On December 2, 2025, WordPressⓇ[1] released WordPress 6.9 “Gene” is here! 🚀

And it brings a host of updates that will directly impact developers working with ACF PRO. With over 400 Core Trac tickets, including 125+ enhancements and 250+ bug fixes, the 6.9 release continues to evolve in powerful ways.

In addition to updates in the Block Editor, Site Editor, and performance, this release focuses heavily on new block registration, field systems, API architecture, and editor workflows, all of which are critical for developers using ACF PRO to manage custom fields and custom content types.

There are several key changes you’ll want to pay attention to—especially the introduction of the Abilities API, improvements to the Field API, and major updates to the Block Editor and DataViews.

ACF PRO remains fully compatible with WordPress 6.9, and the updates will provide exciting new opportunities for block development, AI integration, and aligning your custom field systems with the evolving WordPress landscape.

Let’s dive into the most important updates for ACF PRO users in this release.

The Abilities API: Major Impact for ACF PRO

As part of the broader initiative AI Building Blocks for WordPress, the Abilities API acts as a unified capability registry that allows WordPress Core, plugins, themes, and even AI tools to register their functionality in a machine-readable format.

Essentially, it’s a way to tell WordPress software what each plugin or theme can do, and it opens up significant potential for automation and enhanced integrations.

Why this matters for ACF PRO

For ACF PRO developers, the Abilities API is crucial because it paves the way for interoperability between ACF and other WordPress software components, particularly when it comes to AI tools.

Here’s why this matters:

  • Full Schema Interaction: This upcoming feature will allow ACF to interact seamlessly with the Abilities API. Once available, ACF data will become easily discoverable and accessible by any compatible tool, allowing you to connect ACF data, such as Field Groups and Custom Post Types (CPTs), directly to other plugins, themes, or even AI tools.
  • Ready for Agentic AI: The integration with Agentic AI means that ACF content will be first-class data for any AI-driven tool that can read structured content. This has massive implications for workflows involving AI assistants, content generation, and automation.
  • Controlled Access: Importantly, this will be an opt-in feature. As a developer, you’ll have full control over whether you expose ACF data to AI tools. Administrators will need to enable it explicitly, ensuring that data is only shared when you want it to be.

As AI continues to evolve, the Abilities API sets the stage for ACF data to become much more dynamic and discoverable, allowing ACF users to automate processes and integrate custom fields in ways never before possible.

Field API Updates

The 6.9 release includes some crucial updates to the Field API, including:

  • 10+ new field types
  • 11+ new edit controls with validation
  • and 16+ filter operators.

There are also new options like readOnly field attributes and expanded filterBy capabilities. 

While this may seem like a minor change, it has major implications for how ACF PRO developers will work with custom fields in the future.

For ACF users, these changes are primarily intended to power the new WordPress AdminViews, a modern interface for managing data directly within the WordPress admin. 

Here’s how this impacts ACF developers:

  • Focus on AdminViews: The updates to the Field API are designed to support a more modern, UI-driven approach to managing fields in the WordPress admin. While ACF fields themselves won’t change immediately, this update aligns with the WordPress ecosystem’s new approach to data management.

No immediate action required

You won’t need to change anything in your ACF setups. These updates aren’t immediately necessary for the way ACF fields are rendered or handled in your projects. The ACF developers are monitoring these developments in core and considering how future versions of the ACF Admin UI could make use of the changes, in order to   offer a more modern interface for managing field groups and other data types.

DataViews & DataForms Improvements

One of the most powerful updates in the 6.9 release is the improvements made to DataViews and DataForms. These are essential for developers using ACF field data in the WordPress admin, particularly for building custom UIs and improving data management.

Key improvements include:

  • Infinite Scroll: This feature allows you to display large datasets efficiently without manually paginating, which is essential for sites with ACF Repeater fields or relationship fields.
  • New Layouts: New Card, Row, and Activity layouts are available, offering more flexible and interactive ways to present data in custom admin views.
  • State-managed Children: This enables custom layouts that automatically manage state, including filtering, sorting, and pagination.
  • Improved Validation: A complete overhaul of validation for synchronous and asynchronous checks ensures your data is always accurate and reliable.

These Core updates provide the architectural primitives that could allow ACF to eventually offer highly customizable admin dashboards for your Custom Post Types—enabling you to build rich, interactive views (like Kanban boards or galleries) directly within the plugin.

The addition of infinite scroll and better state management paves the way for future ACF interfaces to handle thousands of repeater rows or relationship connections with significantly improved performance.

As these standards mature, ACF can leverage them to create “DataForm-native” editing screens that feel like a seamless part of the modern WordPress admin, moving beyond the classic metabox design.

Block Editor & Block Architecture Updates

The 6.9 release introduces several updates to the Block Editor, many of which will make working with ACF Blocks easier and more intuitive.

  1. Direct Drag and Drop

The ability to drag and drop blocks directly within the editor has been improved, making it easier to organize ACF Blocks in the editor. This is particularly useful for developers creating custom layouts and reusable components.

  1. Ability to Hide Blocks

This release introduces a feature where you can hide blocks without losing their field data. This is especially useful for content editors who want to stage content without permanently deleting it.

  1. Iframe Integration & apiVersion 3 Enforcement

The transition toward using iframes for the WordPress block editor is progressing, and apiVersion 3 has been enforced for all new or updated blocks. This ensures a consistent and stable block registration process moving forward.

