Codegarden 2026 is already over, and it would be an understatement to say it was the best one yet.
This year's event brought the global Umbraco community together in Copenhagen for two days of product announcements, technical deep dives, inspiring conversations, and a clear vision for where the platform is headed next.
From groundbreaking AI innovations to new tools designed to simplify content management and automation, Codegarden 2026 reinforced what many of us already believe: Umbraco continues to be one of the most innovative and forward-thinking CMS platforms available today.
The Most AI-Ready CMS on the Market
Artificial intelligence remained one of the biggest topics throughout Codegarden 2026, but what stood out was Umbraco's practical approach to AI adoption. Rather than forcing AI on the user, Umbraco continues to integrate AI capabilities directly into the platform while maintaining the flexibility, transparency, and editorial control organizations need.
This year's announcements included enhancements to Umbraco AI, expanded testing capabilities, improved guardrails, and Remote MCP support in Umbraco Cloud.
Umbraco also continues to position itself as the most AI-enabled CMS on the market given its commercially backed open source nature lends itself to integration with LLMs.
Together, these advancements demonstrate Umbraco's commitment to helping organizations explore AI-powered experiences while maintaining governance, security, and confidence in their content operations.
Introducing Umbraco Automate
One of the biggest announcements from this year's keynote was Umbraco Automate.
Automate brings drag-and-drop workflow automation directly into the Umbraco backoffice, allowing teams to create powerful "if this, then that" workflows without relying on external tools or complex custom development. Whether it's triggering notifications, managing content workflows, integrating with business systems, or incorporating AI-powered actions, Automate helps organizations streamline processes where their content already lives.
As an open-source solution built specifically for the Umbraco ecosystem, Automate has the potential to become a game-changing addition for both marketers and developers alike.
Umbraco Elements: Reusable Content Done Right
Another highly anticipated announcement was Umbraco Elements.
Designed to make content management easier and more scalable, Elements introduces a centralized way to create and manage reusable content across websites and digital experiences. Instead of updating the same content in multiple locations, editors can manage shared elements from a single location and have those updates reflected wherever they're used.
For content teams managing large websites or multi-site environments, this enhancement will save significant time while reducing inconsistencies and editorial headaches.
Cloud Scalability Gets Even Better
Umbraco Cloud also received several exciting updates, including upcoming load balancing capabilities that make scaling applications easier than ever. Organizations with growing traffic demands will gain greater flexibility in how they manage performance and availability, allowing infrastructure to scale alongside business needs.
Combined with recent Cloud enhancements focused on monitoring, visibility, and performance management, the platform continues to mature as an enterprise-ready hosting solution.
Community Continues to Be the Heart of Codegarden
While the product announcements generated plenty of excitement, the people remain what make Codegarden special.
From technical deep dives and roadmap discussions to conversations between sessions and evening events throughout Copenhagen, Codegarden continues to bring together one of the most passionate and collaborative communities in tech. Whether attendees were sharing implementation challenges, exploring new ideas, or discussing the future of AI and digital experiences, the willingness to learn from one another was on display everywhere.
Even as Codegarden continues to grow, it has managed to maintain the sense of openness and community that has defined the event for years. That's a big reason why so many attendees return year after year.
AI Search Takes Center Stage
Another highlight from this year's conference was seeing Marcel Digital's own Kyle Brigham present The Future is AI Search: Designing Umbraco for AEO and AI Discovery.
The session focused on a topic that continued to gain attention throughout Codegarden 2026: how AI is changing the way users discover information online. As organizations adapt to new search behaviors and emerging AI-powered experiences, discussions around content discoverability and Answer Engine Optimization (AEO) are becoming increasingly important.
The growing interest in the topic was hard to miss. From keynote presentations to hallway conversations, Codegarden 2026 made it clear that AI is reshaping not only how content is created, but how organizations think about visibility, discoverability, and digital experiences as a whole.
Looking Ahead
If Codegarden 2025 showcased Umbraco's momentum, Codegarden 2026 demonstrated acceleration.
The platform continues to evolve beyond traditional content management into a complete digital experience ecosystem: one that embraces AI, automation, scalability, and composability while maintaining the editor-friendly experience that has made Umbraco so successful.
From Umbraco Automate and Elements to expanded AI capabilities and cloud innovations, the message coming out of Copenhagen was clear: Umbraco continues to push the platform forward in meaningful ways, giving organizations the tools they need to build smarter digital experiences and streamline operations.
We're already looking forward to seeing what's next.
Until Codegarden 2027.
