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Wikitech-ambassadors April 2026

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Tech News 2026, Issue 18
by Uzoma Ozurumba 27 Apr '26

27 Apr '26

Latest *tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News>* from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/18> are available. *Updates for editors* - There is a change in how new users are autoconfirmed that will improve anti-vandalism protection. Currently, users who have had an account for a few days and made a few edits are automatically added to the Autoconfirmed users <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Meta:Autoconfirmed_users> group. This configuration tends to be exploited by some vandals, who create accounts and start to use them only after some time. To mitigate this, the configuration will be updated next week so that – for the purpose of becoming autoconfirmed – the account age will be counted from their first edit, instead of registration date. The numeric value of the age threshold will remain the same. This change will be deployed only to wikis which require at least one edit as part of the autoconfirmation conditions. [1] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T418484> - All Wikipedia users with new accounts and those who activated the "automatically enable most beta features" option in their preference can now use the reading lists <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Readers/Reader_Experience…> beta feature to save articles for later reading. This helps organize reading interests in one place for convenient access. - [image: Recurrent item] View all 30 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resol…>. For example, the issue where infobox images have huge padding in Firefox, has been fixed. [2] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T423676> *Updates for technical contributors* - As a reminder, the global API rate limits will be applied this week to identified API traffic. This is to help ensure fair use of infrastructure <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Responsible_Reuse>. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or with the bot user right on any wiki should not be affected for now. However, all developers are advised to follow updated best practices. For more information, including the actual rate limits, see Wikimedia APIs/Rate limits <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits> and Frequently Asked Questions <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits/FAQ>. - [image: Recurrent item] Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.46/wmf.26> *Tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News> prepared by Tech News writers <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers> and posted by bot <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_d…> • Contribute <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute> • Translate <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/18> • Get help <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech> • Give feedback <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News> • Subscribe or unsubscribe <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambass…>.* -- Uzoma Ozurumba (She/her) Movement Communications Specialist (Product and Tech) meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:UOzurumba_(WMF)

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Tech News 2026 - Issue 17
by Sandister Tei 20 Apr '26

20 Apr '26

Latest *tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News>* from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/17> are available. *Weekly highlight* - After two years of development, Improved Syntax Highlighting <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror>, also known as CodeMirror 6 <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror>, is to be promoted out of beta on Tuesday, April 21. It brings better code and wikitext readability, reduction in typing errors, and other benefits <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror> to all users of the standard syntax highlighter. A huge thank you to volunteer Bhsd <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/p/Bhsd/> who developed many of the new features, including code folding <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror…> , autocompletion <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror…>, and linting <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror…> . [1] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T259059> - A major update to the Wikipedia app for iOS is now rolling out, redesigning the interface to align with Apple's latest "Liquid Glass" visual design. Download the latest version <https://apps.apple.com/us/app/wikipedia/id324715238> and explore the update. *Updates for editors* - Reading lists <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Readers/Reader_Experience…> is a feature which allows readers to save articles to a list for reading later. This feature is now in beta on Arabic, French, Indonesian, Vietnamese, and Chinese Wikipedias and by default for all new accounts on all Wikipedias. - An experiment which explores extending Page Previews to mobile web <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Readers/Reader_Growth/Mob…> will be launched in the week of April 20 on Arabic, English, French, Italian, Polish, and Vietnamese Wikipedias. Page Previews are pop-ups that display a thumbnail, lead paragraph, and a link to open the full article of a blue link, thereby improving content discovery. The feature is already available on desktop and in the apps. Read more about this experiment and others <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/List_of_experiments_in_P…> . - On several wikis, logged-in editors who haven't confirmed their email addresses <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Email_confirmation> can now see a banner encouraging them to do so. Having the email address confirmed allows a user to restore access to the account if they lose it. Learn more <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_Safety_and_Integr…> . [2] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T421366> - View all 15 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resol…>. For example, an issue where editing very large wiki pages in the 2017 wikitext editor caused slow loading, preview and scrolling lag, and performance issues when selecting, cutting, or pasting content, has now been fixed. [3] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T184857> *Updates for technical contributors* - As part of the promotion of CodeMirror <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror> from a beta feature, all users will use CodeMirror <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror> instead of CodeEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeEditor> for syntax highlighting when editing JavaScript, CSS, JSON, Vue and Lua content pages. [4] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T419332> - The mirrors.wikimedia.org service for Debian and Ubuntu users will sunset and stop working on May 15. The resources for the service will be replaced with new and better options. Some users may need to switch to a different server which should take about a minute. You can read more <https://lists.wikimedia.org/hyperkitty/list/wikitech-l@lists.wikimedia.org/…> . [5] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T416707> - The image and oldimage table will be removed from wikireplicas <https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Help:Wiki_Replicas>. If your tools or queries access image or oldimage directly, please update them to use the file and filerevision table before 28 May. [6] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T28741> - Following the recent implementation of global API rate limits on unidentified traffic, the Wikimedia Foundation will continue efforts to ensure fair use of infrastructure <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/MediaWiki_Product_Insight…> by applying global limits to identified API traffic beginning the last week of April. These limits are intentionally set as high as possible to minimise impact on the community. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or with the bot user right on any wiki should not be affected for now. However, all developers are advised to follow updated best practices. For more information, see Wikimedia APIs/Rate limits <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits> and Frequently Asked Questions <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limit…> . - The Attribution API <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Attribution_API> is now available as a beta <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Stability_…>. The API fetches information for crediting Wikimedia articles and media files wherever they are used. Reference documentation is available through the REST Sandbox special page available on all Wikimedia wikis (such as the REST sandbox on English Wikipedia <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?api=attribution.v0-beta&title=Special%…>). Share your feedback on the project talk page <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Attribution_API>. - There is no new MediaWiki version this week. *Tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News> prepared by Tech News writers <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers> and posted by bot <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_d…> • Contribute <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute> • Translate <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/17> • Get help <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech> • Give feedback <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News> • Subscribe or unsubscribe <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambass…>.*

