ACF Chat Fridays serve as a monthly gathering point for the Advanced Custom Fields community, offering an open platform where users, developers, and the ACF team converge to explore the plugin’s ecosystem. The June 6, 2025 session was a community-focused Q&A, where the team recapped recent updates, previewed upcoming features, and engaged in a wide-ranging discussion on the future of the plugin, including custom database tables, AI integration, and deeper integration with the block editor.

Hosted by Matt Shaw and Phil Johnston.

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Session Recording

Watch the full session below or skip to the highlights in the session summary.

Session Summary

Matt Shaw kicked off the session, recapping the recent bug-fix releases, ACF 6.4.1 and ACF 6.4.2. In addition to bug fixes, these updates introduced valuable new functionality. For example, Select fields can now be configured to allow the creation of new options when editing the field’s value. The releases also extended High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) support to the WooCommerce Subscriptions add-on, building on the work done for standard WooCommerce orders in ACF 6.4.

Looking ahead, Phil Johnston noted that the team is developing a series of improvements for the Flexible Content field and continuing the extensive work on ACF Blocks. This includes the highly anticipated inline editing feature, first previewed at DE{CODE} 2025.

The majority of the session was dedicated to a lively Q&A with the community. The conversation provided valuable insight into the development roadmap and the technical considerations behind user-requested features. Key discussion points included the potential for native custom database table support, with the team confirming it is on the roadmap and that the recent HPOS integration was a foundational step. The team also addressed challenges and future plans for making ACF fields integrate more deeply with the native WordPress block editor, including assigning fields to inspector tabs and other UI slots. The session concluded with an open invitation for users to help shape the upcoming ACF Blocks creation UI by participating in UX research.

Q&A

Questions and answers from the session have been paraphrased for clarity.

Q: Are there plans for native support for custom database tables, similar to what other plugins offer?

A: This is on our roadmap, and we’ve done preliminary investigative work. Much of the recent refactoring for HPOS support was done with custom database tables in mind to make data storage more extensible. We don’t have an ETA, but we encourage users to submit their specific use cases and needs to the ACF feedback board to help inform the development process.

Q: I have an ACF Block that pulls data from a post’s meta fields. How can I make the block’s preview update automatically when I change the meta field value, without a full page refresh?

A: We understand this is a common issue caused by the block’s attributes not being updated in the React DOM. There is a JavaScript hook that can be used as a workaround to trigger a re-render. Please contact our support team, mention you were in the chat, and we can provide you with the necessary code snippet.

Q: Will it be possible to assign ACF fields to the native block inspector tabs, like “Settings” and “Style,” to better organize the editor UI?

A: This is a goal and something we’d like to tackle, but it will be difficult with the current version of ACF. It requires a substantial refactor to make our fields behave more like native Gutenberg components. For now, the ACF Tab field is the best way to organize fields in the sidebar.

Q: What are your plans for AI or Model-View-Controller (MVC) integrations, perhaps using WP-CLI as a way for AI tools to build out ACF fields, post types, and schemas automatically?

A: This is a very interesting concept. We are keen to improve our WP-CLI support, and using it as a well-documented protocol for AI is a fascinating take. A REST API for creating fields and post types would be a prerequisite, which is also under consideration. We encourage you to post these ideas on our feedback board, as this helps us gauge community interest and prioritize our roadmap.

Q: When can we expect the UI for creating ACF Blocks?

A: It is in progress and we are actively working on it, but we cannot commit to a release date at this time. We are currently conducting UX research to help shape this feature. If you build a lot of ACF Blocks and want to provide feedback, please contact support to get involved.

Resources & Links

Coming Up on ACF Chat Fridays

Register today for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays. Sessions are typically held on the first Friday of every month. Questions and suggestions for the development team are always welcome.

Register for the next session of ACF Chat Fridays here:

https://wpeng.in/acf-chat-fridays/

Upcoming sessions:

  • August 1, 2025
  • September 5, 2025

Tag or DM us on Twitter with suggestions or feedback using #ACFChatFridays.