Hi, {{first_name|friend}}. 👋
Welcome to Issue #195 of Loop WP!
Last week was part two of our mini-series on the Beau Lebens interview, as we discussed the remaining interview questions, from Agentic Commerce and fees, a decoupled WooCommerce, “Commerce Mode”, and more.
This week is the final part in our series as we compare and contrast Beau’s answers with Matt Mullenweg’s and a dash of my thoughts sprinkled in, too.
Let’s go! 👇
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Strategy vs. Reality
This week’s issue contrasts Matt Mullenweg’s high-level vision from Issue 191 with the implementation-level, the “day-to-day” perspectives of Beau Lebens and James Kemp from Issues 193 and 194.
These are summaries/themes that have developed in the three previously mentioned newsletters. (You can find more details in those newsletters if you need.)
As usual in this series 💡 = My comments.
Freedom or “Control”
Matt’s Vision: Open source and "freedom" are the ultimate selling points that set WooCommerce apart from proprietary giants.
Beau Lebens: Acknowledges that "freedom" is too abstract for most store owners. The pivot is toward ”Control”. In an era of sudden deplatforming, WooCommerce isn't just "free software"; it’s an insurance policy. It’s the only platform where the merchant truly owns the keys to the shop.
The "Agentic Commerce" Gap
Matt’s Vision: AI shopping is overhyped right now; data shows almost zero autonomous transactions.
Beau Lebens & James Kemp: While Matt is right about autonomous purchases, James Kemp and Beau point out that AI referrals are already a massive force. The goal isn't just to wait for AI agents to buy things; it's to ensure WooCommerce's unstructured data is "AI-readable" so stores don't lose out on recommendations from LLMs.
💡 Shopify has just announced its native integration with Claude (and their own AI, “Sidekick” is already very good), and while the markdown debate continues, things are moving quickly.
Automattic has been busy in this area with MCP Adapters, APIs, Skills and more. They just dropped:
agent skills for Claude, which allows Claude to build a WordPress website.
AI Assistant for WordPress[dot]com (their version of Sidekick), but it only works with Block Themes.
This leads me to a number of questions about WooCommerce and WordPress: 👇
Will store owners be left behind in terms of AI if they don’t use the Block Editor and a Block Theme?
Will a “potential“ slightly modified version (even if it’s just onboarding initially) of WooCommerce installed on WordPress[dot]com have an advantage over self-hosted stores?
Are we going to see a growing disparity (and more confusion) between dotcom and dotorg?
Will third-party plugin developers have new opportunities with AI to plug the gaps that Automattic “might” leave for self-hosted WooCommerce websites?
The Fourth Stakeholder
Agencies and Builders have long been the loudest voices in the Woo community. But is that changing?
Beau identified the "Shopper" as a primary stakeholder in every product decision. If the end-user experience isn't frictionless, the merchant leaves, and the agency loses the client. Expect future core updates to prioritise the "buy flow" over "tweak-ability."
💡 It’s a good point and one that I prioritise for my clients. However, if I were being honest, sometimes the merchant needs to take priority.
I’m not saying it’s wrong for a merchant to take priority, but will we start to see more core decisions judged on “does this improve the buy flow?” rather than “does this make it easier to tweak every last thing?”
WooConf
Matt was fairly noncommittal about the return of WooConf, but if there was appetite, it would happen.
✅ Clearly, the appetite is there as the inaugural Checkout Summit is happening (massive congratulations again to Rodolfo and all his hard work).
⚒️ Beau outlined the practical, financial and logistical implications, and both he and James outlined some complications tagging on to WordCamps brings.
💡 I’m going to keep pushing back on this one…it’s Automattic’s responsibility to lead. I do get where Beau is coming from, I do, and I am glad Woo is looking at it internally.
I’ve organised a WordCamp, and I know the complexities events bring, but sometimes you need to go through some pain and “just do it” 😉.
Concluding Thoughts
While I personally found some of Matt Mullenweg’s answers a bit awkward at times, they seemed like honest answers. Answers that lacked a bit of clarity at times, and I think Beau and James did a great job in a follow-up to Matt’s interview.
🔮 Whilst Beau couldn’t reveal every area of strategy and goals, WooCommerce has a clear direction, and one of the areas of development I am most excited about is some form of hosted WooCommerce (even though that’s most likely on WordPress[dot]com).
💡 Woo Express was short-lived, and whilst Matt argued it wasn’t needed because of how WordPress[dot]com has evolved (I disagree), it’s pleasing to hear Beau, James, and the team are working on something as the need is there.
It’s been a mammoth few weeks on this topic, and there’s more I could say, I’m sure you could too {first_name|friend}}, but that’s it for this week. 👋
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Weekly WordPress News & Tips
This week's excellent and insightful WordPress News & Tips:
😬 Automattic Planned - to “Steal Every Single WP Site” From Hosts That Refused Trademark Deals, WP Engine Alleges in Latest Complaint. (The Repository)
Binate Thoughts - Creating Art with a Crustacean. (Tammie Lister)
Does It Still Matter? - My WP/Woo Plugin Scaffolding in 2026. (Brian Coords)
🚨 What You Should Do - HPOS sync on read to be disabled by default in WooCommerce 10.7. (WooDev Blog)
Great minds think alike? - My WordPress take on Markdown for Agents. (Joost de Valk)
WordPress 7.0 - Inside the AI Team’s Big Plans. (The WP Minute)
WordPress AI Theme Creation - How Automattic’s New Claude Cowork Plugin Builds Block Themes from a Prompt. (Elliot Richmond)
Northbound - A New Direction for My Agency. (Remkus de Vries)
AI is the UI - The fastest-growing users of our products are agents. And agents don’t need interfaces. (Rich Tabor)
February 2026 - What’s new for developers? (WordPress Dev Blog)
Web OS Vision - Mullenweg Calls for Markdown Endpoints on WordPress[dot]org (The Repository)
WordPress Is Done? - Let's Talk About WordPress and AI. (Rafal Tomal)
😎 Huge Launch - Google Search Console Integration. (Fathom Analytics)
If you have a question about this email or WordPress, please reply, and I will respond as soon as possible.
👋 Until next time,
