Add native PHP runtime page to What's New modal by bcotrim · Pull Request #3915 · Automattic/studio

bcotrim · 2026-06-22T10:40:32Z

Related issues

Related to RSM-4414

How AI was used in this PR

Used Claude Code (Opus 4.8) to draft the slide copy, generate the placeholder illustration, and implement the change. I reviewed the wording for accuracy against the shipped PHP runtime: Native / Sandbox site settings (site-runtime-copy.tsx) and ran ESLint + the whats-new/app-version-api/get-localized-link unit tests locally.

Proposed Changes

Adds a native PHP runtime slide as the lead item in Studio's What's New modal, so users discover that native PHP is now the default runtime for the best performance, and that they can switch any site between the Native and Sandbox runtimes in its settings. Includes a Learn more link to the PHP runtimes docs.

To keep the carousel to four slides, the last one (Blueprints) was retired. The order is now: native PHP → dark mode → phpMyAdmin → CLI. The modal is also set to surface once for existing users on this release.

⚠️ Visual change: needs human review in light + dark mode.

🖼️ The illustration is a temporary placeholder — final artwork (design in progress) will replace it later. The import path stays the same, so it's a one-file swap.

Testing Instructions

Run Studio (npm start).
Trigger the What's New modal from the app menu (What's New).
Confirm the first slide is "Run your sites with native PHP", with the placeholder illustration, the "What's new" pill, and a working Learn more link (opens the PHP runtimes docs).
Page through with Next / Previous / Done — confirm the dark mode, phpMyAdmin, and CLI slides follow and navigation works.
Verify in both light and dark appearance.
Optional: with no stored "last seen version", confirm the modal auto-shows; onboarding should still suppress it.

Pre-merge Checklist

Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors?

wpmobilebot · 2026-06-22T11:05:59Z

📊 Performance Test Results

Comparing 561a337 vs trunk

app-size

Metric	trunk	`561a337`	Diff	Change
App Size (Mac)	2340.96 MB	2341.11 MB	+0.14 MB	⚪ 0.0%

site-editor

Metric	trunk	`561a337`	Diff	Change
load	1070 ms	1075 ms	+5 ms	⚪ 0.0%

site-startup

Metric	trunk	`561a337`	Diff	Change
siteCreation	6482 ms	6515 ms	+33 ms	⚪ 0.0%
siteStartup	6970 ms	7004 ms	+34 ms	⚪ 0.0%

Results are median values from multiple test runs.

Legend: 🟢 Improvement (faster) | 🔴 Regression (slower) | ⚪ No change (<50ms diff)

wojtekn

Looks good.

@sejas should we add Studio Code, too?

sejas · 2026-06-22T13:34:10Z

Yes! Thanks for the suggestion. I'll add it.

sejas

I confirm I see the What's new modal with the mentioned text and image.
@bcotrim, I suggest mentioning that the default runtime is native PHP and that users can change the runtime in the site settings.

Light	Dark

sejas · 2026-06-22T13:39:37Z

 // current app version get the modal once. Keep at `false` otherwise — the modal
 // will only auto-show for first-time users of Studio.
-export const FORCE_SHOW_WHATS_NEW = false;
+export const FORCE_SHOW_WHATS_NEW = true;


katinthehatsite

The changes look good, I left one possible suggestion for the copy wording

fredrikekelund · 2026-06-22T13:53:51Z

+			image: nativePhpIllustration,
+			title: __( 'Run your sites with native PHP' ),
+			description: __(
+				'Studio can now run your sites with native PHP for the best performance, plus real file access and broader plugin compatibility. Pick the Native or Sandbox runtime for any site in its settings.'


As @sejas said – I think we should mention that this is the new default.

plus real file access

I think this can easily be misconstrued as "access to the entire system", which is not true by default.

broader plugin compatibility

I don't think this is really true, tbh. If we were switching from SQLite to MySQL, then yes, but the pure PHP runtime doesn't do much on this front, I think. At least not with how far Playground has come by now.

fredrikekelund · 2026-06-22T14:17:23Z

 	const locale = useI18nLocale();
 	const whatsNewPages: WhatsNewPage[] = [
+		{
+			image: nativePhpIllustration,


Can we add a learn more link and point it to https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/developer-tools/studio/php-runtimes/ ?

That's only a draft for now, but if we can add it into the code, we can start iterating on the content

Co-authored-by: katinthehatsite <katerynakodonenko@gmail.com>

…php' into rsm-4414-whats-new-modal-native-php # Conflicts: # apps/studio/src/modules/whats-new/components/whats-new-modal.tsx

shaunandrews · 2026-06-22T15:51:44Z

I updated the illustration, and focused the copy on the user value (faster sites), the new default, and how to switch. The learn more link can point to the docs where we can explain file system access and other more technical value-adds.

fredrikekelund

One small suggestion for the copy, but overall this LGTM 👍

Co-authored-by: Fredrik Rombach Ekelund <fredrik@f26d.dev>

shaunandrews · 2026-06-23T17:55:11Z

That change in the copy seems to have triggered truncation for the text.

