November 10, 2025 — The Block Developer Cookbook has travelled the world and is finally coming to its home country of Canada to make its debut in Ottawa, Ontario. In this fully interactive workshop, attendees will vote on which recipes to explore, and we’ll work through them together.

Each iteration of this workshop expands with new recipes and content, leveraging the latest features in WordPress, including: Block Bindings API, Plugin Template Registration API, Preview Options API, Interactivity API, New in WordPress 6.8: Performantly loading multiple blocks in a single plugin, Using third-party API data in a custom block, Creating a block variation bound to the post excerpt, Registering a custom post type with its own templatern, Building a dark/light mode toggle that saves to user meta, Developing a gallery slider with the Interactivity API, Using filters and the HTML Tag Processor to extend core blocks, Designing a custom Image block style, Adding a fade-in effect to core blocks, Restricting publishing based on word count, Customizing the @wordpress/scripts build process, Connecting a block to custom fields, Implementing front-end JavaScript for blocks, Using the data layer in a block, Creating a custom format, Working with block transforms, And more.

Join us to expand your block development skills with hands-on guidance and real-world examples.

September 5, 2025 — Direct from appearances at WC Asia and WCEU, the Block Developer Cookbook is coming to America! In this fully interactive workshop, attendees will vote on which recipes to explore, and we’ll work through them together. Each iteration of this workshop expands with new recipes and content, leveraging the latest features in WordPress, including: Custom social icons New! Working with the command palette New! Converting static blocks to dynamic New! Block Bindings API Plugin Template Registration API Interactivity API Performantly loading multiple blocks in a single plugin Using third-party API data in a custom block Creating a block variation bound to the post excerpt Registering a custom post type with its own template Building a dark/light mode toggle that saves to user meta Developing a gallery slider with the Interactivity API Using filters and the HTML Tag Processor to extend core blocks Designing a custom Image block style Adding a fade-in effect to core blocks Restricting publishing based on word count Customizing the @wordpress/scripts build process Connecting a block to custom fields Implementing front-end JavaScript for blocks Using the data layer in a block Creating a custom format Working with block transforms And more… Join us to expand your block development skills with hands-on guidance and real-world examples. Workshop Requirements: An account at http://www.blockdevelopercookbook.com to be able to vote. Laptop configured for block development and your IDE of choice. I’ll be using VSCode. Local WordPress development environment. I’ll be using WordPress Studio. Copy of the workshop repository installed and configured inside your local environment. Chef Hat (optional, but you’ll be a legend) There will be copies of WordPress Studio along with import files to get you up and running on USB keys during the event, but in the interest of time, please come prepared.

June 7, 2025 — Fresh from its appearance at WordCamp Asia 2025 in Manila, the Block Developer Cookbook is making its European debut at WCEU in Basel.

In this fully interactive workshop, attendees will vote on which recipes to explore, and we’ll work through them together.

Each iteration of this workshop expands with new recipes and content, leveraging the latest features in WordPress, including:

Block Bindings API
Plugin Template Registration API
Preview Options API
Interactivity API
And more Featured Recipes
New in WordPress 6.8: Performantly loading multiple blocks in a single plugin
Using third-party API data in a custom block
Creating a block variation bound to the post excerpt
Registering a custom post type with its own template
Building a dark/light mode toggle that saves to user meta
Developing a gallery slider with the Interactivity API
Using filters and the HTML Tag Processor to extend core blocks
Designing a custom Image block style
Adding a fade-in effect to core blocks
Restricting publishing based on word count
Customizing the @wordpress/scripts build process
Connecting a block to custom fields
Implementing front-end JavaScript for blocks
Using the data layer in a block
Creating a custom format
Working with block transforms
And more

Join us to expand your block development skills with hands-on guidance and real-world examples.