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Tech News 2026, Issue 16
by Sandister Tei 13 Apr '26

13 Apr '26

Latest *tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News>* from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/16> are available. *Weekly highlight* - Experienced editors are invited to test <https://b24e11a4f1.catalyst.wmcloud.org/wiki/Main_Page> the Article guidance <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance> feature, designed to help less-experienced editors create well-structured, policy-compliant Wikipedia articles. Testing instructions are available <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance/Test_fea…>. Also, after reviewing the outlines <https://b24e11a4f1.catalyst.wmcloud.org/wiki/Category:Pages_using_article_g…>, please provide feedback on the project talk page <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Talk:Article_guidance>. Based on your input, the feature will be refined and transferred to the pilot Wikipedias to translate and adapt. Check out the video <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Article_Guidance_workflow_demo_-_Ap…> explaining the feature. *Updates for editors* - On most wikis, all autoconfirmed users can now use Special:ChangeContentModel <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ChangeContentModel> page to create new pages with custom content models <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:ChangeContentModel>, such as mass message lists, making custom page formats more accessible. Check Special:ListGroupRights <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:ListGroupRights> for the status of your wiki. [1] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T248294> - The Growth team has launched an account creation experiment <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Contributors/Account_Crea…> to evaluate whether adding an account creation button to the mobile web header increases new account registrations and encourages more mobile users to contribute to the wikis. The experiment is currently live on Hindi, Indonesian, Bengali, Thai, and Hebrew Wikipedia, and targets 10% of logged-out mobile web users. - View all 30 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resol…>. For example, an issue where VisualEditor could get stuck loading on Windows devices with animations turned off, has now been fixed. [2] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T382856> *Updates for technical contributors* - Starting later this week, Abuse filter editors who have the Improved Syntax Highlighting <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CodeMirror> beta feature enabled will have CodeMirror <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeMirror> instead of CodeEditor <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Extension:CodeEditor> as the editor at Special:AbuseFilter <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:AbuseFilter>. This is part of the broader effort to make the user experience more consistent across all editors. [3] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T399673>[4] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T419332> - Tools and bots that access the Notifications API <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Notifications/API> ( action=query&meta=notifications) will need to update their OAuth or BotPassword grants to also include access to private notifications. [5] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T421991> - Due to a library upgrade, listings on category pages may be displayed out of order starting on Monday, 20th April. A migration script will be run to correct this, and will take hours to days depending on the size of the wiki (up to a week for English Wikipedia). [6] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T422544> - Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.46/wmf.24> *Tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News> prepared by Tech News writers <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers> and posted by bot <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_d…> • Contribute <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute> • Translate <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/16> • Get help <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech> • Give feedback <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News> • Subscribe or unsubscribe <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambass…>.*

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Tech News 2026, week 15
by Sandister Tei 06 Apr '26

06 Apr '26

Latest *tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News>* from the Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes. Not all changes will affect you. Translations <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/15> are available. *Updates for editors* - The CampaignEvents extension <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CampaignEv…> now includes a new group goal-setting feature, enabling organizers to set and track event goals such as the number of articles created and participating contributors in real time. Similarly, participants can work toward shared targets and see their collective impact as the event unfolds. The feature is now available on all Wikimedia wikis. Learn more in the documentation <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Extension:CampaignEv…> . - The new watchlist labels <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Watchlist_labels> feature (announced in Tech News 2026-07 <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/07>) is now available via VisualEditor, the source editor, and the 'watchstar' (or watch link, for skins that don't have a star icon). Previously it was only possible to assign labels via EditWatchlist <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:EditWatchlist>. In all three places it is a new field following the expiry field. - View all 23 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resol…>. For example, the issue where talk pages on mobile with Parsoid are unusable after empty section headers, has now been fixed. [1] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T419171> *Updates for technical contributors* - The sub-referencing feature <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/WMDE_Technical_Wishes/Su…>, which lets editors add details to an existing reference without duplicating it, will be gradually rolled out to more wikis <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T414094> later this year. Wikis using the Reference Tooltips <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Reference_Tooltips> gadget are encouraged to update their version (typically at MediaWiki:Gadget-ReferenceTooltips.js <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/MediaWiki:Gadget-ReferenceTooltips.js> as shown here <https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?diff=1344408362>) to ensure compatibility. Other reference-related gadgets may also be affected. [2] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T416304> - All Wikinews editions will be closed and switched to read-only mode on 4 May 2026. Content will remain accessible, but no new edits or articles can be added. This closure was approved by the Board of Trustees of the Wikimedia Foundation following extended discussions. Read more <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Board_noticeboard#Boar…> . - The Action API <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Action_API> has had several formats for requested output. One of them, format=php, is being removed soon. Please ensure your scripts or bots use the JSON format <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/API:Data_formats#Output>. This removal should affect very few scripts and bots. [3] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T118538> - The Special:NamespaceInfo <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:NamespaceInfo> page now includes namespace aliases. For example "WP" for the "Project" ("Wikipedia") namespace on the German Wikipedia. [4] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T381455> - Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.46/wmf.23> *Tech news <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News> prepared by Tech News writers <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers> and posted by bot <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_d…> • Contribute <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News#contribute> • Translate <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/15> • Get help <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Tech> • Give feedback <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Talk:Tech/News> • Subscribe or unsubscribe <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Global_message_delivery/Targets/Tech_ambass…>.*

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