August 28 – September 14, 2026
Welcome back to the WordPress.com changelog! Much of the engineering effort these past two weeks went into some meaningful rollouts: our AI website builder flow got an upgrade and there’s a new VideoPress player.
Create a custom theme with AI #
Our AI website builder for creating new sites just got more capable. On Premium and Business plans, it now generates a fully custom theme built around your goals and brand.
Once it’s built, we’ve streamlined the AI Editor, where you can keep refining the design by chatting with the WordPress Agent, so you always have support and can get your site exactly as you want. A helpful new feature is called Annotate, which allows you to send multiple targeted edits to the agent at one time:
A refreshed video player #
There’s a redesigned VideoPress player available with some powerful new features for sites on Business and Commerce plans. As a reminder, VideoPress is a lightweight and responsive video player you can use to host and embed videos on your WordPress.com website.
The update is built around a cleaner control bar with chapter markers and scrub-preview thumbnails built into the seek bar, an easier way to share a video (with separate handling for private ones), and an end screen that offers options to replay, share, or download once a video finishes. The sharing and down is in your control as always.
Fixes and improvements #
We also:
- Improved messaging when canceling a Google Workspace subscription , so it’s clear exactly when access ends. (Github PR )
- Replaced the dead-end empty cart when a domain can’t be renewed with a clear explanation and a one-click way to search for a new domain. (Github PR )
- Cleaned up the WordPress Agent’s command menu in [Telegram](https://wordpress.com/support/wordpress-agent-bot/) . ([Github PR](https://github.a8c.com/Automattic/wpcom/pull/239531) )
- Restored the missing Search menu item for Jetpack Search on impacted sites. ([GitHub PR](https://github.a8c.com/Automattic/wpcom/pull/238078) )
- Refreshed the design of the password reset page for a clearer, more guided flow. ([GitHub PR](https://github.a8c.com/Automattic/wpcom/pull/239103) )
- Added a “Retired” badge so you can tell at a glance when a theme in your site’s theme list is no longer receiving updates. (Github PR )