0. On May 8, 2026, Matt Mullenweg decided to pull RTC from the release. He cited concerns about surface area, race conditions, server load, memory efficiency, and bugs found during fuzz testing.
WordPress 7.0 shipped on May 20, 2026 without it. It is now aimed at a future release.
This was not a sign that the feature is broken. The core architecture is built: the Yjs-powered sync engine, presence indicators, and a default HTTP polling transport that works on all WordPress hosts. There is also a filter for WebSocket-based providers. The community broadly agreed that shipping something stable was the right call.
You can test the beta today by following the instructions in the WordPress VIP GitHub repository.
Challenges the community is working through
The December 2025 beta feedback post was honest about the problems contributors are still solving:
- Attribution tracking: When multiple users edit the same version of a post, it is hard to know who changed what. Contributors are adding “contributor” metadata to revisions to fix this.
- Plugin compatibility: The biggest issues came from blocks that store data in post meta rather than block attributes, especially when that meta is not registered with show_in_rest: true. Plugin authors will need to check their code before real-time collaboration ships.
- Workflow flexibility: Some teams want open simultaneous editing. Others prefer a check-in, check-out model based on user role and post status. Core needs to support both.
- Accessibility: The beta does not yet meet WordPress accessibility standards. The Accessibility team is actively involved in fixing this.
Fragment commenting and @Mentions – WordPress 7.0
WordPress 7.0 expanded Notes with the ability to comment on specific text within a block (not just the whole block) and added @mention support. This makes async collaboration in core significantly more useful.
Revisions, Media Library, Block Library
These three Phase 3 project areas are still in progress. WordPress 6.3 introduced Global Styles revisions for Full Site Editing. More granular block-level revision history is still being developed.
The Building blocks of collaboration: 2026 status
The original blog outlined eight building blocks that the community wanted Phase 3 to deliver. Here is an updated look at each one, covering what is in core, what plugins provide, and what is still being built.
1. Real-Time collaboration
Status: In development. Not yet in core. Beta available.
The goal is letting multiple users edit the same post or page at the same time, with changes visible in real time and presence indicators showing who is where on the page.
The technical work is done and has been tested by real editorial teams. Early feedback from WordPress VIP users was positive. One team described it as “an amazing workflow change” that got rid of the frustration of kicking teammates out of posts to make quick edits. The delay from WordPress 7.0 was about stability, not capability.
What you can use today: Multicollab’s real-time co-editing feature brings this capability to WordPress now and is available for testing. Google Docs remains the benchmark experience that WordPress is building toward.
2. Asynchronous Collaboration (Block Commenting / Notes)
Status: Now in WordPress core – WordPress 6.9, December 2025.
This is where Phase 3 has made its most concrete progress. Block commenting (Notes) shipped in WordPress 6.9. WordPress 7.0 added fragment commenting and @mentions on top of that.
Beta participants called Notes “revolutionary” and said it removes the need to jump to external tools just to leave feedback on a draft.
What Multicollab adds: Multicollab has had inline commenting since 2020 with a richer feature set than core currently offers. This includes file attachments (.jpg?quality=90, .png?quality=90, .doc, .pdf), emoji reactions, assignment via @mention, and shareable comment links.
For teams that want a full async workflow right now, Multicollab is the more complete option.
PublishPress Editorial Commenting and Oasis Workflow Editorial Comments also cover this space.
3. Publishing Flows and Suggestion Mode
Status: Plugin territory. Core is moving slowly here.
The Phase 3 Workflows project area covers the full editorial process from first draft to publication. That includes native support for track-changes-style suggestion mode and structured approval flows. As of WordPress 7.0, this is still handled by plugins.
Multicollab Suggestion Mode is the WordPress version of track changes. Edits are color-coded (green for additions, red for deletions). The team can accept, reject, or comment on suggestions without leaving WordPress. It is one of Multicollab’s most-used features.
PublishPress covers permissions, content planning, revisions, and approval workflows. Oasis Workflow provides drag-and-drop editorial workflow tools for multi-author sites.
4. Post Revisions
Status: Partially improved in core. More work still needed.
WordPress has supported post revisions for a long time. Phase 3 wants to make them more visual, more granular (down to individual blocks), and available across the full site including templates and global styles.
WordPress 6.3 introduced Global Styles revisions for Full Site Editing. Block-level revision history is still being developed.
Google Docs is the gold standard here: its version history shows exactly who changed what and when. Multicollab’s Activity Timeline fills this gap in WordPress today, tracking collaboration history across all posts and pages with filtering by user, content category, and timestamp.
5. Notifications
Status: Plugin territory for editorial notifications. Core handles the basics only.
WordPress core sends basic email notifications for things like comments and password resets. Editorial notifications like “someone commented on your block” or “a suggestion needs your review” are still handled by plugins.
Multicollab sends email notifications for comments, mentions, and suggestions. It also integrates with Slack for teams that use Slack for internal communication. Google Docs and Canva are the benchmarks for in-app notification panels with detailed controls over what triggers an alert.
6. Multi-Author Capabilities
Status: Plugin territory. Will improve naturally once real-time collaboration ships.
