Codegarden 2025 - the best yet!

For the second year in a row, we made the trip to Odense, Denmark, for Codegarden — the official Umbraco conference. This time, I was joined by Rick and Debasish, who was attending for the first time. As expected, it delivered an exciting mix of community, code, creativity… and this year, a pirate party with a real-life parrot.

Rick and I arrived on Tuesday afternoon whilst Debasish landed in Odense a few days earlier - more on that later. On the Tuesday evening we attended the pre party which fully embraced the pirate theme — complete with eye patches, inflatable swords, and yes, a real parrot (which may or may not have understood Umbraco Cloud deployments).

But the real treasure was the conference itself, and this year there was a clear theme running through the talks: AI isn’t just impressive — it’s now ready to be used effectively. As one speaker put it, “We were initially wowed by AI, but now the question is: how can we use it?” That shift from novelty to utility was at the heart of many sessions.

Here’s a rundown of some of the standout sessions that we attended:

Keynote

The keynote opened with Umbraco’s new CEO, Mats Persson. FIitting in nicely with Umbraco's sense of humour, Mats gave his talk using a programming script with a general overview of, "things are going well". Other highlights from the talk were from CTO Filip Bech-Larsen who shared the successes of the last twelve months along with vision for the future and some cool new features in the latest Umbraco versions. Emma Burstow, Director of Developer Relations gave an overview of the in roads made in the community and there was a special moment for us to remember a community member, Terence, who sadly passed away this year.

You Shall Not Password: Modern Authentication for Web Apps

This talk offered a deep dive into the evolution of authentication strategies — from password-based logins to passkeys and biometric-based auth. It made a strong case for ditching passwords altogether in favour of safer, smoother user experiences using tools like WebAuthn and FIDO2.

The Future of Web AI: Integrating On-Device Models and LLMs in the Browser

A standout talk for anyone even remotely interested in AI. The speaker demonstrated how large language models can now run in-browser without sending data to the cloud, thanks to tools like WebGPU and ONNX. The possibilities for privacy-conscious, lightning-fast AI features are immense.

The Web in 2028: Do we even need websites in the future?

A provocative question, and a fascinating talk. The speaker explored the rise of headless systems, voice interfaces, and AI agents — and challenged the audience to rethink what a “website” even is. Spoiler: they're not going anywhere, but their purpose is evolving rapidly. This talk got us thinking of many use cases for our clients whereby their users can ask a question of the website and a relevant journey or answer is presented.

Accessibility as a Concept

Rather than just a checklist of WCAG rules, this session reframed accessibility as a mindset. It emphasised empathy, inclusivity, and the importance of designing for everyone — not just those who fit the default.

Advanced Search 101

The excellent Callum Whyte presented this practical session covered how to get the most out of Umbraco search. From Lucene tips to filtering strategies and relevance boosting, it was full of real-world takeaways — especially valuable for large-scale sites.

Is ChatGPT Killing the Penguins? And Other AI Considerations

There are growing voices about how bad AI is for sustainability. This talk from the very witty James Hobbs  explored the actual impact that using AI tools can have. This included actually energy consumption test from James' laptop as he carried out AI tasks. A great reminder that technical progress must be balanced with responsibility.

Revamping the Media Section (Making the Dream a Reality)

The media section in Umbraco has always been functional — but not really fit for purpose. Steve Temple talked through how the Media section mirroring the Content section is not a very good idea. Since Umbraco V14, it is possible to swap out the default behaviour for custom functionality. So Steve set about redeveloping the media picker and the media section. Setting himself a limit of 5 days, Steve discovered that although the Umbraco documentation is somewhat lacking, he was able to get a very nice prototype up and running.

Effective Load Testing With JMeter

Performance matters. This talk broke down how to simulate real-world user traffic, analyse bottlenecks, and ensure that sites stay snappy under pressure. A solid, practical guide for devs and infrastructure teams alike.

It is Time to Embrace Containers

Presented by somebody who was involved with Umbraco at the very start, Per Ploug, this session was one not to miss. Per talked about how containerisation allows for different functions and tooling to be completely independent but work together in harmony.

From Clicks to Commands: AI for Editors, Developers, and Everyone Else

One of the highlights of the week was this talk presented by Phil Whittaker and Matt Wise. Phil and Matt demonstrated how using an Model Context Protocol (MCP) with agents it is possible to update both Umbraco settings and also content with instructions to an AI tool. The potential here for both content editors and developers is endless. Repetitive and tedious tasks could be carried out by an AI tool instead of manually. This one got us really excited.

The MVP Awards

One of the best moments of the conference was seeing our very own Debasish — attending Codegarden for the first time — being awarded an Umbraco MVP. A huge achievement and well deserved for the work he's done both inside and outside of client projects. We couldn’t be prouder.

Codegarden 2025 felt like a turning point. AI isn’t just the future — it’s the now. But what stood out most was the continued emphasis on people: collaboration, inclusion, and community. Whether it’s in how we code, design, or deploy — it all starts with humans.

We left Odense inspired, a little tired, and (as always) full of ideas. Until next year — and yes, we’re already looking forward to it.