Magento development map

The official Magento development map does not exist. However, if you gather all the information that is on the network about the new update, there is a substantial list of interesting features that may appear in version Magento 2.4. The collected information comes from announcements from the Magento team itself or from trustworthy sources and is evidence of the popularity of this platform and the speed of its development. These changes will appear in the form of updates over the next few years in Magento 2 and will affect smaller features, but also major changes in the platform.

Official Backlog

The official backlog gives you a better understanding of the current version of Magento 2 and its potential for future changes. The backlog contains information about the elements that will be updated. It includes, among others: B2B 2.0, development of simple and advanced search functions, integration with Adobe products, modularity, Magento payment, preview of introduced changes, personalization, product recommendations, advanced promotions and UX admin.

It is not entirely clear what the priority is. However, it can be expected that the changes introduced by Magento will facilitate the work of sellers, marketers and developers.

Magento 2 GraphQL

GraphQL is a query formulation language implemented as an alternative to REST and SOAPa web API for the Magento 2 frontend. It uses the full potential of Magento 2 PWA Studio. You can view the project status in it, as well as check for Magento updates in the GraphQL backlog.

Asynchronous import

Asynchronous import is another feature worth noting on the Magento development map. At the moment, the import / export functionality is at the basic level, in particular compared to extensions from external developers. This functionality cannot remain at the basic level for too long, and asynchronous import is proof of that.

The concept is to replace the entire import module with a new implementation that will allow the user to import data asynchronously. The process is as follows: the user uploads a file of any format, the extension receives the file, verifies it, and then returns as a UUID file. Then this file is used to import data with customer parameters, then the module performs a file analysis, divides them into individual messages and sends to the asynchronous API. The Magento 2 administrator can request import status or re-upload files that the previous upload failed.

Integrations with Adobe

Increasing integration of Adobe and Magento 2 products will appear in the next modernizations. That is why it is worth knowing what may be in subsequent updates.

Adobe Commerce Cloud announced a durable and very flexible infrastructure that will provide sellers with continuous integrations enabling quick iterations of the code base. This means that all owners of e-commerce stores, large and small, will be able to make changes quickly and efficiently, which will increase the convenience of business and its quality. These changes may appear even several times a day and it will not interfere with the normal functioning of the store. However, these are not all the updates that improve the quality of work in the online store on the Magento 2 platform.

Integration with the free photo database

Thanks to the new update in Magento 2 with Adobe Stock Integration (a database of free to use images), it will be possible to efficiently search the photo database from the admin level in PageBuilder or WYSIWYG. Thanks to this implementation, Magento 2 administrators will be able to view and test images in their store more efficiently.

The ability to access free images from the media gallery to search for the desired image or even test it on your own site is tempting. You no longer have to leave the admin section just to add one graphic item. This update will save a lot of time and effort to those responsible for the appearance of the store’s website. What’s more, the right size image can be licensed straight from Adobe, without any additional formalities. Watermarked images will be replaced with clear, high-resolution images in the media vault and across the entire content management system (CMS system).

Framework Adobe Commerce Integration (CIF)

The Adobe Commerce Integration Framework is the official model for integrating various products for Magento 2 and Experience Cloud. Adobe suggests this way of developing the sales platform because it allows you to integrate many different sales platforms with Adobe products. Designed for Adobe customers to make shopping easier and more personalized across multiple channels.

Adobe Experience Platform

There are already many tools to combine Magento with Adobe Experience Platforms. Some of them were created by the users themselves. One of them is based on Launch from Adobe. The connector usually allows integration with features such as Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target. This gives users excellent insight into the functionality of their own store and the behavior of their customers. This allows you to create a personalized UX and better tailor the service to the needs of the market. The goal is to simplify the entire integration to the extent that it only takes a few clicks. Adobe Experience Platform will introduce a great simplification in the work of not only users, but also developers.

Magento 2 PWA development map

PWA is the leading technology for the development of Magento 2 towards the e-commerce market in the near future. From a development map perspective, several innovations are planned in the context of Progressive Web Apps that draw attention.

