Hey all,
This is a quick note to highlight that in five weeks' time, the REL1_47
branch will be created for MediaWiki core and each of the extensions and
skins in Wikimedia git, with some (the 'tarball') included as sub-modules
of MediaWiki itself[0]. This is the first step in the release process for
MediaWiki 1.47, which should be out in November 2026, approximately six
months
after MediaWiki 1.46.
The branches will reflect the code as of the last 'alpha' branch for the
release, 1.47.0-wmf.24, which will be deployed to Wikimedia wikis in the
week beginning 12 October 2026 for MediaWiki itself and those extensions
and skins available there.
After that point, patches that land in the main development branch of
MediaWiki and its bundled extensions and skins will be instead be slated
for the MediaWiki 1.48 release unless specifically backported[1].
If you are working on a new feature that you wish to land for the release,
you now have a few days to finish your work and land it in the development
branch; feature changes should not be backported except in an urgent case.
If your work might not be complete in time, and yet should block release
for everyone else, please file a task against the `mw-1.47-release` project
on Phabricator.[2]
If you have tickets that are already tagged for `mw-1.47-release`, please
finish them, untag them, or reach out to get them resolved in the next few
weeks.
We hope to issue the first release candidate, 1.47.0-rc.0, three weeks after
the branch point, and if all goes well, to release MediaWiki 1.47.0 a few
weeks after that in late November.
[0]: <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Bundled_extensions_and_skins>
[1]: <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Backporting_fixes>
[2]: <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/tag/mw-1.47-release/>
Hello and happy Friday!
An API Strategy Brief is now published on mediawiki.org:
https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Artifacts/API_Str…
This strategy brief covers the direction we're taking Wikimedia's API
ecosystem over the next few years, including touching on topics like: why APIs
are so important for powering the future of Wikimedia projects, how the
current landscape has grown fragmented and hard to navigate, what we're
doing to make it more consistent and better documented, and where community
developers fit in.
The strategy is written for and applies to anyone building on top of
Wikimedia APIs
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Artifacts/API_Per…>,
not just internal teams. This strategy was also predominantly informed by
conversations with Wikimedian developers through Listening Tours, Hackathon
engagements, and more, so I'd like to continue that trend and make sure our
strategy reflects what the community actually needs.
If you have thoughts, questions, or concerns, please feel free to post to
the talk page, or message me directly via email, Discord, Telegram, smoke
signals, or however else you'd like to get in touch.
Thanks!
Halley
[PS]: I am also starting to work on a companion doc that goes deeper into
our AI + API strategy, specifically. If that's a space that interests you,
or if you increasingly feel like you identify as a 'vibe coder', I'd love
to talk! :) Feel free to grab time on my calendar
<https://calendar.app.google/B6SBKQVgK7CQ8VXy9>, send your thoughts through
email, or comment on the talk page for the API Strategy Brief.
*Halley Coplin* (she/her)
Sr. Product Manager, MediaWiki Interfaces
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hello,
Here is an update on the ongoing work to move the links tables of
Commons to a dedicated cluster (x4).
On Monday, September 7th, we will switch production reads to the new x4
cluster. At this point, the x4 hosts are just replicas of the s4 hosts,
so the data served is identical.
On Tuesday, September 8th, we will take the x4 hosts out of that
replication and we will switch the writes to x4 as well. From that point
on, the affected tables will no longer be written to s4. They will
remain present in the wiki replicas, but will no longer receive any
updates. A wiki replica for x4 will be set up afterwards; this can't
happen earlier, as we do not have enough disk space to run replicas for
these tables on both clusters at the same time.
The following tables are affected by this move:
* linktarget
* externallinks
* pagelinks
* templatelinks
* categorylinks
* collation
* imagelinks
* globalimagelinks
* iwlinks
* existencelinks
* langlinks
The page and redirect tables will be present in both clusters.
Progress is tracked at: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T437108 and
https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T437111
Background/rationale: https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T398709
Thank you,
Alexander Vorwerk — IRC: Zabe
[cross-posting from wikimedia-l]
Hello all -
Wikimedia is participating in Round 33 of the Outreachy program
<https://www.outreachy.org/> that runs from December 2026 through March
2027! The deadline to submit projects on Phabricator is September 4, 2026
at 4pm UTC and the project list will be finalized by September 11, 2026.
For this round, we will be able to accept three projects with one intern
each.
We are currently looking for experienced mentors and thoughtful projects.
If you have some ideas for coding or non-coding (design, documentation,
translation, outreach, research) projects, please read the following
details on the program and submission requirements.
