On March 23, 2026, the MySQL Community Team hosted our second public discussion focused on shaping a new era of MySQL community engagement. With over 50 attendees participating, the session brought together members of the MySQL ecosystem to share feedback, discuss priorities, and help guide future efforts.

Building on our earlier session, this webinar continued the conversation around increasing transparency, improving collaboration, and expanding opportunities for contributors across the MySQL ecosystem.

A Clear Vision for Community Engagement

At the heart of our discussions is a phased strategy designed to make MySQL more open, collaborative, and community-driven. This includes:

  • Increasing transparency through public roadmaps and clearer communication
  • Expanding opportunities for community contributions
  • Continuously measuring and improving engagement through defined metrics

This phased approach ensures that we can iterate quickly while building toward a more inclusive and participatory ecosystem.

Community feedback reinforced the importance of this direction, with strong interest in increased roadmap visibility, early access builds, and clearer contribution pathways.

You can read more about this initiative at our blog.

Focus Area: Enhancing Planet MySQL

The first portion of the session focused on Planet MySQL, the central hub for community-generated content.

Planet MySQL already serves as a key resource for aggregating blogs, news, and technical insights from across the ecosystem. The proposed enhancements aim to make it even more valuable and inclusive by:

  • Improving content filtering and discoverability
  • Introducing a community content submission portal
  • Adding a showcase for MySQL ecosystem tools and projects
  • Providing a developer contribution guide
  • Enabling personalized content recommendations
  • Launching an event calendar and announcements system

These improvements are designed to make Planet MySQL a more dynamic, accessible, and community-driven platform.

These priorities closely align with what we heard from attendees, who highlighted strong interest in easier content submission, better discovery, and greater visibility into ecosystem tools and projects.

If you’re interested in contributing to or helping shape these efforts, please reach out to Scott Stroz (scott.stroz@oracle.com). Maybe use LinkedIn profile instead of email address – I think this is discouraged.

Measuring What Matters

Another key topic was how we define and track community success. The team outlined several potential metrics, including:

  • Growth in community contributions and contributors
  • Quality and impact of contributions
  • Issue response times and backlog reduction
  • Participation in events and community discussions

These metrics will help ensure that progress is measurable and aligned with community needs.

Feedback from the community validated this approach, with respondents emphasizing contributions, active contributors, and responsiveness to issues as the most meaningful indicators of success.

You can explore ways to contribute at https://dev.mysql.com/community/contributing/ and review the MySQL Developer Guide at https://dev.mysql.com/community/developer-guide/.

Ongoing Initiatives

We also shared several initiatives already underway:

  • Improving contributor documentation and onboarding
  • Providing mentorship and support for contributors
  • Expanding outreach to open source communities and events

These efforts are aimed at lowering barriers and making it easier for anyone to contribute.

Community interest in early access builds and deeper involvement in the development process further reinforces the importance of these initiatives.

You can explore more community resources here:

Get Early Access to MySQL 9.7

The Early Access Release of MySQL Community Edition 9.7 is now available and is ready for you to explore, test, and help shape: https://labs.mysql.com/

This is your opportunity to get hands-on with the latest features, provide feedback, and influence the direction of upcoming releases.

We strongly encourage community members to download the early access builds, put them to the test, and share feedback. Whether you’re identifying bugs, validating features, or suggesting improvements, your input directly impacts the quality and evolution of MySQL.

Get Involved

This effort is only as strong as the community behind it—and we want you to be part of shaping what comes next.

There are several ways to get involved:

  • Join our upcoming public discussions
    • April: MySQL Bugs and issue management improvements
    • May: MySQL contribution process enhancements
  • Share your feedback and ideas to help refine our approach
  • Contribute content, tools, or code to the MySQL ecosystem
  • Participate in the MySQL Contributor Workshop (May 26, 2026, hybrid event—online and in person)

We’re committed to building a more open, transparent, and collaborative MySQL community—and that only happens with your input.

Feedback from this session was encouraging, with participants rating the discussion positively overall and expressing continued interest in being part of these efforts.

If you’re interested in contributing or getting more involved, now is the time to jump in. Together, we can shape the future of MySQL.