Pantheon release notes

Sites with Multizone Failover enabled are now eligible for the Global CDN (GCDN) Beta. Previously, Multizone Failover sites were excluded from the Beta — that restriction has been removed.

What's changed

• Multizone Failover is no longer listed as an excluded configuration for the GCDN Beta.
• Eligible Multizone Failover sites will see the GCDN Beta banner in the Pantheon site dashboard.

No action is required. If you operate a Multizone Failover site, simply look for the GCDN Beta banner on your site dashboard and follow the guided steps when you're ready to migrate.

More information

For full details on the GCDN Beta, see the GCDN Beta documentation.

Pantheon Search now supports Apache Solr 9.10.0 as a Beta for Drupal 10 and 11 sites. This is available through search_api_pantheon version 8.5.0-beta1, which supports both Solr 8 and Solr 9.

What's new?

• Added Solr 9 support.
• Solr 9 brings improved security defaults, the unified highlighter, and other enhancements. See the major changes in Solr 9 for details.
• Bumped Search API Solr version requirement to 4.3.x.

Getting started with Solr 9 (Beta)

Upgrading from Solr 8 to Solr 9

1. Update the module:

   Commit and deploy the changes to your Pantheon environment.

2. Update your pantheon.yml:

   Commit and deploy the changes to your Pantheon environment.

3. Clear the cache:

4. Post the schema for the new Solr version:

5. Clear the index and reindex content:

6. Test search functionality thoroughly and report any issues in the drupal.org issue queue.

New installations

To try the Beta with Solr 9 on a new site, set the Solr version in your pantheon.yml and install the module:

For detailed setup steps, see the documentation.

What about Solr 8?

Solr 8 (8.11.4) remains fully supported. Existing Solr 8 sites can update to Search API Pantheon 8.5.x without any configuration changes.

Older Drupal versions

Pantheon Search is no longer supported for Drupal 8-9.3 as of December 2, 2025.

Solr 3 is no longer supported by Drupal 9.4+ as of December 9, 2025. Those sites must use Solr 8 or above.

Feedback and documentation

Bug reports, feature requests, and feedback should be posted in the drupal.org issue queue. For detailed installation and upgrade instructions,Pantheon Search documentation.

Support for creating Next.js sites is now generally available to Pantheon customers with Gold, Platinum or Diamond Workspaces. Previously, Next.js was restricted to a private beta program.

Hosting for Next.js sites can be purchased at the same plan levels and pricing as WordPress and Drupal sites. Teams running a decoupled architecture in which Next.js reads content from a CMS on Pantheon must purchase two separate plans, though decoupling may allow WordPress or Drupal to run at a smaller plan level.

Since the beginning of our private beta program last November we have added many enhancements including:

• A cache handler to coordinate persistent caching and CDN for a Next.js site, often in conjunction with a CMS data source.
• Defaulting site creation to Next.js 16.
• Setting secret environment variables at site creation.
• Streaming build & runtime logs in the Pantheon dashboard.

For more perspective on this change to general availability, see the Pantheon blog. To learn how to run Next.js on Pantheon, read our documentation.

Support for creating Drupal and WordPress sites using an external repository on GitHub is now generally available to Pantheon customers with Gold, Platinum or Diamond Workspaces. Previously, this capability was restricted to a private beta program; now, it is included as part of the recent Terminus 4.2.0 Release.

Sites created on an external GitHub repository utilize a GitHub Application that moves code to Pantheon Multidev environments and the Dev environment when correspond to changes are made to on that repository.

This Application is intended for teams that want the simplest possible tool for achieving the above workflow. Once it is turned on, no additional configuration is necessary.

Pantheon continues to offer a GitHub Action that performs a similar function for teams who want to make customization to their workflows and treat the deployment of code as one step in a larger Continuous Integration workflow.

See our Github application documentation page for more instruction on usage and a breakdown of limitations.

Elasticsearch is now available as a Beta add-on for WordPress sites on Pantheon. This integration is powered by ElasticPress, the leading Elasticsearch solution for WordPress.

What's included?

ElasticPress offloads search queries from your database to Elasticsearch, improving WP_Query performance and reducing load on your application server. Capabilities include:

• Full-text search — Fuzzy matching, synonyms, and weighted fields for more relevant search results.
• Instant Search — Real-time search-as-you-type results without full page reloads.
• WP_Query integration — Elasticsearch can handle WP_Query requests, reducing database load and improving page load times.
• Faceted filtering — Narrow results by category, tag, custom taxonomy, and other attributes.
• WooCommerce support — Product search and filtering for WooCommerce storefronts.
• Related content — Surface related posts and pages automatically.
• Custom content indexing — Index posts, pages, custom post types, and custom fields.

Who has access?

Elasticsearch is available to WordPress sites on Performance Small plans and above, including Elite.

How to enable it

Elasticsearch can be enabled in two ways:

• From the dashboard — Navigate to Site Settings → Add-Ons and activate Elasticsearch. Connection credentials are configured automatically.

• From Terminus — Use the search command:

Once enabled, install and activate the ElasticPress plugin in your WordPress admin and run your initial content sync. No manual credential configuration is required — EP_HOST, EP_INDEX_PREFIX, and EP_CREDENTIALS are set automatically across all environments.

Documentation

For setup instructions and additional guidance, see Elasticsearch on Pantheon.

PHP 8.5 is now available on the Pantheon platform. You can set PHP 8.5 as the version to use for your site via your pantheon.yml file.

Key changes in PHP 8.5:

• OPcache is now built into PHP core and no longer requires a separate extension package.
• Pipe operator (|>) for improved function chaining.
• curl_close() and imagedestroy() are deprecated but remain functional. These will emit deprecation notices but do not affect site behavior.

For more information on supported PHP versions and how to upgrade, refer to PHP on Pantheon.

Following a successful Alpha phase, the next-generation Global CDN (GCDN) is now entering Beta. The new GCDN introduces bot protection by default — meaning sites that migrate will automatically benefit from bot detection and mitigation without any additional configuration or cost.

What's included

• Automated bot detection and scoring — Incoming traffic is automatically evaluated and scored, with managed challenges issued to suspicious requests.
• Verified bot identification — Legitimate bots (such as search engine crawlers) are recognized and allowed through while unverified bots are challenged.

Action Required

Eligible sites will see a banner at the site level in the Pantheon dashboard. To participate in the Beta:

1. Look for the GCDN Beta banner on your eligible site.
2. Click the banner and follow the guided steps.
3. Update your DNS records to point to the new GCDN infrastructure.

During the Beta, DNS-01 TXT record validation is the only supported method for domain verification. You will need to add TXT records to your DNS provider to verify domain ownership.

Known limitations

• Traffic metrics — The traffic metrics page in the Pantheon dashboard will not reflect GCDN Beta traffic during the initial Beta period. Traffic metrics for migrated sites will be restored in a future update.

Eligibility

The following configurations are not eligible for the GCDN Beta at this time:

• Sites using Advanced Global CDN (AGCDN), WAF, or Security Starter packages
• Sites with Multi Zone Failover enabled
• Sites using Custom Certificates

More information

To learn more about the new GCDN Beta with Bot Protection, see our beta documentation page on our docs site.

You can now manage your Pantheon marketing email preferences directly from the Pantheon Dashboard. Navigate to Personal Settings > Email Notifications to control which communications you receive from Pantheon, including newsletters, events, and product updates.

Changes take effect after clicking Save Changes. You can update your preferences at any time.