Pantheon release notes

A visual refresh of the Pantheon Dashboard is rolling out gradually over the next 2–4 weeks, reflecting an update to Pantheon's underlying design system. You may notice colors, typography, and some components looking slightly different day to day as the rollout progresses — this is expected.

Why we're doing this

This refresh modernizes the look of the Dashboard and brings it in line with Pantheon's updated design system. It also sets us up to build and ship new Dashboard features more quickly going forward.

What's staying the same

The layout, navigation, and workflows you're used to are not changing. This is a visual update only — nothing is moving, and no functionality is changing.

Rollout timeline

This update is being released gradually rather than all at once. Because of that, you may see some parts of the Dashboard update before others, and the look may continue to shift slightly as the rollout completes.

No action required

This change applies automatically. There's nothing you need to do to prepare for or opt into this update.

Sites can now compile frontend assets (themes, design systems, and other Node.js-based tooling) automatically as part of the build process.

When enabled, Pantheon installs your Node.js dependencies and runs your build script for each configured path on every code push, so compiled assets no longer need to be committed to your repository. Frontend builds work on any site, whether or not you use Integrated Composer.

Enable frontend builds

Add a frontend_build block to your pantheon.yml file:

Pantheon selects a package manager automatically based on the lock file present in each build path. Supported package managers include bun, pnpm, yarn, and npm.

For full configuration details and examples, see the frontend asset builds documentation.

Starting today, all new signups get a free 30-day trial of Pantheon. When the trial ends, site assets are stored and locked for 90 days, then unlocked as soon as the user upgrades.

Existing customers with active paid workspaces will not have changes to their current set up or experience. Existing sandbox users will receive an email in the coming months about moving to the new trial experience.

What's included in the trial?

• One professional workspace
• Up to 2 sandbox sites, including Dev, Test, and Live environments
• Additional tools like New Relic, Object Cache, and Pantheon Search

For more details, see this related documentation.

PHP versions 8.2.32, 8.3.32, 8.4.23, and 8.5.8 are now available on the platform. These updates include important security fixes, along with bug fixes and enhancements that improve performance and stability. Updates will be applied automatically over the next few days, so no manual action is required.

Elasticsearch is now available as an add-on for WordPress sites on Pantheon for all Performance sites and above. This new capability is powered by ElasticPress, the leading Elasticsearch solution for WordPress.

What's included?

ElasticPress improves the overall search experience and performance of your WordPress sites, as well as allowing for better WP_Query performance and reduced 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 — ElasticPress allows you to offload WP_Query requests to Elasticsearch, 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.

How to enable it

Review the Setup and Configuration documentation for detailed instructions on setting up Elasticsearch and ElasticPress.

More information

For additional guidance and a walkthrough of these features, see the Elasticsearch on Pantheon documentation.

Pantheon Search now supports Apache Solr 9.10.1 for Drupal 7, 10, and 11 sites, with improved security defaults, the unified highlighter, and performance enhancements. See the major changes in Solr 9 for details.

How to get Solr 9

Drupal 10 and 11

Solr 9 support is available through Search API Pantheon version 8.5.0.

For detailed setup instructions, see the Solr for Drupal 10/11 guide.

Drupal 7

Solr 9 support is available through the Pantheon Drupal 7 upstream version 7.105.1.

For detailed setup instructions, see the Solr for Drupal 7 guide.

Solr 3 and Solr 8 removal timeline

The previously announced removal schedule still holds:

• Solr 3 will be removed on February 9, 2027. Drupal sites using Solr 3 must migrate to Solr 9 before this date. WordPress sites using Solr 3 through the Solr Power plugin should consider switching to Elasticsearch.
• Solr 8 will be removed on July 11, 2027. Drupal 10 and 11 sites using Solr 8 should migrate to Solr 9 before this date.

Feedback

Report issues or provide feedback in the drupal.org issue queue for Drupal 10/11, or through Pantheon Support for Drupal 7.

PHP versions 8.4.22 and 8.5.7 are now available on the platform. PHP 8.5.7 includes security fixes (CVE-2026-44927, CVE-2026-44928) along with bug fixes. PHP 8.4.22 is a maintenance release with bug fixes and stability improvements. Updates will be applied automatically over the next few days, so no manual action is required.

Pantheon's external repository integration now supports GitLab in addition to GitHub. You can connect a GitLab repository to a Pantheon site via Terminus using --vcs-provider=gitlab, with support for both GitLab.com and self-hosted GitLab instances.

What's new

• GitLab repository support — Create Pantheon sites connected to GitLab repositories using terminus site:create --vcs-provider=gitlab
• Self-hosted GitLab — Connect sites to self-hosted GitLab instances using the --vcs-host=<your-gitlab-domain> flag
• Token-based authentication — GitLab uses legacy personal access tokens or group access tokens rather than OAuth. Tokens require api and write_repository scopes. Group access tokens also require a Maintainer role or higher to create repositories and manage webhooks.

For full setup instructions, see the external repositories documentation.