Drupal CMS: Recipes, Site Templates and Drupal Canvas
Drupal CMS packages a starting configuration and editing tools around Drupal Core. When planning a site, separate three questions: what features the site needs, how its pages should look, and how editors should work. Recipes, site templates and Canvas address different parts of that evaluation. This guide follows the January 2025 and January 2026 release announcements and the October 2026 Canvas information.
Two ways to build: Drupal Core and Drupal CMS
The Drupal project founder's 15 January 2025 release announcement introduced Drupal CMS 1.0 as a ready-to-use product built on Drupal 11 core. The announcement presented Drupal Core as the starting point for expert users and developers seeking control, with Drupal CMS packaging tools for content creators, marketing teams and site builders.
For an evaluation, write down which decisions the team wants to make itself and which it would prefer to begin with already configured. Examine that list against the starting package. Product and core version numbers describe different things: the founder's January 2026 announcement described Drupal CMS 2.0 running on Drupal Core 11. Keep those names separate when discussing an installation.
Recipes: packaged features
At its January 2025 launch, Drupal CMS 1.0 included nearly 30 recipes. These were preconfigured feature packages, with examples including blogs, events and case studies. A recipe installs the necessary modules, sets up content types and applies configuration. Many were applied by default; optional recipes could be selected during setup or added later through Project Browser.
Think about the feature being assembled before examining individual modules. For an events section, for example, list the information an editor needs to enter and the pages a reader needs to see. Then inspect the recipe's resulting setup against that list. A packaged starting point is most useful when the team understands the configuration it receives. Keep that review focused on actual publishing requirements.
Drupal CMS 2.0 and Drupal Canvas
The Drupal project founder's 28 January 2026 release announcement introduced Drupal CMS 2.0 with Canvas included by default. Canvas is a visual page builder: editors can drag components onto a page, edit in place and undo changes. The release also packaged preconfigured content types and site templates.
Try a concrete editing exercise when assessing that experience. Ask an editor to assemble a page, revise a heading, move a component and undo the change. Discuss whether the available components match the content the team expects to publish. Repeat the exercise with a realistic page rather than judging only an attractive demonstration. This keeps the evaluation tied to everyday work and gives developers and editors a shared example to discuss.
Site templates and the Byte template
The January 2026 announcement described site templates as starting points for common use cases that can be shaped to fit a project's needs. As of October 2026, the Canvas README identified Byte as a site template included with Drupal CMS, with sample content using Canvas for landing pages and structured content display.
Use the sample content to explore the relationship between the starting design and the material a real site will publish. Try representative headings, images and longer text. As of October 2026, the README also required core Media and Media Library for image support and identified Mercury as an open-source Twig / SDC component system built for Drupal CMS. Include those requirements in the technical review.
Multilingual and headless Canvas in 2026
The Drupal project founder's DrupalCon Rotterdam 2026 keynote, published on 7 October 2026, reported multilingual support in Canvas and described its code components as React components. It also introduced Drupal Canvas Headless: developers could manage content in Drupal while creating a separate front-end with frameworks including Next.js, Astro, TanStack, Angular or Nuxt.
The keynote described editors retaining visual page composition and previews of the separate front-end. If that approach fits the project, include both editors and front-end developers in the trial. Use translated sample content when multilingual publishing is required. Agree on what the preview should demonstrate and compare it with the intended page. A framework choice should be assessed alongside the editing experience the team needs to retain.
Requirements: Drupal 11 core and PHP 8.3+
As of October 2026, the Drupal core 11.4.x branch set PHP 8.3.0 as its minimum and PHP 8.4 as its recommended version. The installer cannot run below that minimum. The PHP support table, as of October 2026, gives each branch two years of active support followed by two years of security support.
That table lists PHP 8.3 security support through 31 December 2027 and PHP 8.4 active support through 31 December 2026. Check compatibility and support dates together. As of October 2026, Drupal 12 remained pre-release; its 12.0.x development branch's current minimum was PHP 8.5.0. This development setting should not be treated as a final Drupal 12 requirement.
Core or Drupal CMS: which to start with
Begin with the team's content and editing requirements. Consider Core when defining the starting configuration is part of the work the team wants to own. Consider Drupal CMS when recipes, site templates and visual composition offer a useful starting point. Review the included configuration, try realistic editorial tasks, and check the dated runtime requirements before choosing.
Keep a short decision record from the trial: which required features are supplied by the starting package, which content structures need adjustment, and which editing tasks still need investigation. Ask editors to describe where they hesitated, and ask developers to explain the configuration they would need to maintain. Use those observations to decide whether the packaged starting point fits the project. Return to the same sample pages when comparing alternatives so that the discussion stays concrete.