First of all, libraries will be expanded with Peregrine Hooks and Venia in the form of refactoring in modules. For developers, the following features are important: GraphQL support, Extensibility Discovery with Marketplace support, and settings development.

The Peregrine Hooks library, based on modular construction, is planned for the following changes: product details, navigation, category details, shopping cart, gallery, product feature searches, payment and shipping methods. In contrast, the Venia module includes new Toast notifications and category filters.

There will also be additions related to shopping improvement, integration of Page Builder with Adobe Experience Magnager and new graphics for the B2B structure. Magento B2B will use PWA technologies to expand its capabilities. Peregrine components will be used for this purpose.

Magento 2 MSI development map

Multi-Source Inventory, in free translation – an assortment with many warehouses, is a concept that allows the use of multiple location points in unified sales. This is to make life easier for sellers. This important tool eliminates the participation of third parties and their extensions in the conglomeration of many warehouses in one assortment and its constantly updated status. All this is due to the open source software project on the Magento platform.

With it, you don’t have to use the Inventory Stock Index to monitor your inventory. Deficiencies or errors can be checked by generating classes of extended attributes. Slow assortment can be saved in Web API. This extension also allows you to give unique names to each product. Selecting all products has not worked in the product grid so far. You can edit the quantity of the assortment when the order has failed. The update also improves the cleaning of reservations and the display of “out of product” in low states.

In addition, Magento 2 for MSI has new features and integrations for B2B, PWA, GraphQL API, API and many bug fixes.

Other updates for Magento 2

In order to increase security in Magento 2, Adobe has decided to provide the platform with access to automatic updating and installation of security-related functions. The auto-patcher will remove this responsibility from the arms of the developer and site owner and make sure that the security infrastructure is up-to-date and fully functional.

There will also be a framework for functional testing of the platform. The coding quality will also be improved.

Community impact

The influence of the community on the shape and strength of Magento 2 is huge and growing. And as a developer, you also have the chance to help improve this platform. You can take part in meetings and discussions of the Architectural Discussion Meeting every Wednesday afternoon to influence the shape of the platform on which you work.

These meetings are designed in such a way that everyone has an impact on the architecture of Magento 2. It is possible to discuss the built platform with its architects themselves and the rest of the community. No one guarantees that the proposed changes will be implemented immediately. However, presenting your own vision affects the appearance of Magento and the introduction to the process of updating its current version.

Magento 2 development map for 2018

Magento 2.3 has been published in beta. New features have been described in the Magento 2.3 development map.

Page Builder is now more friendly to businesses in the Enterprise version. Changes include the appearance of Bluefoot CMS. A sales channel will appear through the Amazon store. Progressive Web Apps will receive a performance boost thanks to PWA Developer Studio. The new Web API will be GraphQL, which is very flexible and fast compared to the then API. However, its appearance is mainly due to the adaptation of the PWA model. Multi-Source Inventory features will become part of Magento 2.3, but its functionality will be limited compared to existing external extensions. There will be a dramatic improvement in Declarative DB schema and Asynchronous Web API is expected to greatly improve the way you work with Magento, its updates and configuration. The message queue will become part of the open source version, as will Elasticsearch. Support for PHP version 7.2 will change drastically – in Magento 2.3 mcrypt will be replaced by libsodium in the next patch. The Zend framework dependencies will be removed. There is also a rumor that the Composer package will be removed from composer.json. The WYSIWYG editor will be improved. Early access programs will be launched for partners. Managed ACL capabilities will be introduced. Magento 2.3 will also support double verification and reCaptcha, so you won’t need Google external modules.

Rumors and facts

Magento already has BlueFoot technology. It’s a convenient content management system and Page Builder will include it as a module. The official BlueFoot website provides information on convenient tools for managing everything – from products to blogs. It can therefore be assumed that Magento 2.3 will receive a module with a blog in its basic version.

