Thanks to everyone who joined us for this month’s Woo Developer Office Hours! We had a lively session led by our team, Woo Developer Advocacy, focused on WooCommerce 9.9 Beta and how to get started with testing the upcoming release.
If you missed it, here’s what we chatted about.
🔧 Setting up your Beta testing env
We kicked things off with a walkthrough of how to set up a beta environment using the WooCommerce Beta Tester Plugin and provided a handy Playground link for spinning up a test site instantly:
👉 Try Woo 9.9 in the Playground
Other ways of getting the Beta tester:
If you installed the Beta tester plugin:
- Install and activate
The plugin can be activated just like any other WordPress plugin. Once active, it defaults to your current WooCommerce version. - Important reminder
⚠️ Always test beta versions in a staging or test environment. Early beta builds often contain experimental changes and should not be run on production sites. - Switch to the Beta version of 9.9
After activation, you can switch to the beta version of WooCommerce 9.9:- Use the dropdown from the top admin bar
- Or click “Switch versions” from the Plugins screen
- Don’t forget to save
After selecting the beta version, scroll all the way down the settings screen and save your selection.
🖥️ Testing locally with WordPress Studio
A few of us on the team have been enjoying using WordPress Studio for local testing. I personally use this setup along with the WooCommerce Beta Tester Plugin when I’m preparing to create our release posts.
💡 @bcoords shared that you can now also customize your workflow by choosing your favorite code editor and terminal in studio: 🧰 Customize Studio Preferences
✨ What features sparked conversation?
We explored several key features and experimental updates:
- Blueprints (beta) –> A powerful new feature designed to make store setup and configuration repeatable and sharable.
- Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) (beta) –> Now available as an experimental feature for early testing.
- Automatic database updates –> No more nags! Database migrations will now run silently in the background (opt-out available via filter).
- Performance improvements –> We’re excited to hear how these impact your sites, especially those with large order databases.
You can read more about the changes in our 9.9 Pre-Release Update.
💬 Dev Q&A highlights
Some standout community questions included:
- How can API keys be preserved when a user is deleted?
- Devs raised concerns about API keys being deleted when users are removed, breaking integrations unexpectedly. Suggestions included adding an “orphaned keys” screen for reassignment, surfacing warnings before deletion, and supporting safer reassignment flows through WP-CLI or admin-only settings.
- Are there plans for native bulk-editing of products/variations?
- Devs highlighted ongoing challenges managing large product catalogs, especially variations, with current tools. Woo is exploring a CLI-based importer for developers (covering products, customers, orders, and coupons), and in-app bulk editing tools for merchants, currently in early exploration. Additionally, the native CSV exporter now supports filtering by product selection, helping streamline bulk update workflows in the meantime.
We love hearing your real-world use cases! They help shape Woo’s roadmap!
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