Insights from DrupalCon Chicago 2026

At DrupalCon Chicago 2026, the Drupal community came together to exchange experiences and ideas. As in previous editions, the event provided a space not only to follow technical updates, but also to reflect on how organisations work with Drupal in practice.

In this context, Adam Nagy presented his session “Using Drupal Doesn’t Make You Open-Source”, focusing on lessons learned from the European Commission’s web ecosystem. What stood out in the session was that it did not focus on new features or technical updates, but rather on how we actually work with open source.

Drupal has been the standard for communication websites at the Commission for years. What started with a limited number of websites has evolved into a large-scale ecosystem supporting hundreds of sites across services and languages. At this scale, the way Drupal is used goes beyond individual projects and raises broader questions about sustainability, reuse and collaboration.

One of the main points raised during the session was that adopting open source technologies does not automatically lead to open ways of working. In the early stages, development often followed a project-based approach, with solutions built separately and limited reuse across teams. Contributions to the wider community were not always integrated into the process.

Over time, this approach has evolved. Moving away from a large multisite setup towards a more modular architecture has made it easier to reuse components and adapt them across different projects. This has reduced dependencies and allowed teams to work more flexibly.

At the same time, initiatives such as OpenEuropa have supported a more structured approach to reuse. By providing shared components that can be maintained and improved over time, they help avoid duplication and encourage collaboration between teams.

Another important shift concerns contribution. Rather than being treated as a separate activity, it is increasingly part of project work itself. This includes fixing issues, improving existing modules and sharing solutions that can be reused by others.

The session also highlighted that this transition is not only technical. It requires changes in how projects are approached, how requirements are defined, and how success is measured. In particular, aspects such as procurement and governance play a role in ensuring that solutions remain reusable and aligned with open source principles.

Following the session, we asked Adam a few questions to explore these points in more detail.

You opened your session with “Using Drupal doesn’t make you open source.” What led you to this reflection?
Big organisations often look at open source as a way to reduce initial costs, since there are no licensing fees. They see it as a free product to build on. From there, solutions are sometimes rebranded or forked and turned into proprietary products.

It often becomes a checkbox: “we are using open source technologies, so we are open source”. Open source is not a label, it is a strategy.

Looking back, was there a specific moment when this became clear in the Commission’s experience?
During the multisite "era", we encountered both technical and business limitations. These were linked to the fact that we were not fully working in the open or embracing the approach, both internally and cross-institutionally.  

In practical terms, what does “working in the open” look like at this scale?
The default location of the work is public, code lives in public repositories 

• Understanding that contributions are a result of your work when you are doing open soruce right
• Architectural decisions made for reusability, extensibility and modularity
• Involve the community through regular discussions, be an active part of the community 

Essentially, embrace the whole ecosystem as part of your own, and you will benefit from it more through others doing the same. 

And so on...   

Many organisations use open source but do not contribute back. In your view, what makes the difference?
At first, contribution is often seen as an extra effort, something that does not directly benefit the project.

In reality, when you rely on open source components, they become part of your product. You want them to be secure, stable and maintained. Contributing improvements instead of maintaining local versions helps ensure that you continue to benefit from community updates.

Over time, contribution stops being a separate activity and becomes part of how you work.

How important are architecture choices in enabling reuse and contribution?
Good question. Taking the right architectural decisions early on to favour modularity, reusability and extensibility is essential.

Being able to identify that can be implemented project -agnostic and therefore benefit the wider community, is key. 

From your perspective, what are the main benefits of participating in DrupalCon events such as Chicago?
Many of us operate in our own bubbles, unaware of the challenges others are facing elsewhere. Through conversations at these events, it becomes clear that the problems we deal with day to day are often universal, yet the ways different teams and organisations approach them can vary greatly. That exchange of knowledge, success stories, and real-world experiences is incredibly valuable, as it gives us the chance to learn from others and avoid repeating the same struggles they've already worked through.

What are the main challenges that still need to be addressed?
Open source procurement and digital sovereignty remain important challenges. These are complex topics that go beyond technology and involve broader policy and organisational aspects.

DrupalCon Chicago provided an opportunity to reflect on how open source is applied in practice, and to continue discussions that are directly relevant to the Commission’s web ecosystem.