Joomla! 5.4.0 Alpha2 - See how it's coming together

Details: Published: 24 June 2025

The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of the first Joomla 5.4 Alpha 2 for testing.

What is this release for?

There are two main goals for Alpha releases:

To provide developers with a foundation to test their extensions and report any issues well before the final release.
To allow users to explore the new features introduced in Joomla 5.4.

See the New deprecations section for what's newly deprecated. For background on why the new 'Behaviour - Backward Compatibility 6' plugin is included in Joomla 5 and how it works, see the Compatibility Plugins section.

What is this release NOT for?

This alpha version of Joomla 5.4 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.

Where to get it?

Download Joomla 5.4 Alpha 2

To always use the latest build of Joomla 5, we invite you to use the nightly build packages (updated every night).

To make it easier for newcomers, you can launch a free Joomla 5 website for testing at launch.joomla.org.

When is the final release due?

Joomla! 5.4 (general availability) will be released on or about 14th October 2025. The planned milestones are:

Alpha:

Alpha 1: 27. May 2025
Alpha 2: 24. June 2025 (this release)
Alpha 3: 22. July 2025

Beta (Feature Freeze)

Beta 1: 19. August 2025
Beta 2: 02. September 2025
Beta 3: 16. September 2025

Release Candidate (Language Freeze)

RC1: 30. September 2025

Stable Release

14. October 2025

Please note that dates may be subject to change depending on the availability of volunteers and circumstances beyond our control.

What’s new in Joomla 5.4?

We are firmly committed to making the next generation of Joomla the best. So far, these are GitHub commits to version 5.4. We expect to commit other features for the next alpha2 and alpha3 releases.

Automated Core Updates

One of the most significant new features in Joomla 5.4 is the introduction of automated core updates, enabling Joomla to keep itself up to date without any user intervention. You can pre-test an automated update with Joomla 5.4.0 alpha versions by installing the 'System - Alpha Update Server' plugin. Please ensure the test instance is accessible from the Internet (for example, by using Launch your Joomla! site) and do not use the alpha releases for production sites.

45143 Automated Core Updates client functionality.
45517 Automated Updates information
45547 Improve autoupdate UX for local site

Use of None in various filter options and list views

45232 New '- None -' author filter option in the Articles view to select articles associated with deleted user entries.
45274 New '- None -' tag filter option in the Articles view to select articles without tags.
45459 New '- None -' tag filter option in the Contacts view to select contacts without tags.
45460 New '- None -' tag filter option in the News Feeds view to select news feed entries without tags.
45461 New '- None -' tag filter option in the Categories views to select categories without tags.
45201 Shows '[ None ]' in the field group column for a field unassigned to any field group.
45223 Shows '[ None ]' in the user column for a user note linked to a deleted user entry.

Automated Core Updates

One of the most significant new features in Joomla 5.4 is the introduction of automated core updates, enabling Joomla to keep itself up to date without any user intervention. Automated updates are only available for sites that are publicly accessible on the internet.

For testing purposes with Alpha 1, an identical release will be prepared with only an incremented release number.

45143 Automated Core Updates client functionality.
45517 Automated Updates information

Use of None in various filter options and list views

45232 New '- None -' author filter option in the Articles view to select articles associated with deleted user entries.
45274 New '- None -' tag filter option in the Articles view to select articles without tags.
45459 New '- None -' tag filter option in the Contacts view to select contacts without tags.
45460 New '- None -' tag filter option in the News Feeds view to select news feed entries without tags.
45461 New '- None -' tag filter option in the Categories views to select categories without tags.
45201 Shows '[ None ]' in the field group column for a field unassigned to any field group.
45223 Shows '[ None ]' in the user column for a user note linked to a deleted user entry.

What are the plans for Joomla 5.4?

We are in the middle of developing Joomla! 5.4, with more than a month left to add new features. If you have any idea for new functionality, feel free to discuss it on GitHub.

Be aware that these features are not release-ready yet, and it depends a lot on testers and feedback if they make the cut.

To learn more about our development strategy, please read this article.

How can you help Joomla 5.4 development?

To help ensure the 5.4 release and our major features are “production-ready”, we need your help testing releases and reporting any bugs you may find at issues.joomla.org.

Most of all, we encourage extension developers to roll up their sleeves, seek out bugs and test their extensions with Joomla 5.4 and communicate their experience.

Where can I find documentation about Joomla 5?

There are several tutorials available to help you get started with Joomla 5. You can find existing resources – such as creating a plugin or module, namespace conventions, prepared statements, using the web asset classes and more – at manual.joomla.org.

We encourage developers to contribute to the documentation on that site, and also contribute to user documentation.
Please check it regularly, update it where needed, and help fill in any missing content.

Related information

If you are an extension developer, please make sure you subscribe to the extension developer channel https://joomlacommunity.cloud.mattermost.com/main/channels/extension-development-room

Where you can join the community of extension developers.

A Huge Thank You to Our Volunteers!

A big thank you goes out to everyone who contributed to the release! This time, we would like to place special emphasis on the volunteers who carried out the Pull Request (PR) testing. For Alpha 2, they were: Bodge-IT, brianteeman, ceford, ChristineWk, HLeithner, muhme, QuyTon, richard67, SniperSister, tecpromotion and toivo.

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