Statamic 6: Everything you need to know

Statamic 6 just dropped in beta, and it's the biggest update the CMS has ever seen.

A completely redesigned control panel. A command palette. Two-factor authentication baked into core. And a bunch of developer-focused improvements that make building sites faster.

Here's everything you need to know.

What's new in Statamic 6

A completely redesigned control panel

The first thing you'll notice: everything looks different. Statamic 6 features a ground-up redesign of the entire control panel.

It's cleaner. It's faster. It's more modern. But here's the clever part — your muscle memory stays intact. They didn't move things around just for the sake of change. The navigation is familiar, but everything feels more polished.

For content editors, this means a more pleasant daily experience. For developers showing off their work to clients, it's a much easier sell.

Command palette

This is my favorite addition. Hit a keystroke and you get a Spotlight-like search that lets you jump anywhere in the control panel instantly.

If you've used VS Code, Raycast, or any modern dev tool, you know how powerful this is. No more clicking through menus — just type where you want to go.

For power users managing large sites, this alone is worth the upgrade.

Two-factor authentication

2FA is now built into core. No addons needed, no workarounds required.

This was a common request, and Statamic delivered. If you're building sites for clients who care about security (and they should), this removes one more thing from your "things to configure" list.

Component tag syntax for Antlers

Antlers templates can now use a cleaner, more HTML-like syntax:

<statamic:collection:blog limit="5">
    <a href="{{ url }}">{{ title }}</a>
</statamic:collection:blog>

This makes templates more readable and scannable, especially for developers coming from component-based frameworks like Vue or React.

It's optional — classic Antlers syntax still works. But for new projects, this is a nice quality-of-life improvement.

Smart scaffolding

When you scaffold a collection's index and show views, Statamic 6 automatically generates template code including all your blueprint fields.

No more copying field names from the blueprint, no more typos. The scaffolding does it for you.

Small feature, big time saver.

Better asset management

Two improvements here:

Drag-and-drop into folders — you can now drag existing files directly into subfolders. Works just like your desktop.

Resizable thumbnails — zoom in for detail, zoom out to scan. Simple, but surprisingly useful when managing large media libraries.

Section-aware breadcrumbs

Breadcrumbs now understand context. When you're editing an entry, you can quickly jump between collections. When you're in utilities, you see utility-related navigation.

It's a small UX improvement that makes navigating complex sites much smoother.

Collections card view

Want a more visual overview of your content? Switch any collection to card view and see your entries in a spacious, scannable format.

Great for sites with lots of visual content where thumbnails help you find things faster.

Elevated sessions

For security-critical actions, Statamic 6 now requires password re-authentication.

This protects against scenarios where someone walks up to an unlocked computer and tries to change admin settings. The session is "elevated" only after confirming your password.

Rebuilt timezone support

Timezone handling has been completely rebuilt. Scheduling and timestamps now behave exactly as you'd expect, even across daylight saving shifts and global teams.

If you've ever debugged a "why did this post publish at the wrong time" issue, you'll appreciate this.

For addon developers

Statamic 6 brings significant changes under the hood.

Kitt: a shared UI component library

The entire control panel is now built on Kitt — Statamic's own Vue.js component library built on Reka.

Think of it as their custom ShadCN, perfectly tuned for the Statamic experience. It's documented, it comes with a Figma file, and it's available for addon developers to use.

<ui-button variant="primary" text="Make it so" />
<ui-switch v-model="published" />
<ui-badge color="purple" text="New" />

This means addons can now look and feel native without reverse-engineering the control panel styles.

Vue 3 + Pinia

The frontend stack is now Vue 3 and Pinia. Modern tools, better performance, more future-proof.

Addon settings pages

Addons can now create their own settings pages in the control panel. Non-developers can configure addons without touching config files.

Upgrading to Statamic 6

Requirements

• PHP 8.3+
• Laravel 12

The upgrade

Update your composer.json:

"statamic/cms": "^6.0"

Then run:

composer update statamic/cms --with-dependencies

The team ran an extra-long alpha phase (21 releases!) specifically so addon developers could prepare. Most popular addons should be ready or close to ready.

Check the full upgrade guide for breaking changes specific to your setup.

Should you upgrade?

If you're starting a new project: Yes, absolutely. Start with Statamic 6 beta. It'll be stable very soon, and you'll benefit from all the improvements from day one.

If you have an existing production site: Wait for stable, then plan your upgrade. The beta is solid, but production sites deserve stable releases.

If you're an addon developer: Start testing now if you haven't already. The alpha phase was your runway — beta means breaking changes are done.

The bottom line

Statamic 6 is what happens when a team listens to their users and takes the time to do things right.

The redesigned control panel makes daily content management more pleasant. The command palette makes power users faster. The developer improvements — component tags, smart scaffolding, Kitt — make building sites more enjoyable.

And they managed to modernize everything without breaking your muscle memory or forcing you to relearn the system.

That's a hard balance to strike. They nailed it.

I offer hands-on consulting to help you resolve technical challenges and improve your CMS implementations.

Get in touch if you'd like support diagnosing or upgrading your setup with confidence.

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