Retraceur 4.0.0-beta2

One week ago, I introduced the first beta of Retraceur 4.0.0 and the main feature of this major release: an open hub for discovering and updating plugins and blocks that enhance Retraceur’s functionality and writing experience.

Since that first beta, my focus has been on a single priority: validating this new infrastructure under real-world conditions before the final release, scheduled for July 31, 2026.

Successful real-world testing

The first beta was primarily validated through development testing. Since then, I have confirmed that the new update & discovery APIs work as intended in real-world scenarios thanks to the release of Doubleur 1.3.0 and Signet 1.1.0.

This block new version allowed me to validate the entire update workflow:

• discovering and installing a new Block directly from Retraceur;
• detecting that a new version is available;
• retrieving the package metadata;
• downloading the archive;
• installing the update directly from Retraceur.

These tests were successful and confirm that the architecture is now fully operational.

Documentation is now available

To help Plugin and Block developers adopt this new infrastructure, I have published two new documentation pages.

The first introduces the fundamentals of developing Plugins and Blocks, with particular attention to the conventions used in the main PHP file to distinguish a traditional Plugin from a Block.

The second explains how to publish a Plugin or a Block so that it can be discovered through Retraceur’s discovery API.

The goal is straightforward: enable anyone to quickly understand how this new approach works and make it easier to contribute to Retraceur growth.

Minor issues resolved

This second beta also addresses the issues identified since the first beta. Four minor issues have been resolved:

• two involved adjustments to translatable strings;
• one affected the REST API;
• another one was about refreshing the default Point theme after updating the Retraceur core;
• the last one, more annoying, was preventing the Update & Discovery APIs caches cleaning once a block or a plugin was deleted.

None of these fixes changes the architecture or design decisions introduced in Retraceur 4.0.0. They simply improve the stability of the release ahead of the final version.

Just a few days left to test!

Unless a significant bug is discovered, Retraceur 4.0.0 will be released on July 31, 2026.

If you haven’t had a chance to try the first beta yet, now is the perfect time. This second beta includes the latest refinements and offers the best opportunity to verify that everything works properly in your own environment.

As always, your feedback, testing, and bug reports are greatly appreciated. Every report helps improve Retraceur before its official release.

Thank you to everyone who takes the time to test the software, report issues, or simply follow the project’s progress. Every contribution helps make Retraceur more robust, more autonomous, and more faithful to its goal: providing an open, distributed alternative centered on personal presence on the Web.

Featured photo Credits : Pascal Bernardon on Unsplash