Hi Reader,

Squarespace just made a big announcement last week at Circle Day (and a whole bunch of smaller ones too). I've been noodling on what this means for us, and if it's been top of mind for you, hit reply and let me know what you're thinking.

Are you a web designer worried your entire workflow will need to change? Did you build your own site on Squarespace and you're happy with how it is now, or maybe you're considering rebuilding with AI? Let me know.

It was interesting to try and read the room in person on Circle Day, but the bottom line for me is that I'm feeling more optimistic about Squarespace now than I was two months ago.

Want the details on the announcements? Keep reading...

But first, big thanks to Money x Pet for sponsoring this issue.

Disclosure: This email contains affiliate links. If you click through and make a purchase, I'll be compensated at no cost to you.

👉 WHAT'S NEW WITH ME

• I loved seeing a bunch of you at Squarespace Circle Day! Thank you to everyone who said hello.
• I'm coming down the home stretch of my Two Day Website System course for web designers, and if you're on the waitlist, you'll be hearing more from me soon!
• If you want a deeper look at what Squarespace unveiled at Circle Day, I wrote up a full blog post debrief. And Will and I talked more about it on our most recent podcast episode of Somewhat Useful.​

👉 WHAT'S NEW WITH SQUARESPACE?

This is probably why you opened up this email. There were SO MANY announcements. The biggest one was Forma, a new AI-native platform for building sites, apps, and agents. You can get on the waitlist here to try it. Yeah, I know. I'm torn. I need another AI tool like a submarine needs screen doors. And yet, I'm actually excited about this one. Folks who get into the beta (fingers crossed) will get the opportunity to help shape the tool. I'm already thinking about how I'd use it and how it could be better than what's out there currently. I'd love to know how YOU feel. Hit reply and tell me!

One thing to know is that Squarespace 7.1 isn't going anywhere, and it's getting lots of updates. Here are the ones that are currently available:

• Background Images on Stacks. Add background images to Stacks to create more immersive sites featuring dynamic block layouts. I'm very excited about this one.
• Vertical video. The video block now supports portrait orientation videos as well as landscape orientation. Super happy to see this.
• Image Studio. Generate, edit, and use high-quality images that match your client’s brand, site, and offerings with Image Studio, the new AI tool. I'm less excited about this one.
• SMS Campaigns. You can text your subscribers. (Don't worry. I'm not going to text you.)
• Squarespace developers site. This one was a little beyond me, but apparently OAuth and API keys are easier to deal with, and the developer support documents are a lot better.
• Squarespace MCP (domains). I was SO excited when I heard MCP, but... Basically, you can connect your AI tool and have it find available domains to buy on Squarespace. I'll be shocked if this gets used much.
• New Commerce APIs. Contacts, discounts at scale, payment plans. Really nice to be able to easily get this info out of Squarespace and into something else.
• New extensions. HubSpot, Google Reviews, Facebook Reviews, and my personal favorite, Eventually.

And these they talked about Coming Soon:

• Drafts and auto-save. This will be so lovely to have. Imagine being able to easily show your client a draft, then go live with the changes in one click.
• Stacks gradients. Another background option for stacks. I can see this being super cool too.
• AI Sections (custom code module). I think most folks using AI already have a tool for this, but if you don't, this might be nice? Or maybe it's good to have it all in one place. Personally, I'm a big fan of Compose from our friends at SquareKicker.
• MCP for commerce and websites. I want to be excited for this, but see MCP for domains above. I'm not going to hold my breath on what it will be able to do.
• Cart API. For abandoned Cart recovery. I think this will be very helpful for folks using Squarespace's ecommerce with a third-party email marketing tool. Like my favorite, Kit.

👉 WHAT'S NEW IN THE COMMUNITY?

• ​Mariah Magazine's Search Club is closing its doors on Friday. This is the SEO Membership that helps you build & maintain a 1-hour-per-week SEO habit so you can start ranking for better keywords + phrases that actually drive results, even as search & AI evolve.

👉 FUN & USEFUL THINGS

• Claude is rolling out an agentic tool called Duet (like ChatGPT's Dot or Meta's Muse). You can join the waitlist here. Talking with Will made me a little nervous about my using Instinct, so I think I'll give this a try instead when it's available.
• ​Andy J. Pizza gave the final talk at Circle Day, and I'm kind of obsessed. Check out his books and podcast.

And, seriously, let me know what you're thinking about all these Squarespace announcements.

Thanks for having me in your inbox!
Christy