ACF Impact

ACF Blocks V3 are fully compatible with iframe-based block editors and apiVersion 3. This ensures that ACF Blocks remain fully functional within the evolving WordPress editor.

Additionally, the new streaming block parses (WP_Block_Processor) improves the way ACF Blocks encoded in raw HTML or patterns are processed, ensuring that your blocks parse more reliably.

New Blocks & Improvements Relevant to ACF Developers

The 6.9 release introduces several new blocks, including:

  • Accordion Block
  • Term Query Block, Math Block
  • and Improved Heading / Time-to-Read blocks.

The new native blocks will help reduce the need for custom ACF Blocks for common use cases. 

However, ACF Blocks built using the <InnerBlock> component can now integrate these new blocks directly into your custom ACF Block layouts, saving time and development effort.

Updates to Block Bindings API

The Block Bindings API is being improved in the 6.9 release, providing a more intuitive way to manage block attributes and integrate ACF fields.

  • Developers can now easily switch between sources and bind/unbind attributes with a single click.
  • The new block_bindings_supported_attributes_{$block_type} filter makes it even easier to map ACF fields to block attributes.

These improvements streamline the way ACF Blocks interact with the block architecture in WordPress software, making it easier to manage and map ACF fields to block attributes, especially for dynamic and interactive blocks.

Expect ACF support for the block bindings UI soon.

Updates to Interactivity API

The Interactivity API has been updated to support more predictable state management and directive handling, which will directly benefit developers working with dynamic blocks.

For ACF users, creating interactive ACF Blocks can now rely on more consistent rendering and script management.

The result? Smoother, more predictable front-end interactions.

Updates to HTML API

The 6.9 release introduces important changes to the HTML API, such as making serialize_token() public and enforcing stricter script text handling.

These changes provide more robust sanitation when ACF manipulates or outputs HTML data, ensuring cleaner and more secure handling of content.

Updated Admin Menu Search Query

The 6.9 release also changes how the admin menu search query behaves. It now uses $_GET instead of relying on the raw query strings ($_SERVER[‘QUERY_STRING’]).

📌 Action required

If you have ACF admin page extensions that depend on menu searches, you may need to review your assumptions and ensure compatibility with this updated search behavior. Make sure your custom code aligns with the new method for retrieving the search value in the admin menu.

PHP 8.5 (beta) Support

The 6.9 release introduces beta support for PHP 8.5, which will be fully supported in future releases.

Currently, ACF is testing and making sure we’ll be fully compatible and intend for an upcoming release to officially mark ACF as supporting PHP 8.5.

AI-Related Work Relevant to ACF PRO

The 6.9 release opens up exciting possibilities for AI-powered workflows, with the PHP AI Client and MCP Adapter tools.

  • PHP AI Client allows you to integrate AI-assisted field workflows like autofill or content generation directly into ACF fields.
  • MCP Adapter enables AI assistants to consume ACF field structures for automation.

These tools pave the way for AI-assisted content management, where ACF fields can be dynamically populated, modified, or enhanced by AI tools, improving workflow efficiency and unlocking new possibilities for automation.

Wrap up

This is not an exhaustive list of all the enhancements in WordPress 6.9. The official field guide includes additional updates that may also affect your ACF PRO workflows, such as:

  • New REST API filters to better manage queries
  • Updates to the admin menu search query for more predictable search behavior
  • Improvements to accessibility across WordPress interfaces
  • Further enhancements to the Block Editor and Site Editor
  • And more…

These changes, while technical, offer many opportunities to streamline ACF workflows and improve integration with the broader WordPress ecosystem.

As always, make sure to back up your site before updating to the 6.9 release. And if you’re looking to leverage the full potential of ACF PRO’s features, stay tuned for upcoming releases that will make the most of the new updates in this release—especially in areas like AI integration, admin UI modernization, and data management.

FAQs

1. Is ACF PRO fully compatible with WordPress 6.9?

Yes. ACF PRO is compatible with all new block APIs, field updates, interactivity changes, and PHP 8.5 beta support in WordPress 6.9.

2. How does the new Abilities API affect ACF PRO?

The Abilities API allows ACF data to be more discoverable and interoperable with AI tools. It also provides more predictable access and control over data, enhancing future AI integrations.

3. Do the new Field API updates replace ACF fields?

No. The Core Field API is a standardization layer for managing data in WordPress admin interfaces. ACF will continue to provide powerful custom fields beyond what’s available in Core.

4. Will my existing ACF Blocks work with apiVersion 3 requirements?

Yes, but you should validate your blocks to ensure they are using ACF Blocks V3, which supports apiVersion 3 for future compatibility.

5. Does the new Hide Blocks feature affect ACF field data?

No. Hidden ACF Blocks retain their field data, which will reappear when the block is made visible again.

6. Does the Interactivity API update affect ACF Blocks?

Yes. The Interactivity API improvements help ACF Blocks work more predictably, especially for dynamic blocks with complex interactions.

7. Do I need to change anything due to the updated query cache or menu search?

Most users won’t need to change anything, but developers extending ACF admin pages may want to review assumptions about how menu search operates.

8. Can ACF integrate with the new PHP AI Client or MCP Adapter?

Yes. These integrations will allow AI-powered content generation directly into ACF fields and make ACF data more AI-friendly for future automation.