About the Outreachy Program
Outreachy is a paid, remote internship program. Outreachy promotes
diversity in open source and open science. The internships are for people
who face under-representation, and discrimination or systemic bias in the
technology industry of their country. More details and eligibility criteria
can be found here: https://www.outreachy.org/apply/eligibility/
As a mentor, you will engage with potential candidates in the application
period from March to April and help them make small contributions to your
project. Based on those contributions, you will then select your top
candidate that you will work with throughout the internship period from May
through August.
Updated the mentor and project guidance
As of 2026, we have changed the project selection to align with the
Wikimedia Foundation’s goals and to ensure a positive learning experience
for interns.
- We will prioritize projects that align with the WMF Annual Plan,
specifically the Community Wishlist
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Community_Wishlist> and/or the Product
and Technology Objectives
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Wikimedia_Foundation_Annual_Plan/2025-2026/…>.
This ensures that we are focusing on projects with community demand and/or
strategic alignment.
- We want to ensure a safe and productive environment for interns.
Projects that require extensive community consultation will not be
selected.
- Mentors can only support one project. This means that mentors cannot
participate in two Outreachy projects or in another program at the same
time. This ensures that mentors have sufficient capacity for their project
and interns get the time and attention they need to do well.
- Mentors will first submit their projects to Phabricator only. After we
have reviewed projects, we notify approved mentors that they are cleared to
upload their projects to the Outreachy website. The deadline for the
Phabricator submission is September 4, 2026 at 4pm UTC. This will help make
the submission process more efficient.
- In order to be accepted, all projects must have at least two mentors
at the time of submission. This allows us to see which projects are fully
staffed.
- In order to be accepted, all projects must have microtasks on
Phabricator at the time of submission. This allows us to see which
projects are fully prepared and makes it easier for prospective interns to
understand how to start contributing.
We acknowledge that this is different from how we approached Outreachy
rounds in the past. However, we believe that these changes will improve the
program, and we will continue to evaluate the results and iterate as needed.
If you are interested in participating as a mentor for Outreachy Round 32,
please submit your project ideas via this Phabricator task
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T436035>by September 4, 2026 at 4pm UTC.
To learn more about the roles and responsibilities of mentors, visit the
resources:
<https://www.outreachy.org/mentor/mentor-faq/>
<https://www.outreachy.org/mentor/mentor-faq/>
- <https://www.outreachy.org/mentor/mentor-faq/>
https://www.outreachy.org/mentor/mentor-faq/
- https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Outreachy/Mentors
Thanks! - Developer Outreach team
--
Lani Goto (they/them)
Senior Technical Program Manager
Hi all,
As the last part of putting Gitlab behind a CDN (T425441
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T425441>), Gitlab will be served through
our CDN, joining its replicas which have been in that position since last
week.
The change will happen on Wednesday August 19 at 08:00 UTC.
No action needed: URLs stay the same and git over SSH is unaffected (
gitlab-ssh.wikimedia.org connects directly). Should anything misbehave, the
change can be reverted quickly.
As usual, questions and feedback are welcome on the task
<https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T425441>.
Thanks!
--
*Arnaud Bran* (he/him)
Senior Site Reliability Engineer
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>
Hi Community Metrics team,
This is your automatic monthly Phabricator statistics mail.
Accounts created in (2026-08): 367
Active Maniphest users (any activity) in (2026-08): 1138
Task authors in (2026-08): 611
Users who have closed tasks in (2026-08): 374
Projects which had at least one task moved from one column to another on
their workboard in (2026-08): 334
Tasks created in (2026-08): 2824
Tasks closed in (2026-08): 2584
Open and stalled tasks in total: 58280
* Only open tasks in total: 57160
* Only stalled tasks in total: 1120
Median age in days of open tasks by priority:
Unbreak now: 11
Needs Triage: 1232
High: 1424
Normal: 2463
Low: 2905
Lowest: 3926
(How long tasks have been open, not how long they have had that priority)
To see the names of the most active task authors:
* Go to https://development-metrics.wmcloud.org/
* Choose "Phabricator > Overview" from the top bar
* Adjust the time frame in the upper right corner to your needs
* See the author names in the "Submitters" panel
TODO: Numbers which refer to closed tasks might not be correct, as
described in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T1003 .
Yours sincerely,
Fab Rick Aytor
(via community_metrics.sh on phab1005 at Tue Sep 1 12:00:33 AM UTC 2026)
Hi Community Metrics team,
This is your automatic monthly Phabricator statistics mail.
