Wagtail Space NL 2026 vibes and photos 🧡
Two days in Rotterdam with wonderful people
Two years after Wagtail Space NL 2024, it’s great to be back together in person! ❤️ Here are our photos, notes and vibes from Wagtail Space NL. Thank you Q42 for having us over - we had a blast!
The sprint
Thursday kicked off with a code sprint at Q42's amazing and very central office. We had about 50% seasoned sprint participants and 50% newcomers.
After a quick intro, we got started with getting-started workshop for new contributors, and discussions about anchor links and link choosers. They’re one of those features we wish we had fully solved in Wagtail core, but the requirements are relatively varied and it’s hard to decide which to meet.
The afternoon wrapped up with discussions about security and AI adoption, based on our AI DX survey. Our overall approach to AI adoption, what works (Wagtail AI, agent skills, tools, models), what needs improvement (ethics, bias, copyright, sustainability), and what the community wants to see or do next.
All in all, it was a "Wagtail at scale" crowd. Focusing on pain points and possible improvements for large-scale / complex websites, rather than first-time experience. Thoughtful discussions and great energy!
The conference talks
Friday was a full day of talks at Q42's office, right next to Rotterdam Centraal. Here are some of the highlights! Starting with a State of Wagtail overview of where we’re at as a community, featuring our stellar accessibility improvements across live sites!
It was also a good occasion to re-share the excellent independent security audit we received from DINUM, adopters of Wagtail for the French governement. Who were next on stage, represented by Lucie Laporte, for an overview of why and how they adopted Wagtail.
Lucie shared striking cost numbers: estimating €96,000 per site without investing into a platform like theirs, down to €5,000 thanks to their new Wagtail-based platform. A compelling case for open source as digital commons.
This was followed by a deep dive with Jakob Stasilowicz from Fröjd, telling us how far you could push the Wagtail admin with customizations - while retaining compatibility with future upgrades.
After a delicious lunch, we were treated to two public sector adoption case studies: a "Build vs. buy" COTS explainer by Dan Braghiș from Torchbox, and website packaging tips from Fabien Le Frapper, showcasing Wagtail adoption with ADEME, the French government agency for ecological transition.
Lightning talks
We got three and they were all super interesting ⭐️ Coen van der Kamp showcasing a new package, wagtail-exact-crop, for more predictable cropping.
Followed by a CMS comparison process recap by Marko Kruijer from Q42, showing us how they compare CMS options for their project.
And last, Quint Wessels from Four Digits sharing their Wagtail Developer Reference site auditing tool. Super useful stuff when navigating long-lived projects!
Fröjd’s Head of Technology Mikael Engström closed the day with an overview of Pipit, their well-polished headless CMS boilerplate. React-based, Next.js, very optimized for their dev workflows.
The vibe
What makes Wagtail Space special isn't just the talks — it's the conversations in between. The hallway track was in full swing throughout the day, with people catching up, sharing ideas, and making new connections.
Thank you Q42 for hosting us in your lovely office at Groot Handelsgebouw, and for organizing both the sprint and the conference!
Up next
Our flagship online Wagtail Space 2026 is already on the horizon! We'll share plans through our newsletter as we start opening the call for proposals. See you at the next one!