Once real-time collaboration arrives in core, multi-author presence will be a native feature. The attribution tracking work already underway (adding contributor metadata to revisions) is the foundation for this.
Until then, PublishPress Authors, Co-Authors Plus, and Molongui Authorship are the standard plugins for managing bylines, guest contributor credits, and multi-author attribution without needing separate WordPress user accounts for everyone.
7. Roles and Permissions
Status: Plugin territory. Core improvements are gradual.
Detailed control over who can add comments, resolve threads, accept or reject suggestions, and manage publication workflows is still handled by plugins.
PublishPress Capabilities and User Role Editor handle site-wide permission settings. Multicollab Custom Permissions works at the collaboration layer: administrators set per-role access to add comments, resolve comments, and accept or reject suggestions.
8. Reports and Activity
Status: Plugin territory.
An editorial activity log showing who did what, on which post, and when is not yet a native WordPress feature. This is a real gap for publishers and enterprise teams that need clear records of what happened and when.
Multicollab’s Activity Timeline and reporting dashboard are the strongest native-WordPress option here. You can filter by user, content category, and timestamp. Basecamp is the benchmark for project-level activity reporting at a larger scale.
TL;DR
| Features | Potential Solution | Notes |
| Real-time Collaboration | Multicollab Real-Time Co-Editing | Multiple people can edit a post simultaneously – and see each other’s changes in real-time |
| Google Docs | Lets users create and collaborate on online documents in real-time and from any device | |
| Yjs Shared Editing | Offers shared data types for building collaborative software | |
| AsBlocks | End-to-end encrypted (private) collaborative writing environment powered by Gutenberg | |
| Asynchronous Collaboration | Multicollab Plugin | Editorial collaboration plugin in WordPress |
| PublishPress Editorial Commenting | Provides the capability of leaving comments under each post you write | |
| Oasis Workflow Editorial Commenting | The add-on lets users select a word or phrase, or paragraph and provide comments for the selected text | |
| Publishing Flows | PublishPress | Lets users submit updates for review and approval before publishing |
| Oasis Workflow | Popular with multi-author sites requiring efficient content review processes | |
| Multicollab Suggestion Mode | Any edits to posts or pages are highlighted to accept, reject and collaborate as needed when combined with mentions and notifications | |
| Post Revisions | Google Docs | Saves every change made to your document through a version history feature. |
| Notion | Offers detailed revisions history of activity by team members | |
| WordPress Revisions | Quickly view the previous versions of posts or pages, along with what changes have been made | |
| Notifications | Google Docs | Keeps collaborators notified about all the activities on the document |
| Canva | It is easy to receive notifications and stay updated with design activity across the team, such as shared designs | |
| Multicollab Email Notifications | Instant email notifications make collaborations with the team easier | |
| Multicollab Slack Notifications | Teams that use Slack to communicate internally can receive important Multicollab notifications in the Slack channel of their choice | |
| Multi-author Capabilities | PublishPress Authors | Add writers as bylines without creating WordPress user accounts. Allows co-authors to edit the posts they are associated with |
| Co-Author Plus | Lets users assign multiple bylines to posts, pages, and custom post types via a search-as-you-type input box | |
| Molongui Authorship | Lets the site administrators add a guest author or one-time contributor to a post without creating an account for them and even credit multiple authors for one post. | |
| Roles & Permissions | PublishPress Capabilities | Offers easy and powerful control over capabilities and permissions on a WordPress site |
| User Role Editor | Easily modifies user roles and capabilities, allowing users to customise access and permissions for their team | |
| Multicollab Custom Permissions | Decide which members should have permission to manage comments and suggestions. | |
| Reports & Activities | Basecamp | It finds people’s messages, comments, assigned and completed to-dos, and lets you know what everyone has been up to. |
| Multicollab’s Advanced Dashboard functionality | Transparent data points and an intuitive reporting feature |
What this means for WordPress teams today
The picture in mid-2026 is more detailed than the simple “Phase 3 is coming” framing from 2023.
Some Phase 3 features have shipped. Block commenting (Notes) is in WordPress 6.9. The admin is being redesigned. Fragment commenting and @mentions are in WordPress 7.0. These are real, usable improvements that make collaborative editorial work easier inside WordPress.
Real-time collaboration, the feature teams have been waiting for most, is not in core yet. But it has been built and tested by editorial teams across news, higher education, and enterprise publishing. The feedback is that it works well on modern WordPress. The delay from WordPress 7.0 was a quality call, not a sign that the feature is far off.
For teams that cannot wait, the plugin ecosystem has been solving these problems for years. Multicollab has been the clearest answer to the “Google Docs inside WordPress” problem since 2020, with inline commenting, suggestion mode, guest collaboration, activity reporting, and real-time co-editing in beta.
What the past three years have also shown is something the WordPress community has always known: plugins lead, and core follows the patterns that prove most useful. The editorial teams reporting back from the Phase 3 beta were not discovering something new. They were describing workflows that Multicollab users have been running inside WordPress for years.
Phase 3 is real. The building blocks are going up, one release at a time.
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