Tech News 2026, week 11

Latest *tech news
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News>* from the
Wikimedia technical community. Please tell other users about these changes.
Not all changes will affect you. Translations
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/2026/11> are
available.

*Weekly highlight*

   - All wikis will be read-only
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/Server_switch> for
   a few minutes on Wednesday, 25 March 2026 at 15:00 UTC
   <https://zonestamp.toolforge.org/1774450800>. This is for the datacenter
   server switchover backup tests, which happen twice a year
   <https://wikitech.wikimedia.org/wiki/Deployments/Yearly_calendar>.
   During the switchover, all Wikimedia website traffic is shifted from one
   primary data center to the backup data center to test availability and
   prevent service disruption even in emergencies.
   - Last week, all wikis had 2 hours of read-only time, and extended
   unavailability for user-scripts and gadgets. This was due to a security
   incident which has since been resolved. Work is ongoing to prevent
   re-occurrences. For current information please see the post on the
   Stewards' noticeboard
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Steward%27s_noticeboard#Statement_on_Meta_about_today's_user_script_security_incident>
    (translations
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_Foundation/Product_and_Technology/Product_Safety_and_Integrity/March_2026_User_Script_Incident>
   ).

*Updates for editors*

   - Users facing multiple blocks on mobile will now see the reasons for
   each block separately, instead of a generic message. This helps them
   understand why they are blocked and what steps they can take to resolve the
   issue. For example, users affected for using common VPNs (such as iCloud
   Private Relay
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Apple_iCloud_Private_Relay>)
   will receive clearer guidance on what they need to do to start editing
   again. [1] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T357118>
   - Later this week, Suggestion Mode
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/VisualEditor/Suggestion_Mode>
will
   become available as a beta feature within the visual editor at all
   Wikipedias. This feature proactively suggests various types of actions that
   people can consider taking to improve Wikipedia articles, and learn about
   related guidelines. The feature is locally configurable, and can also be
   locally expanded with custom Suggestions. Current settings can be seen at
   Special:EditChecks <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:EditChecks> and
   there are instructions for how administrators can customize
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Suggestion_mode#For_administrators_%E2%80%93_local_customization>
the
   links to point to local guidelines. The feature is connected to Edit
   check <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Help:Edit_check>
which
   suggests improvements while someone is writing new content. In the future,
   the Editing team plans to evaluate the feature's impact with newcomers
   through a controlled experiment. [2]
   <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T404600>
   - View all 23 community-submitted tasks that were resolved last week
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Recently_resolved_community_tasks>.
   For example, the issue where the cursor became misaligned during the use of
   CodeMirror’s syntax highlighting, which makes wikitext and code easier to
   read, has now been fixed. This problem specifically affected users who
   defined a font rule in a custom stylesheet while creating a new topic with
   DiscussionTools. [3] <https://phabricator.wikimedia.org/T418793>

*Updates for technical contributors*

   - API rate limiting update: To help ensure fair use of infrastructure
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/MediaWiki_Product_Insights/Responsible_Reuse>,
   global API rate limits will be applied this week to requests without a
   compliant User-Agent that originate from outside Toolforge/WMCS and to
   unauthenticated requests made from web browsers. Higher limits will be
   applied to identified traffic in April. Bots running in Toolforge/WMCS or
   with the bot user right on any wiki should not be affected for now.
   However, all developers are advised to follow updated best practices. For
   more information, see Wikimedia APIs/Rate limits
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Wikimedia_APIs/Rate_limits>
   .
   - The new GraphQL API has been released. The API was developed as a
   flexible alternative to select features of the Wikidata Query Service
   (WDQS), to improve developer experience and foster adaptability, and
   efficient data access. Try it out and give feedback
   <https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Wikidata:Wikibase_GraphQL#Feedback_and_development>.
   You can also sign up for usability tests
   <https://greatquestion.co/wikimediadeutschland/GraphQLAPI/apply>.
   - The PTAC Unsupported Tools Working Group
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_and_Technology_Advisory_Council/Unsupported_Tools_Working_Group>
continued
   improvements to Video2Commons
   <https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Commons:Video2commons>
in
   February, with fixes addressing authentication errors, large-file handling,
   task queue visibility, and clearer upload behavior. Work is still ongoing
   in some areas, including changes related to deprecated server-side uploads.
   Read this update
   <https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Product_and_Technology_Advisory_Council/Unsupported_Tools_Working_Group#February_2026>
to
   learn more.
   - Detailed code updates later this week: MediaWiki
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/MediaWiki_1.46/wmf.19>

*In depth*

   - The Article Guidance team invites experienced Wikipedia editors from
   selected pilot wikis
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance/Pilot_wikis_and_collaborators#Collaborators>
and
   interested contributors from other Wikipedias to fill out this
   questionnaire which is available in English
   <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfmLeVWnxmsCbPoI_UF2jyRcn73WRGWCVPHzerXb4Cz97X_Ag/viewform>
   , Arabic
   <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd6rzr4XXQw8r4024fE3geTPFe13M_6w7Mitj-YJi0sOlWTAw/viewform?usp=header>
   , Bengali
   <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdok3-RfB18lcugYTUMGkpwmqG_8p760Wv4dCXitOXOszjUDw/viewform?usp=header>
   , Japanese
   <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfjTfYp4jEo0akA4B1e-Nfg3QZPCudUjhJzHzzDi6AHyAaMGA/viewform?usp=header>
   , Portuguese
   <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScteVoI29Aue4xc72dekk-6RYtvmMgQxzMI900UOawrFrSTWg/viewform?usp=header>
   , Persian
   <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSetdxnYwL3ub2vqA7awCg5hJZPMIYcDPaiTe12rY9h0GYnVlw/viewform?usp=header>,
   and Turkish
   <https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScNvfJF-Ot-4pzA4qAN771_0QDJ4Li19YcUsaTgSKW8Nc7U_Q/viewform?usp=header>.
   Your answers will help the team customize guidance for less experienced
   editors and help them learn community policies and practices while creating
   an article. Learn more on the project page
   <https://www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Article_guidance>.

*Tech news
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News> prepared
by Tech News writers
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/Tech/News/Writers> and
posted by bot
<https://meta.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:MyLanguage/User:MediaWiki_message_delivery>
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