@fredrikekelund

## Related issues - Follow-up to #3915 — fixes the truncation reported in [review feedback](#3915 (comment)) - Related to [RSM-4414](https://linear.app/a8c/issue/RSM-4414/update-the-whats-new-modal-with-details-about-the-native-php-runtime) ## How AI was used in this PR Used Claude Code (Opus 4.8) to diagnose the truncation, trace the history of the modal's line-clamp behavior, and implement the fix. I confirmed the modal renders every slide's copy in full (no truncation, no scrollbar) in the running app, and ran ESLint + a typecheck on the changed file. ## Proposed Changes The **"Faster local sites with native PHP"** slide in the What's New modal was cutting its description off mid-sentence (*"…switch between Native…"*). The root cause was a fragile rule, not the copy itself: the modal clamped the **first** slide's description to 5 lines but **every other** slide to 3. The native PHP copy was written while it was the lead slide; once a Studio Code slide became the new lead (#3924), native PHP dropped into a 3-line slot and its (unchanged) text no longer fit. Rather than trimming the copy, this gives **every slide the same 5-line clamp** the intro slide already used — which the fixed-height modal accommodates without scrollbars. That removes the intro-vs-regular distinction that caused the regression, so future copy tweaks or slide reordering won't silently truncate. It also drops a leftover wrapper element that had no styling. The slide copy is unchanged from `trunk`. Thanks to @fredrikekelund for [suggesting](#3946 (review)) the all-slides approach over a copy-only fix. ## Testing Instructions 1. Run Studio (`npm start`). 2. Open the What's New modal (app menu → **What's New**). 3. Page through every slide and confirm each description shows in full with no truncation/ellipsis — in particular, the **"Faster local sites with native PHP"** slide should end with *"…in your site settings."* 4. Confirm no scrollbar appears on any slide and the footer buttons stay in place. 5. Verify in **both light and dark** appearance. ## Pre-merge Checklist - [x] Have you checked for TypeScript, React or other console errors?

Add native PHP runtime page to What's New modal

022c3ae

github-actions Bot assigned bcotrim Jun 22, 2026

bcotrim requested review from fredrikekelund and shaunandrews June 22, 2026 10:41

Restore dark mode slide and remove Blueprints from What's New modal

7a68099

wojtekn approved these changes Jun 22, 2026

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sejas approved these changes Jun 22, 2026

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katinthehatsite reviewed Jun 22, 2026

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Comment thread apps/studio/src/modules/whats-new/components/whats-new-modal.tsx Outdated

katinthehatsite approved these changes Jun 22, 2026

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fredrikekelund reviewed Jun 22, 2026

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bcotrim and others added 3 commits June 22, 2026 15:36

Update apps/studio/src/modules/whats-new/components/whats-new-modal.tsx

8b2b5e2

Co-authored-by: katinthehatsite <katerynakodonenko@gmail.com>

Reword native PHP slide and add PHP runtimes learn-more link

b5db315

Merge remote-tracking branch 'origin/rsm-4414-whats-new-modal-native-…

6a93298

…php' into rsm-4414-whats-new-modal-native-php # Conflicts: # apps/studio/src/modules/whats-new/components/whats-new-modal.tsx

bcotrim requested a review from fredrikekelund June 22, 2026 15:07

Update native PHP what’s new modal

825a5ea

shaunandrews approved these changes Jun 22, 2026

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fredrikekelund approved these changes Jun 23, 2026

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Comment thread apps/studio/src/modules/whats-new/components/whats-new-modal.tsx Outdated

Update apps/studio/src/modules/whats-new/components/whats-new-modal.tsx

561a337

Co-authored-by: Fredrik Rombach Ekelund <fredrik@f26d.dev>

bcotrim enabled auto-merge (squash) June 23, 2026 08:46

bcotrim merged commit 645f414 into trunk Jun 23, 2026
11 checks passed

bcotrim deleted the rsm-4414-whats-new-modal-native-php branch June 23, 2026 09:03

bcotrim mentioned this pull request Jun 24, 2026

Fix truncated native PHP copy in What's New modal #3946

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Add native PHP runtime page to What's New modal - #3915

Add native PHP runtime page to What's New modal#3915
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How AI was used in this PR

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Testing Instructions

Pre-merge Checklist

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📊 Performance Test Results

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