WordPress 7.1, WPVibe AI Everywhere, and a New Way to Record Your Screen

August was a big month for WordPress. WordPress 7.1 arrived on schedule, and WordCamp US brought four days of AI-focused talks to Phoenix.

WPVibe doubled its install base in a single month. There is also a brand-new screen recording tool that we think you will want to try.

WordPress 7.1 Released with Responsive Styling Controls, a Redesigned Media Editor, and Richer Notes

WordPress 7.1 “Mary Lou” was released on August 19, 2026, timed with WordCamp US. The release takes its name from the jazz pianist Mary Lou Williams.

This version focuses on how you collaborate, style, and manage media on your site. It also fixes a long list of everyday annoyances.

The feature we are most excited about is responsive styling. You can now set how a block looks on tablet and mobile right in the editor, without writing any CSS.

For instance, you can give headings a smaller font size on phones. Switch the device preview, make the change, and it applies only to that screen size.

Here is what else stood out in our testing:

• Upgraded Notes: The block comments from WordPress 6.9 grow into a real feedback system. You can @mention a teammate, and WordPress emails them so they never miss it.
• Inline notes: Attach feedback to a specific sentence instead of a whole block. The selected text stays highlighted.
• Shareable revision links: Copy a link to any revision and send it to a teammate. It opens with the changes highlighted.
• A new image editor: Cropping and editing images is smoother, and media handling got smarter across the board.
• New Tabs and Playlist blocks: Organize content into tabs or embed audio playlists without a plugin.
• Button hover and focus states: Customize how buttons look when visitors hover over or focus on them, no CSS needed.

If your sites are still running 7.0.x, note that WordPress also released 7.0.3 and 7.0.4 security updates this month. Updating to 7.1 will bring you up to date, but be sure to complete backup first.

The WordPress team has already scheduled WordPress 7.2 for December 9, 2026.

WPVibe Passes 10,000 Installs and Adds Support for Kadence, Bricks, Breakdance, LifterLMS, and PDF Reading

WPVibe lets you manage your WordPress site by chatting with your favorite AI assistant. The free plugin crossed 10,000 active installs this month, one month after crossing 5,000.

Syed Balkhi shared the milestone from WordCamp US, where using AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude to manage WordPress sites was a recurring theme. AI-assisted WordPress management appears to be moving from experimentation toward everyday use.

WPVibe connects through MCP, short for Model Context Protocol. It is an open standard that gives AI assistants a safe way to connect to your site and take action on it.

It works with tools you are already using on your WordPress site and the list keeps growing. Here is what has been added over the last few weeks:

• Kadence: Your AI can now work with Kadence sites, blocks and all.
• Bricks: Build and edit with the Bricks builder while keeping its clean markup.
• Breakdance: Full support for the modern Breakdance page builder.
• LifterLMS: Eight tested recipes and a dedicated skill for the course plugin, built on LifterLMS 10.1.
• PDF reading: Your AI can read text-based PDFs from your media library and get page-labeled text back.

Levamo, one of the fastest WordPress hosting companies, has also added WPVibe under its AI management tab. This lets customers manage their WordPress sites from their preferred AI platform using plain-language chat.

Users can simply install the free WPVibe plugin, and then connect it to their AI service like ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or any AI tool that supports MCP.

If you already use one of these page builders, you do not have to leave it behind. Your AI learns to work with the builder you already have.

QuickSnip Launches: Record Your Screen and Share in Seconds

QuickSnip is a new screen recording and screenshot tool built by our founder Syed Balkhi and his college roommate David Pegg. Our team has been using it internally for months.

Here is what QuickSnip offers:

• 4K recording with no time limits: Sharp video, even for long walkthroughs.
• Annotated screenshots: Capture a screenshot, add arrows, shapes, or blur, and share it with a link.
• Studio Mode: Record locally with full editing, custom backgrounds, and export options for polished product demos.
• AI transcriptions: Automatic captions on every recording, with AI titles, summaries, and chapters on paid plans.