Klarna integration is another important function of Magento 2.3. It adds advanced payment methods. It allows you to spread payments over time, for example, payment thirty days after purchase or payment immediately without any additional information except the address. This payment method solution and its provider is a trusted service that has already been used by 45 million customers.

API improvement is another Magento 2.3 improvement. Developers have openly discussed the ORM / Query API, but it is too early to provide specific information about this update at this time.

Magento 2.4

It seems that rumors about the version 2.4 update will appear in 2.3. However, as far as 2.4 is concerned, several new features have been announced. Advanced reporting, improved content management system and extended API will appear. However, there are no details about it, because these announcements come from short tweets from Magento developers.

Previous facts and rumors

Advanced reporting is planned for version 2.4. Despite this, we know that it will be updated in version 2.2. It seems that the Magento team has made it a priority, because this issue will be dealt with in the next few updates. Now, even before patches are released, the solutions offered by external developers are better than the original ones. So eventually Adobe will try to close this gap. However, the effect may be counterproductive – it will motivate external developers to improve their extensions more.

Other anticipated changes in Magento 2.4 include, among others, the planning and early response of a new support team, which should lead to fewer errors and better User Experience. The changes also include a framework that allows rendering of the frontend from the browser side. Native PWA is another element of this update. Full GraphQL will appear, leading to better description of data in the Magento API, which in turn affects the evolution of the API over time and strengthening of development tools. As a result, it will be possible to maintain the internal use of the API at 100%. It also promises that more control and management of extensions will go to sellers.

Magento 2 development map for 2017

Magento 2.2 will introduce many new features for B2B. However, most of them are already available among tools from external developers. Now they will become part of version 2.2 and will start to function officially on the Magento platform. This is the second attempt to orientate the platform for B2B customers. Previously, these functions were available to Magento B2B Commerce Cloud only in the Enterprise version.

In version 2.2 there will also be other amenities. Inquiries will be introduced in this version of Magento. Customers will be able to send their price proposals straight from the shopping cart. These offers will go to the new backend and user accounts. Fast shopping is another fresh feature. They will be enabled by placing orders by entering warehouse units or directly by inserting a spreadsheet in a CSV file. In addition, user accounts will be able to receive their levels. Inside a company, many employees can use a shopping account. Now each of them can be assigned a specific role. For individual accounts, you will also be able to specify a payment limit or give a specific loan amount to be issued for a given customer. The catalog will be personalized. A specific customer will be able to receive individual prices and available products in a separate catalog. Advanced reporting is a big change in version 2.2. Improved shipping methods – will be automated and efficient. The improved API will be revealed in better integration of ERP systems and quick synchronization with other platforms. The Magento community will receive new features, but there are no details about it. Enterprise Magento 2.2 will receive a lot of new B2B features.

In Magento 2.2.x there will be an extension in the form of a bundle and many security updates.

Magento 2.2 is completely B2B oriented. It adds many important functions for the operation of the platform, as well as improves the details. This is a big step towards business customers and will certainly be warmly received by Magento users.

Development maps for previous years for Magento 2

For comparison, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the extensions and corrections introduced earlier. They herald the trends that can be forecast for the future in the team working on the Magento product.

Magento B2B

Magento Enterprise B2B was planned for the turn of 2016 and 2017, but appeared in the first half of 2017. It was a big step forward in the matter of B2B and business customer service, but it had one big drawback – it was available only in the Enterprise version. This was a big problem for many users, but there were external solutions enabling the use of the same functions in the Community version.

Magento 2.1

Magento version 2.1 appeared in June 2016. The biggest change was the takeover of several functions from Enterprise Edition by lower versions. In the Enterprise version, however, new functionalities have appeared, such as preview of changes, integration of Elasticsearch and introduction of the Enterprise Cloud Edition product. Improved PCI and admin panel. Payment via PayPal has been improved, Braintree Hosted Fields has been introduced (card payment supported by the JavaScript SDK) and the management interface has been improved.