If you’ve been outside lately, you know it’s hot enough to fry an egg on your keyboard. Inside, though, Franz and Andy have been keeping things cool with a couple of fresh core releases, community site improvements, and some shiny new marketplace additions.
Watch the Monthly Town Hall for August 2025
Core Releases: 9.4.3 and 8.5.21
Last week, we rolled out Concrete CMS 9.4.3, our latest stable version in the 9.x branch. If you’re running 9.4 or 9.3, we highly recommend updating. You’ll get important security updates, bug fixes, and a major glow-up for our import/export system.
Special thanks to mlocati, who put in serious work refining block type imports so they now import and export cleanly without manual tweaks. You’ll also see improvements in how block types report file usage in the dashboard.
For those still on the 8.x branch, we haven’t forgotten you 8.5.21 is now out. It’s a maintenance release with a handful of bug fixes and security updates backported from 9.4.3. Smooth upgrade path, minimal fuss.
Community Site Updates
We’ve been tackling some edge-case authentication quirks, polishing up the “My Account” area, and making license management friendlier. Nothing headline-grabbing, just the kind of behind-the-scenes cleanup that keeps things humming.
GitHub Thanks
A big round of applause to this month’s contributors: mlocati, danklassen, biplobice, hissy, Mesuva, BloodyIron, BHWWills, moriaiy, zpartakov, PixelHeroMedia, oiler42, JohntheFish, and JeRoNZ.
Our issue spotlight goes to Mesuva for adding a simple but very welcome improvement the ability to preview RSS feeds directly from the dashboard. Small quality-of-life changes like this make a big difference day-to-day. View the pull request.
Marketplace Highlights
- Stealthy Login and Register ($35) – Hide your default login and registration URLs behind secret links you configure, with blacklist options and redirect controls.
- File Storage for S3 ($65) – Store your site files in an Amazon S3 bucket with minimal setup.
- Short Codes ($25) – Automate text replacement on your site with simple or dynamic rules.
- Customizable Count Up ($16) – Add animated count-up numbers with full styling control.
- Login Codes ($20) – Password-free logins via email-sent codes, with IP blocking for repeat offenders.
New Themes
- Simple Theme ($25) – Clean, single-page design perfect for small projects.
- Portfolio Theme ($40) – Multi-page layout for resumes, portfolios, and personal branding.
Cool Site of the Month
We came across GFI Software’s site, which leads with an AI-powered search in the main navigation a bold, “redefining navigation paradigms” kind of move. It’s different, slick, and worth a look for inspiration.
