Keeping Drupal sites secure shouldn’t be a manual chore. Learn how to automate Drupal core and dependency updates using CI-driven workflows that scale from single projects to large portfolios with dozens or even hundreds of sites.
Basic Drupal development knowledge and familiarity with Composer and Git. A general understanding of CI/CD workflows is helpful but not required to follow the concepts and examples.
Keeping Drupal sites up to date is essential for security and stability, but manual update workflows quickly become inefficient as projects and site counts grow.
This session focuses on automating Drupal core and contributed module updates using dependency update tools integrated into CI pipelines. You’ll see how automated update routines can replicate the steps developers typically perform locally: updating dependencies, applying configuration changes, running tests, and preparing reviewable merge requests.
We’ll explore how these workflows can be adapted for both single-project setups and agency environments managing many client sites. Real-world examples will show how automated updates improve release consistency, reduce human error, and make large-scale Drupal maintenance sustainable.
After attending this session, participants will be able to:
- Understand how automated dependency update tools fit into Drupal workflows
- Integrate Drupal update routines into CI pipelines
- Automate Drupal core and contributed module updates safely
- Apply update automation patterns to multi-project and agency setups
- Reduce maintenance effort while improving update reliability and security
