The Joomla! Project is pleased to announce the availability of the first Joomla 5.4 Beta 1 for testing.

What is this release for?

There are two main goals for Beta releases:

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

See the New deprecations and Changed deprecations sections for what's newly deprecated and what has changed. 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 beta version of Joomla 5.4 is not suitable for production sites. It is for testing only.

Where to get it?

Download Joomla 5.4 Beta 1

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:

Beta (Feature Freeze)

• Beta 1: 19. August 2025 (this release)
• 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. We plan to implement additional features over the coming weeks until feature completion with Beta 1. The GitHub changes link always shows the most up-to-date list of all changes committed to version 5.4.

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 beta 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 beta releases for production sites. The pull requests for this feature are:

• 45143 Add Automated Core Updates client functionality
• 45517 Add Automated Updates information as fieldset description
• 45547 Improve Automated Update UX for local sites
• 45685 Notify all super users of Automated Updates
• 45669 Improve Automated Update Quickicon language keys and icon
• 45697 Allow opt-out from automated updates during installation

More Links for User-Friendliness

New links make it easier to access related views directly from update notifications and checks.

• 45318 Added a link to more easily open the 'System – Maintenance – Database' view from the Pre-Update Check.
• 45456 Added a link to more easily open the 'Mail Templates' view from the Update Notification.

Adding support for customisable registration menu link.

• 45715 Add support for custom registration menu link in com_users login menu item

Additional Enhancements

New None options improve filtering and display of items without authors, tags, users or field groups.

• 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.

New Checked_out filter for articles in the administrator backend and API.

• 45761 Add checkedout filter to the Article Manager

New parameter Year Sort Order for archived articles.

• 45841 Add year filter order parameter for archived articles

What are the plans for Joomla 5.4?

We plan to integrate the following improvements into the next beta version:

• 45721 Autoupdate email groups
• 45696 Implement autoupdate plugin events

We did not include them in this Beta 1 release as they still require testing. In addition, with this release we are in a state of “feature freeze”. This means no new features will be added. New functionality can be contributed to Joomla 6.1, planned for the beginning of next year.

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

Known Bugs

Bugs already found in this Beta 1 that will be fixed in Beta 2:

• 45938 Guided Tours/Steps Publishing tab missing

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.

• Working with the Joomla Feature Tracker
• General developer mailing list
• Joomla developer network
• Joomla and UI framework

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 Beta 1, they were: alikon, bembelimen, brianteeman, ceford, chmst, ChristineWk, dautrich, exlemor, ghazal, Hackwar, hans2103, heelc29, krishnaGandhi11, laoneo, mothershedc, muhme, QuyTon, richard67, RickR2H, rosslace, sergeytolkachyov and travisrisner.