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May 19, 2025 — Custom meta fields have been a go-to solution for WordPress developers for a well over a decade. Before the Site Editor and block templates, it was the ONLY way to store and access information that was not part of the content of the post or page being displayed. For this reason, custom fields and their associated meta boxes have permeated WordPress development, and entire frameworks have been created to manage them. In this talk, we’ll explore ways that you can natively connect your custom meta to the WordPress Editor experience. We’ll cover: – Reading and writing custom meta with Core APIs. – Building alternative UIs to integrate meta. – Integrating frameworks such as ACF, SCF or Pods into the editor. – Connecting Core blocks to custom meta for a truly integrated editorial experience. – Using block bindings to connect native blocks to meta.

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December 17, 2024 — In the final Developer Hours session of 2024, we took a closer look at WordPress Playground. This tool allows users to create fully functional WordPress instances directly in their browser, with no installation or setup required. Beyond spinning up WordPress sites, Playground offered powerful capabilities, from testing plugins and themes to running demos and even supporting app development. No matter how you engage with WordPress, Playground has something valuable to offer.

The session explored tools and workflows for plugin and theme development, demonstrated how to use Playground for testing and support, highlighted key improvements introduced in 2024, and offered a preview of exciting new features planned for 2025.

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December 3, 2024 — In this session of Developer Hours, we took a deep dive into the advanced usage of tools like create-block and wp-scripts, along with a few others. We focused on solving common challenges and showcasing techniques that went beyond the basics, even for developers already familiar with these tools.

The session featured practical examples and insights to help participants work more efficiently, especially when building blocks, block themes, and Editor extensions. While the discussion covered more advanced implementations, it remained accessible to developers of all experience levels, with plenty of resources provided.

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November 19, 2024 — The Block Bindings API, first introduced in WordPress 6.5, allowed the connection of custom fields (or any data) to Core blocks. However, this was just the beginning. Substantial improvements had been made by WordPress 6.7, enabling block attributes to be directly bound to custom fields from the Editor using an intuitive UI and a newly available public JavaScript API.

In this Developer Hours session, an overview of the Block Bindings API and how it works was provided, including major changes in the API since WordPress 6.5. The session demonstrated how to use the new Editor UI for binding attributes and work with the new JavaScript API. Whether you are new to Block Bindings or have already started using them in their projects, the session offered valuable insights for everyone.

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August 13, 2024 — Blocks have become integral to most WordPress projects. While Core blocks cover a wide range of content types and many third-party block libraries are available, you may eventually need functionality that doesn’t yet exist. If you’ve never had the chance to build a custom block or are unsure where to begin, this session is for you!

We explained how blocks are structured and defined within WordPress, giving you a foundational understanding of block.json, attributes, block supports, and more. You will learn the differences between statically and dynamically rendered blocks, along with the pros and cons of each. Finally, we introduced tools that will help you quickly start creating your own custom blocks.

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July 9, 2024 — As WordPress evolves, the gap between the Post and Site Editors is narrowing. In WordPress 6.6, slots and extensibility APIs are unified in the @wordpress/editor package global variable, simplifying the integration of extensions across editors for developers. The user interface is also becoming more standardized.

In this Developer Hours session, we explored how these updates can streamline your development process and enhance extensibility like never before. You will learn how to:

– Extend the Post and Site Editor using slots and why you might want to do so
– Display content only when specific conditions are met, such as when editing a custom post type
– Update existing extensions to work in both the Post and Site Editor
– Ensure updated extensions are backward compatible with WordPress 6.5 and lower

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June 11, 2024 — WordPress 6.6 will be released on July 16, 2024, and one of the exciting new features will be overrides for synced patterns. Overrides allow you to ensure a synced layout and style across patterns while allowing each instance of the pattern to have customized content. This provides flexibility to content editors while enforcing design consistency.

In this Developer Hours session, we explored how you’ll be able to implement overrides in 6.6 (or today using the Gutenberg plugin) and how they work under the hood. You will learn:

– What Synced Pattern Overrides are and when you should use them
– How to create overrides in the Editor
– What blocks and attributes are currently supported
– How overrides work at a fundamental level and their connection to the Block Bindings API
– How to share your feedback and help contribute to the future enhancement of this feature

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