Open edX Verawood

On 30 July 2026, the Open edX community released Verawood, the platform's 22nd named community release, and it's a substantial one. From a reimagined Studio interface to a brand-new AI framework and tangible performance improvements for administrators, Verawood offers significant enhancements for almost every role within the Open edX ecosystem. Read on for a closer look at the features that matter most to course authors, learners, and site operators.

As a Verified Open edX® Service Partner, Abstract-Technology has reviewed and tested the release firsthand. Below is a closer look at the features that matter most to course authors, learners, and site operators.

For Course Authors: A More Efficient Studio Experience

The most visible change in Verawood is the overhauled authoring experience in Studio, which feels noticeably more modern and streamlined across the board.

Contextual Sidebar

A new, contextual sidebar now accompanies authors throughout the course-building process: view content details, add new content or pull in existing library components, apply taxonomy tags, and access analytics, all from one resizable sidebar that updates instantly as you navigate the course outline or unit pages.

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

Improved Content Libraries

Content Libraries are far better integrated. You can now search and insert library content directly from the sidebar, spot library-sourced elements at a glance, publish with visibility into which courses are affected, and review a full version history with a side-by-side comparison of changes.

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

Granular Team Management

Team management also becomes more granular. Course Admin or Course Staff roles can be assigned to multiple users across organizations, courses, and libraries in a single action. A unified console shows at any time who has access to what, and existing role assignments are migrated automatically.

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

Modernized Instructor Dashboard

The Instructor Dashboard has been modernized with sortable, searchable tables, streamlined page actions, and clearer tabbed grouping, including more intuitive names like Course Team, Enrollments, and Grading, making it faster to find what you need.

In-Platform Tagging and Taxonomies

For tagging and taxonomies, the old CSV export/import workaround is gone: tags can now be applied at any course level, reviewed at a glance in the new sidebar, and taxonomies can be edited directly in-platform.

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

Simplified LTI Integrations and LTI Advantage Complete Certification

LTI integrations are also more convenient: fully configured LTI blocks can be duplicated across any course on your site, and new integrations can be set up faster through a simplified, tabbed interface. 

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

Notably, with the Verawood release, Open edX has officially achieved LTI Advantage Complete certification - a significant milestone that ensures full interoperability with LTI-compliant tools and content providers.

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

Upload Agreements for Content Governance

Finally, operators can now require agreement acceptance before uploads: custom agreements can be configured that authors must accept before accessing file or video upload pages in Studio, with automatic re-prompting whenever an agreement is updated.

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

AI Built Into the Platform: The New AI Extensions Framework

One of the most exciting additions in Verawood is the AI Extensions Framework, which brings generative AI directly into Studio and the learning experience:

• For authors: AI-drafted multiple-choice questions can be generated and reviewed right inside Studio, then saved to a content library for reuse across courses.
• For learners: An AI assistant is now available directly within a course unit - learners can ask questions, clarify concepts, and get answers grounded in that unit's content, without ever leaving the page.
• For platform operators: The framework is fully configurable, supporting OpenAI, Anthropic, or self-hosted models, and is built as an extensible framework. This means development teams can build custom AI workflows for both author-facing and learner-facing areas of the platform, while retaining full control over which AI provider is used and how data is handled.

Image source: https://docs.openedx.org/en/latest/community/release_notes/verawood/

For Learners: Clearer Notifications and In-Course AI Support

Beyond the AI assistant described above, learners benefit from a range of notification improvements in Verawood. These include reminders for Open Response Assessments (ORA), digest emails that cut down on notification noise, and the ability to opt out of notifications on their own posts - all adding up to a cleaner, less cluttered experience.

In turn, course authors gain more visibility into course activity right within Studio.

For Site Operators: More Performance and Flexibility

There's plenty happening under the hood as well.

frontend-base, a new frontend architecture, is now available for operators to test - promising faster builds and reduced page load times. The community is actively encouraging operators to enable frontend-base on staging or sandbox instances and share feedback via the Open edX forums.

Additional frontend plugin slots have also been introduced across the platform, making it easier for development and operations teams to customize and extend functionality.

Looking Ahead: Willow in December 2026

The community has already shared a glimpse of what's coming next. Planned highlights for the Willow release in December 2026 include:

• Modular Pathway Support: A unified, flexible way to sequence and bundle learning pathways such as microcredentials and smaller courses into stackable programs.
• Competency Frameworks: A native step into competency-based education (CBE), attaching competencies with assessment criteria to courses and tracking learner progress through the skills they've mastered.
• Enhanced Roles and Permissions in Studio.

Try It Out for Yourself

As the official maintaining provider of the public Open edX Sandbox, we at Abstract-Technology are already working on implementing the Verawood release there, so the entire community will soon be able to test and explore it in a hands-on environment.