Codegarden 2026:
Copenhagen Calling and Meeting your Hero

This year's Codegarden moved from its longtime home in Odense to Copenhagen, and what a move it was. Around 750 people, all under one enormous roof, with sweet stalls, unlimited coffee, a gaming zone, Hammer Schlagen, a barber (yes, an actual barber), and more food than any person should reasonably consume across three days. It had a real festival energy to it.

For me, it was a slightly different trip this year. Ben couldn't make it as he's been dealing with a recent health issue which he is recovering from, so I was flying solo from the Brace side of things. It felt a bit odd after attending together for the past few years. That said, it was brilliant to spend the conference with our developer Debasish Gracias , catching talks together, grabbing food between sessions, and generally doing the Codegarden thing. Always great to actually sit in the same room as someone you work with remotely.

One thing that struck me across the three days, and it's consistent every single year, is just how warm the Umbraco community is. So many people came up to ask after Ben. Whether it was over coffee, between talks, or at the dinner, people genuinely wanted to know how he was doing. It means a lot. Ben, the community misses you, mate. Thank you to everyone who asked.

Tuesday / Hawaiian Pre-Party

Things kicked off on Tuesday evening with the pre-party, and Umbraco went full  Hawaii. Golfing visors (?!) tropical drinks, games, and the kind of loosely organised fun that's perfect for getting the conversational wheels turning before two days of sessions. A great way to ease in, put faces to names, and catch up with people you've not seen since the year before.

Wednesday

Keynote(s)

As you'd expect, AI was front and centre of both the keynotes. The direction of travel for Umbraco is clear, leaning hard into how AI fits into the CMS and vice versa, the developer workflow, and the content editor experience. No big surprises as such, just a firm sense that Umbraco HQ knows where things are heading and is moving with purpose.

It's Elemental / Reuse Your Content | Kenn Jacobsen

Kenn's talk focused on content reuse through elements via the UI Library (coming in Umbraco 18). Rather than duplicating content across multiple pages, element types let you define modular, reusable pieces that editors can pick up and place wherever needed. The UI Library will be a new section in Umbraco alongside "Content", "Media" etc. For our clients, particularly those with large or frequently updated sites, this kind of approach reduces editorial overhead significantly and keeps content consistent without relying on people remembering to update things in multiple places.

Umbraco in AI | Phil Whittaker

Phil's session looked at how AI is being woven into the Umbraco ecosystem, not as a gimmick but as something genuinely useful for both developers and content editors. From smart content suggestions to workflow improvements, the message was that AI tools are increasingly accessible and don't require a massive lift to implement. This is directly relevant to how we're thinking about AI features for client projects at Brace, making them practical and purposeful rather than impressive for its own sake.

Umbraco Awards Dinner

The awards evening was a great night. What really made it work was the format. Award categories were presented by pairs, with each duo bringing their own bit of banter and humour to proceedings (from the Peaky Blinders, to Rocky and Ivan Drago and even Mario Kart 😂). It gave the whole thing a much more human feel than a standard podium and clapping setup, and made for a genuinely entertaining evening. Congratulations to all the winners. The Awards always serve as a good reminder of how much brilliant work goes on in this community.

Thursday

Accelerating Package Development with Umbraco 17 Automation | Paul Seal

Paul walked through how to speed up the process of building and publishing Umbraco packages using automation tooling in v17 - even via the use of his mobile phone. For us this is relevant in two ways, both in the packages we use and in our own development approach. Anything that shortens the feedback loop and removes manual steps in the release process is worth paying attention to.

AI in Umbraco | Matt Brailsford

Matt's talk dug deeper into the practical integration of AI within Umbraco, covering how AI can assist within the back office and how developers can build AI-aware features into their implementations. This is territory we're actively working in at Brace, so it was good to hear how others are approaching the same space and what patterns are emerging.

Building Resilient Umbraco Integrations | Callum Whyte

Callum covered what it actually takes to build integrations that don't fall over when something goes wrong upstream. Retry logic, fallback strategies, graceful degradation. The unglamorous stuff that makes the difference between a client ringing you in a panic and a client never knowing there was an issue. Applicable to pretty much every third-party integration we manage across our client base.

Umbraco 17 Roadmap | Andy Butland

Andy's session on the v17 roadmap was one for the diary. Knowing what's coming and when helps us plan upgrade paths and advise clients on timing. We're already working with Umbraco 17 on live projects, so having a clearer picture of where things are heading is genuinely useful rather than just interesting.

Designing Umbraco for AEO and AI Discovery | Kyle Brigham

This one felt timely. AEO, or Answer Engine Optimisation, is the emerging discipline of structuring your content so it surfaces correctly through AI-powered search tools and answer engines, not just traditional Google results. Kyle's session covered how Umbraco sites can be structured and tagged to perform well in this new landscape. As AI discovery becomes a more meaningful part of how people find things online, this is something we'll be factoring into content architecture for clients going forward.

Automate All the Things with AI Agents | Shannon Thompson (Deminick)

Shannon's talk on AI agents was probably the one that got my brain working hardest. The idea that you can chain AI actions together, moving beyond a single prompt and response into something that can work through multi-step tasks autonomously, opens up a lot of possibilities for both development workflows and client-facing features. We've been building in this space already, and talks like this help shape where we take things next.

Special Evening Program and Dinner / Umbraco Bingo

The Thursday evening was a proper laugh. Umbraco Bingo was in full swing, with a healthy dose of Danish humour throughout. I'm pleased to report I won a round, joining about 20 other lucky winners in receiving... a Danish cinnamon roll. Not the iPad from the previous round! I also had a turn with the Umbraco Python, which if you're a developer, you'll appreciate is either a scripting language or a very large snake, and in this context the banter leaned firmly into both. Good fun.

Copenhagen delivered. The new venue, the scale, the energy, it all worked. But as ever with Codegarden, the venue is really just the backdrop. What keeps us coming back is the community, the quality of the sessions, and the reminder that we're part of something genuinely collaborative and open.

Already looking forward to next year. Ben, you're coming.

A side story (for those who are only here to find out who my hero is)

Wednesday evening took an unexpected turn. I ended up at Freddy's Bar late on, where I got chatting to some Danish locals about football (I was watching the England match). Augustus and Niels, as they introduced themselves, casually mentioned they went to school with Thomas Gravesen (I had previously mentioned I was an Everton fan). For anyone who needs context, Gravesen played for Everton in the early 2000s and was one of Denmark's most recognisable players of that era. I was sceptical to say the least. So they rang him. On FaceTime. Right there at the bar. And he answered. I was genuinely gobsmacked. Before I could get a word in, he looked down the camera and shouted "Up The Toffees!" I'm still not entirely sure that actually happened, but was a hilarious end to the day 😂😂