Simply record your screen or take a screenshot and you get a shareable link immediately.

Most of us reach for a tool like this every day. Whether you are sharing something with coworkers, walking a client through a change, or showing something to a friend or family member, a quick recording can often be easier than a text message.

QuickSnip has a free plan, and paid plans start at $5 per month. Native apps are available for both Mac and Windows.

WPForms Adds a Ranking Field to Surveys: Find Out What Your Audience Wants Most

WPForms recently announced adding a Ranking Field to their popular Surveys & Polls addon.

With the recent update, the Ranking field forces a winner. Visitors drag options into their preferred order on desktop, or move them with arrow buttons on a phone.

WPForms then tallies every response automatically. Your report shows how many times each option placed first, its average rank, and a chart that makes the winner obvious.

We like this because the analysis happens for you. You can go from collecting responses to making a decision without touching a spreadsheet.

WPForms also released a Mercado Pago addon this month. Mercado Pago is the payment platform used by 83 million people across Latin America every month.

If you serve customers in that region, they can now pay with credit and debit cards, including installments, right on your form. WPForms takes no transaction fee on any of it.

ConsentLayer Brings Consent Management to ChatGPT: Privacy Compliance for AI-Powered Websites

ConsentLayer is a consent management tool for websites. It handles cookie banners and privacy compliance rules like GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD automatically, based on where each visitor lives.

The big update this month is that ConsentLayer now works inside ChatGPT. It already works with Claude, Cursor, and other AI assistants through its MCP server.

Here is what that means in practice. You ask your AI assistant to add ConsentLayer to your site, and the agent does the setup for you.

It creates the site, scans your pages for trackers like Google Analytics and Meta Pixel, sorts them into consent categories, and applies the right rules for each region.

It even verifies the install and grades the setup.

Privacy compliance is one of those jobs most site owners put off because it feels legal and technical at the same time. When an AI agent handles the setup, it can take much of that work off your plate..

ConsentLayer is free to get started, and no credit card is required.

Charitable Introduces Ambassador Seasons and Card Updates for Recurring Donors

Charitable is a top-rated donation and fundraising plugin for WordPress. It shipped two updates this month to help retain nonprofits their high-value donors.

The first is Ambassador Seasons. Most peer-to-peer campaigns are not one-off events.

Until now, running the same campaign again meant starting from scratch. You had to rebuild the campaign, re-recruit last year’s fundraisers, and risk losing recurring donors tied to pages that no longer existed.

With Seasons, returning fundraisers can continue with the new season in a single click.

Charitable also archives last year’s page, so its history is never lost.

The second update is related to payment cards that need updating. Card Updates in Charitable Recurring 2.3. Donors can now fix an expired or reissued card themselves through Stripe’s secure Customer Portal.

Failed renewals from stale cards are one of the biggest silent leaks in recurring fundraising. Now the subscription never skips a donation, and card numbers stay off your site entirely.

Easy Digital Downloads Ships 10+ Ready-Made Elementor Checkout Templates

Easy Digital Downloads (EDD), the popular WordPress plugin to sell digital downloads, has just released more than ten checkout templates for Elementor, the popular page builder.

Each template is a modern, distraction-free checkout design, and already includes trust badges and guarantees.

You import one onto your existing checkout page, replace the placeholder wording, and you are live in minutes. There is no designer to hire and no code to touch.

The layouts are fully customizable, too. Every element stays editable in Elementor, so you can match the design to your brand.

Checkout is where hesitant buyers leave. These templates give you a starting point that is already built to reduce that friction and boost conversions.

WordPress Releases an Official Browser Extension for Chrome and Safari

WordPress now has an official browser extension. It is open source and available for Chrome in the Chrome Web Store and for Safari on macOS in the Mac App Store.

The extension solves a small but constant annoyance. When you are logged in, the admin bar sits on top of every page of your site, getting between you and your design.