Accounts created in (2026-08): 367
Active Maniphest users (any activity) in (2026-08): 1138
Task authors in (2026-08): 611
Users who have closed tasks in (2026-08): 374
Projects which had at least one task moved from one column to another on
their workboard in (2026-08): 334
Tasks created in (2026-08): 2824
Tasks closed in (2026-08): 2584
Open and stalled tasks in total: 58280
* Only open tasks in total: 57160
* Only stalled tasks in total: 1120
Median age in days of open tasks by priority:
Unbreak now: 11
Needs Triage: 1232
High: 1424
Normal: 2463
Low: 2905
Lowest: 3926
(How long tasks have been open, not how long they have had that priority)
To see the names of the most active task authors:
* Go to https://development-metrics.wmcloud.org/
* Choose "Phabricator > Overview" from the top bar
* Adjust the time frame in the upper right corner to your needs
* See the author names in the "Submitters" panel
TODO: Numbers which refer to closed tasks might not be correct, as
described in https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T1003 .
Yours sincerely,
Fab Rick Aytor
(via community_metrics.sh on phab1004 at Tue 01 Sep 2026 12:00:33 AM UTC)
Howdy friends,
The Wikimedia Math API
<https://www.mediawiki.org/w/index.php?api=wmf-math%2Fv1&title=Special%3ARes…>
is now deprecated. We plan to fully remove support by the end of September
2026. Developers who are calling these endpoints are advised to transition
to alternative math rendering solutions, such as relying on native browser
support for MathML <https://www.w3.org/TR/mathml4/> or other client-side
solutions.
== Why are we deprecating and removing these endpoints? ==
Mathoid is now the only service remaining on RESTBase, blocking its path to
sunsetting (which began in 2019
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/RESTBase/deprecation>). By removing these
endpoints, we may fully disable the RESTBase service, which supports our
goal of consolidation and reducing infrastructure costs.
We are able to move forward with this sunsetting because maturity and
support for MathML has improved across browsers, reducing the need for the
custom math rendering solution. Starting in July 2026, Wikimedia projects
began transitioning to utilize native browser rendering instead of relying
on Mathoid. Native browser rendering is now available as a user preference.
Wikimedia projects now also offer client-side MathJax
<https://www.mathjax.org/> support <https://www.mathjax.org/> to improve
rendering where the maturity and support for MathML rendering is not fully
covered, to ensure that we maintain a high quality math experience within
Wikimedia projects. In either scenario, the server-side rendering approach
offered through Mathoid via RESTBase is no longer required.
== When will these endpoints be fully sunset and disabled? ==
Once all Wikimedia projects have switched from Mathoid to native MathML +
MathJax, we will move quickly on sunsetting the Math endpoints and
completing the RESTBase sunsetting effort. We currently expect the
Wikimedia switch to be complete by the end of August 2026, and plan to
fully disable the Mathoid endpoints by the end of September 2026. Prior to
the final sunsetting date, we will have some ‘brown out’ windows where the
API service will be temporarily disabled to ensure all users are aware of
the change and can address unexpected breakages. We will also monitor
traffic coming from community owned tools and work with tool owners where
needed to transition to alternative solutions where needed.
== What does this mean for third-party MediaWiki users? ==
Some third party MediaWiki users rely on the Mathoid endpoints outside of
WMF owned features. MediaWiki 1.43 (the previous LTS) already removed
reliance on Mathoid in favor of native MathML. Third-parties who rely on
the Math extension and mathematical formulas are encouraged to upgrade to
MW 1.43+ to avoid disruption to formula rendering. The upcoming MW 1.47 LTS
(targeting November release
<https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Version_lifecycle>) will also include the
same client-side MathJax support seen in Wikimedia projects to provide the
best experience for all MediaWiki installations.
== What does this mean for rendering custom math formulas outside of
MediaWiki? ==
Requests for adhoc formula rendering outside of a MediaWiki context will no
longer be supported. Alternative approaches are required, such as migrating
to use native MathML or implementing a client-side alternative.
== Will this result in a major version change for the MediaWiki REST API? ==
No. Due to adoption outside of Wikimedia hosted projects, we decided to
proceed with removal without a major API version increment to minimize
disruption for other developers in the community. The Math endpoints are
part of the Wikimedia REST API, which is predominantly used by Wikimedia
Foundation owned features and mobile applications.
== Where can I get more information about the deprecation process? ==
For more information about our approach to deprecation overall, see the new API
Deprecation <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/API/Deprecation> page for more
information about deprecation processes.
If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions, please don’t be shy
about reaching out here, or tagging us on a talk page.
Thanks,
Halley, Mateus, and Timo
*Halley Coplin* (she/her)
Sr. Product Manager, MediaWiki Interfaces
Wikimedia Foundation <https://wikimediafoundation.org/>