From April 9 to 11, 2026, the IOSAN team attended DrupalCamp Grenoble — an event we were once again proud to sponsor. Held on the city's university campus under glorious sunshine, Grenoble proved to be a magnificent setting, nestled among its surrounding mountains like a jewel in a crown. Three packed days of talks, exchanges, and learning — in a place that felt like paradise. This year, the event also opened its doors beyond France's borders, with a dedicated English-language conference track that welcomed attendees from Tunisia, the Netherlands, England, Switzerland, and Belgium. Even the lunches were something special, with local specialties worthy of the surroundings: croziflette, Saint-Genix brioche… more than enough reason not to skip the lunch break.
Photos from the event taken by Fabien Clément are available on his Flickr album.
Thursday — Day 1: Talks
Keynote — Bursting the Bubble: Why Code Alone Won't Save the Open Web by Alex Moreno
Alex Moreno opened the camp with a blunt observation: the Drupal community is living in a bubble. While 6.5% of the world's top 10,000 highest-traffic sites run on Drupal, the CMS struggles with its image and visibility — perceived from the outside as a legacy tool — and suffers from a serious marketing deficit. 96% of contributions come from just 219 companies, and the age profile of Drupal developers (76% are between 30 and 49) points to a renewal problem. The launch of Drupal CMS generated a wave of enthusiasm that quickly subsided. The conclusion was clear: clients won't come to us on their own — we need to go find them, at other events (Web Summit, AI conferences…), with messaging tailored to non-technical audiences. A deliberately provocative talk, but a necessary one.
Accessibility Is Not Our Problem by Vanessa
A concrete, practical talk on accessibility in Drupal: improving Webform forms (required fields, placeholders, autocomplete), and crafting proper <title> tags for paginated or search result pages. Two browser extensions worth keeping: Tanaguru Webext and Stylus. Accessible wins, no full redesign required.
How I Failed Every Project (in 2025) by Simon Georges
An honest, clear-eyed look at the root causes of project failure: too many stakeholders with no decision-making authority, client-imposed timelines, shifting specifications, and the absence of a go-live date — almost always a sign the project will never ship. The proposed remedy: a single decision-maker on the client side, documented project management in GitLab (issues, milestones, wiki), early testing, and genuine attention to team wellbeing. And above all: standing firm on your own methodology, even when the client pushes back.
Drupal + HTMX: Dynamic Interfaces Without JavaScript — It's Possible! by Thomas Bailly
HTMX, a lightweight JS library integrated into Drupal core since version 11.3, enables dynamic interactions (filters, search, pagination, one-off actions) server-side, without duplicating in the front-end logic that Drupal already handles well. It is not a React alternative — no complex state management — but an elegant solution for progressive enhancement in back-office interfaces or simpler UIs. One caveat: HTMX does not handle accessibility; that remains your responsibility.
Keynote — The Symfony Console Gets a Makeover! by Robin Chalas
Robin Chalas, a Symfony contributor, presented the ongoing overhaul of the Symfony Console — the 6th most downloaded PHP package in the world, at the heart of Drupal, Laravel and Composer. The starting point: writing a CLI command today is significantly more cumbersome than writing an HTTP controller. PR #59340, available from Symfony 7.3, changes that: no more mandatory base class, replaced by invokable commands with strong typing derived from method signatures. Versions 7.4 and 8.1 will go further still (Enums, DTOs, argument resolver…), with full parity with controllers expected in Symfony 8.1. Migrating legacy commands? The Rector tool has you covered.
Drupal and MCP: Model and Connect Your Content with AI by Guillaume Gérard
A talk on integrating the Model Context Protocol (MCP) into Drupal to connect content to AI agents. The idea: expose Drupal's data structure to LLMs, enabling intelligent, context-aware interactions with content. A solid approach for projects looking to integrate AI in a structured and meaningful way.
