Tech Radar Q2 2026

Our quarterly opinion on the technologies we ship, trial, evaluate, and avoid. Updated each quarter. Used to keep our homepage stack and our service pages honest.

Published: 2026-05-13 · Last reviewed: 2026-05-22

Publication cadence

Tech Radar is a recurring authority asset, not a one-off page. Each edition records what moved, what stayed, and what I would or would not recommend to a client this quarter.

Next planned review: Q3 2026

  • · Adopt means I would use it on new client work today.
  • · Trial means the tool is useful, but the edge cases are still being watched.
  • · Assess means the idea is worth a small internal or R&D bet before client budget is committed.
  • · Hold means I avoid it for new builds, even when legacy maintenance still exists.

WordPress 7.0 ecosystem update (May 2026)

RC4 shipped in May; stable release is targeted for 20 May 2026. Real-time collaboration is out of this release. Abilities API and AI Experiments 1.0 are the operational story for agency staging plans.

Adopt

Languages and Frameworks

Astro 5+

Default for content-heavy headless front. Zero-JS islands win on Core Web Vitals.

Languages and Frameworks

Next.js 15 (App Router + RSC)

Default for application-heavy headless front. Stable RSC after 18 months in production.

Platforms

Cloudflare Workers + Pages

EU jurisdiction, predictable cost, lowest TTFB across our European traffic.

Tools

TypeScript everywhere

Non-negotiable in 2026 senior teams.

Techniques

WCAG 2.2 AA from day one

Cheaper to build accessible than to retrofit.

Tools

Anthropic Model Context Protocol (MCP)

We ship MCP servers in production for WooCommerce catalogues and editorial workflows. Default integration layer for AI agents in 2026.

Techniques

NIS2 + DORA compliance baseline for WordPress

EU agencies serving regulated clients need an evidence trail by default in 2026. Annex II controls, ICT third-party register, incident reporting baked into ops.

Techniques

AVIF as the default image format

Replaces WebP in 2026. Better compression at the same visual quality, supported across modern browsers, AI-friendly to serve.

Languages and Frameworks

PHP 8.3/8.4

Senior backend language for WooCommerce, Laravel, and Symfony work. Typed properties, readonly classes, fibers, and JIT make modern PHP a credible runtime across our delivery surface.

Platforms

WordPress 6.5+

Default CMS for editorial-led B2B sites. Block themes, Site Editor, HPOS in WooCommerce, REST + GraphQL surfaces make it a serious headless backend as well as a classic monolithic one.

Platforms

Shopify (Plus + Hydrogen)

Default hosted commerce for DTC and B2B brands that need predictable PCI, fraud, tax, and multi-region defaults without integration debt. Hydrogen unlocks React Server Components headless when speed and editorial composition demand it.

Languages and Frameworks

Laravel 11

Default for WordPress-adjacent backends that need real queues, multi-tenant, or a clean migration target away from the monolith.

Trial

Languages and Frameworks

Anthropic Claude API for content ops

Production-ready for editorial automation. Still calibrating cost ceilings.

Platforms

Universal Commerce Protocol (UCP)

Our own. Betting on agentic web standardisation in 2026-2027.

Tools

Spolszczony plugin

Solves polonization for plugin authors at scale. Open-sourcing in Q3 2026.

Platforms

OpenNext for Cloudflare

Path to running Next.js on Cloudflare Pages without Vercel lock-in. Cost and EU jurisdiction win, edge cases still being tracked.

Techniques

Headless WooCommerce on Astro

Zero-JS islands plus WooCommerce REST or UCP makes commerce front ends fast without rebuilding the whole stack. Watching cart and checkout edge cases.

Platforms

WordPress 7.0

RC4 shipped May 2026; stable release targeted 20 May. Abilities API and AI Experiments 1.0 are the operational story, not real-time collaboration (removed from this release). Test on staging before production WooCommerce or LMS stacks.

Languages and Frameworks

Symfony 7

Picked for enterprise PHP with strict typing, DDD, Sylius B2B commerce, or integration layers WordPress to ERP/CRM/PIM.

Tools

WordPress Abilities API

The canonical integration surface for AI agents in WordPress 7.0. Ships safe admin operations through structured intents, with audit log.

Assess

Techniques

TYPO3 to WordPress migrations

DACH demand exists. Build a real reference before scaling.

Platforms

Cloudflare AI Workers

Promising for low-latency AI features at the edge. Pricing model still maturing.

Tools

wp-agentic-admin (CloudFest Hackathon 2026)

Hackathon reference impl of the Abilities API plus in-browser WebLLM (Qwen 1.7B/7B via WebGPU). Local-first SRE assistant for WordPress admins. Worth watching as proof the Abilities API scales beyond chatbots; not for client production work yet.

Hold

Tools

Visual page builders (Elementor, Divi) for performance-critical sites

We rebuild instead.

Languages and Frameworks

jQuery in new builds

There is no excuse in 2026.

Techniques

PHP monolith for new e-commerce

WooCommerce monolith for SMB is fine. New e-commerce builds go composable.

Platforms

Vercel for production headless WordPress

Cost ceiling and US jurisdiction make it unsuitable as the default for European headless WordPress in 2026. Cloudflare wins on both.