Now you can hide the admin bar completely. Its most useful shortcuts move into your browser toolbar instead, so you keep quick access to your dashboard, new post screen, and site settings.

WooCommerce 11.0 Released with Faster Product Pages, Guest Checkout Improvements, and Analytics Updates

WooCommerce is the most popular way to run an online store on WordPress. The latest 11.0 version arrived in early August, and most of the changes are about speed.

Product pages with variable products now load roughly 9 to 12 percent faster, thanks to a product caching experiment that is on by default for new stores. Bundle products also process faster during checkout.

Large stores get a faster ‘Orders’ screen too. It now uses more efficient queries, reducing the timeouts and empty counts that could occur previously.

Analytics gets more honest in this release. Refunds now count in the period they actually happened, so month-by-month comparisons are trustworthy.

The release continues the back-to-basics focus WooCommerce announced earlier this year, with faster screens and numbers you can rely on.

In Other News

WordCamp US 2026 wrapped up after four days at the Phoenix Convention Center. Over 1,100 people registered, thousands more watched online, and AI was a recurring theme throughout the event. Contributor Day alone drew 425 participants, including 29 first-time contributors.

Smash Balloon, the popular social feeds plugin, updated its Reviews Feed to add rich snippet schema to every feed. Schema is the behind-the-scenes code that lets your star ratings show up in Google results. A separate update lets you display real AliExpress buyer reviews on your own product pages.

Sugar Calendar, the events plugin for WordPress, now lets you email everyone who signed up for an event without any extra tools. If the venue changes on Thursday, you can email every attendee by Thursday afternoon. You can also design event pages in Elementor with no code.

Pretty Links, the branded short link plugin for affiliate marketers, launched Splash Pages. Instead of an instant redirect, your affiliate link can show a quick branded page that builds trust before sending the visitor on.

Uncanny Automator, the no-code automation plugin, introduced Uncanny Page Builder. Describe a page in plain language, or drop in an image for inspiration, and it builds the layout, content, and styling as clean HTML and CSS you own. There is no plugin lock-in.

Formidable Forms, the advanced form builder, now connects to Claude, ChatGPT, and Cursor through MCP. Describe a form in plain English, and the plugin builds it for you in minutes.

AdTribes Product Feed Pro, which builds WooCommerce product feeds for Google Shopping and other channels, now supports the WordPress Abilities API. That is a new standard that tells AI assistants what a plugin can do, so your AI can manage product feeds in a structured way.

Advanced Coupons, the coupon toolkit for WooCommerce, shipped a batch of updates. You can now bulk adjust loyalty points across customer groups, create BOGO deals targeted by brand, and set store credit to expire in days or months. Smaller updates add custom default gift card images and a category subtotal cart condition.

SaveTo Wishlist, a free WooCommerce wishlist plugin, now connects to five more plugins and themes. The update adds integrations with two email marketing tools, popup triggers, and the Woostify theme, all without requiring API keys or third-party services.

New Tools & Plugins

• WPVibe.ai – Connect your WordPress site to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor, and other AI assistants. Now past 10,000 installs, with support for Kadence, Bricks, Breakdance, and LifterLMS.
• QuickSnip – Screen recording and annotated screenshots with instant share links. Free plan included, with apps for Mac and Windows.
• ConsentLayer – Consent management for AI-powered websites. Ask your AI assistant to install it, and it configures GDPR, CCPA, and LGPD rules by region.
• StoreAgent – An all-in-one AI platform for WooCommerce stores.
• Uncanny Page Builder – An AI page builder from Uncanny Automator. Describe your page and get portable HTML and CSS with no lock-in.

That is everything for this month. A major WordPress release to install, a milestone for AI-powered site management, and a few new tools worth a look.

If there is a story or a plugin you think we should cover in the next issue, we would love to hear about it. Reply and let us know, and we will see you in the next Spotlight.

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