Style Utilities: How Can It Revolutionize Drupal Core Rendering by Florent Torregrosa
Florent presented the upcoming Style Utilities API being integrated into Drupal core (issue #3517033). The goal: allow front-end developers to apply CSS classes via Twig or render arrays, with no knowledge of the Drupal PHP context required. Existing contrib modules (Block Style, UI Styles, Layout Builder Styles) don't cover all use cases — the core solution will address this cleanly. Good news for design systems, with extended support planned for Display Builder.
Friday — Day 2: Talks
Keynote — In the Eye of the Storm by Marta Rybczynska
Marta Rybczynska, coming from the embedded systems world, drew a striking parallel with web development: bugs have always existed — what has changed is their impact and scale. In Europe, the response is regulatory: GDPR, NIS2, DORA… and now the Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) (official text, relayed in France by ANSSI), in force since 2024 and applicable from 2027. This regulation requires all software publishers selling in Europe — regardless of revenue — to provide free security updates for at least 5 years, patch vulnerabilities "without delay", and conduct risk analyses covering all dependencies, including open source ones. AI is both an asset (detection, analysis) and a liability (exploited by attackers, or misused by developers lacking the right expertise). A strong signal: security is no longer optional.
Accessibility, Deadlines, Budget: When Drupal Projects Meet Reality
A pragmatic session on the tensions inherent to Drupal projects between accessibility requirements, scheduling constraints, and budget realities. A recurring challenge in our work, and one that deserves to be built in from the start rather than retrofitted.
Drupal AI: 2026 Roadmap by David Suissa
David Suissa presented the current state and ambitions of the Drupal AI initiative. Launched in March 2023, the Drupal AI module took off in 2025 and now mobilises over $1.5 million and 50 full-time contributors. The 2026 roadmap is ambitious: turning Drupal into an assisted, automated, and learning platform. On the agenda: automated page generation (via MCP or agents), centralised editorial context management (CCC module), background AI agents, design system integration, assisted content authoring, intelligent search, and AI-driven auditing (accessibility, SEO, performance). The challenge is clear: compete with SaaS platforms like Contentful or Wix, while bringing Drupal's power and flexibility to an AI-augmented environment.
Keynote — From Code to Societal Responsibility: Become Actors of AI Literacy! by Jean-François Lucas
Jean-François Lucas, from the Renaissance Numérique think tank, closed the conference days on a more societal note. By February 2026, ChatGPT had reached 900 million users — while 16 million French citizens remain disconnected from the digital world. AI literacy — understanding, using, critically evaluating, and contributing to debates around AI — is not the exclusive domain of specialists. His message to the Drupal community was direct: a developer is not merely a technical executor; they configure uses, dependencies, and social relationships between organisations, tools, and users. Our role includes helping our clients understand the basics of AI, distinguishing real-world usage from marketing promises, and "delegating the cold" (administrative tasks, validation) to AI in order to "recover the warm" — trust, empathy, team engagement. A keynote that reached well beyond the technical sphere.
Display Builder by Pierre Dureau
We cannot let this pass without mentioning our friend Pierre Dureau's talk on Display Builder — a Drupal Canvas competitor that offers an HTMX-powered page-building interface, reactive and closely aligned with Drupal's standards and native features.
BOF — Drupal France Association
An open session dedicated to discussions around the Drupal France association: its current challenges, ongoing initiatives, and vision for the future. This kind of informal, participatory format is one of the great strengths of DrupalCamps — it's where real conversations happen.
Saturday — Day 3: Contribution
Saturday was dedicated to contribution. It is a privileged time for exchanges — discussing technical challenges, sharing best practices, and contributing to community projects — even though at IOSAN, we don't need a dedicated day to contribute; we do it throughout the year.
Wrap-up
DrupalCamp Grenoble 2026 was, as always, a thoroughly rewarding experience. Beyond the talks themselves, it is an opportunity to reconnect with the French Drupal ecosystem, share common challenges, and exchange real-world experience. These encounters enrich our practice in ways that no online resource can replicate.
A big thank you to all the volunteers who made this event possible, and a special mention to Marine and Nicolas, who are stepping down from the association's board after years of remarkable dedication. Their commitment has been a driving force for this community. Thank you both.
See you at the next DrupalCamp!
