Drupal 11.3.2: HTMX Support, Performance & Export Tools

Here's what the 11.3.x line actually delivers and what it means for your projects. This overview covers the official Drupal 11 release notes alongside practical upgrade considerations.

What Led to This Release

Drupal's core team has been pushing hard on two fronts: reducing JavaScript complexity and improving baseline performance. The HTMX integration stems from a formal community initiative to "Replace AJAX API with HTMX", a years-long effort to move away from jQuery-based patterns toward a lighter, more declarative approach. This Drupal HTMX integration marks a fundamental shift in front-end development philosophy.

On the performance side, Drupal sites have historically carried more database overhead than necessary. The 11.3.0 release targeted this directly with caching and query improvements that the team describes as "the biggest performance boost in a decade." These Drupal database optimization efforts address long-standing concerns about CMS efficiency.

The 11.3.2 patch builds on this foundation by fixing bugs discovered after the initial release, including an APCu FileCache memory growth issue and CKEditor 5 loading excessive translation assets during AJAX operations. This Drupal security update ensures stability for production environments.

Breaking Down the Key Changes

HTMX Integration

The most talked-about addition is native HTMX support. HTMX is a lightweight library (about 14KB minified) that enables dynamic page updates through HTML attributes instead of custom JavaScript.

Instead of writing JavaScript handlers for common interactions, you add attributes like hx-get, hx-post, and hx-trigger directly to your HTML elements. Drupal's render and form APIs now work with these attributes natively.

The claimed benefit: up to 71% less JavaScript for typical UI patterns. This Drupal JavaScript reduction significantly improves page load times and user experience.

A word of caution: The HTMX module carries experimental status. The API may change, and Drupal.org recommends careful evaluation before production use. We've found that experimental modules can work well for internal tools or lower-risk projects, but client-facing production sites typically benefit from waiting until the API stabilizes.

Performance Gains

The performance numbers from Drupal.org testing are notable:

• SQL query count: ~31% reduction (from 381 to 263)
• Cache get operations: ~33% reduction (from 471 to 316)
• Cache set operations: ~33% reduction (from 467 to 315)
• CacheTag lookups: ~45% reduction (from 49 to 27)

The headline claim is 26–33% more requests served with the same database load. Specific improvements include better render caching, query reductions, asset aggregation tweaks, lazy loading for media, and memory usage refinements. These Drupal performance optimization changes represent substantial Drupal site speed improvement across the board.

Real-world results will vary based on your site's complexity, hosting environment, and traffic patterns. But for sites bottlenecked on database operations, these changes should provide measurable relief.

Navigation Module Now Stable

The Navigation module, which provides a collapsible vertical sidebar for admin tasks, moved from experimental to stable in Drupal 11.1 and is confirmed safe for production use in 11.3.x. It offers better mobile responsiveness, improved keyboard accessibility, and more customization options than the traditional Toolbar. The Drupal Navigation module enhances daily content management workflows.

CKEditor 5 Improvements

The text editor gains entity reference linking. You can now link to site content using autocomplete selection instead of manually copying URLs. List formatting, table editing, paste handling, and accessibility have all received attention. CKEditor 5 Drupal 11 integration continues to mature with each release.

The 11.3.2 patch specifically fixes an issue where CKEditor 5 was loading all plugin translations during AJAX operations, which affected page load times.

Content Export Tools

Drupal core now includes a command-line tool for exporting content in Default Content format:

php core/scripts/drupal content:export <ENTITY-TYPE-ID> <ENTITY-ID>

The --with-dependencies flag exports related entities alongside your primary content. This Drupal content export CLI simplifies content migration and backup workflows. It pairs well with the Recipe system (introduced in 11.1) for packaging site configurations. The Drupal Recipe system enables reproducible site deployments.

What This Means for Your Projects

For Active Drupal Sites

If you're running Drupal 11, updating to 11.3.2 is straightforward. You get security fixes, bug resolutions, and access to the performance improvements from 11.3.0. Those planning to upgrade to Drupal 11.3 should review the full changelog for any compatibility considerations.

The PHP 8.3 requirement may affect some hosting environments. Check your server configuration before upgrading. Understanding Drupal PHP 8.3 requirements is essential for planning your upgrade timeline.

Our experience shows that the performance gains are most noticeable on content-heavy sites with complex views or high traffic. Simpler sites may see smaller improvements but still benefit from the reduced query overhead.

For New Projects

Starting a project on Drupal 11.3.x gives you access to the full feature set from day one. The stable Navigation module, improved CKEditor, and performance baseline make this a solid foundation. Reviewing the complete Drupal 11.3.2 features list helps teams make informed architectural decisions.

For HTMX, consider your team's comfort with experimental features. The reduced JavaScript approach is appealing, but building around an API that might change requires flexibility.

For Drupal 10 Sites

Drupal 11.3.x has security coverage until December 2026. If you're evaluating an upgrade from Drupal 10, the performance improvements and reduced JavaScript complexity strengthen the case for making the move. A Drupal 10 to 11 migration provides access to all these improvements while maintaining long-term security support. The Recipe system and content export tools also simplify the migration process. Planning your Drupal 11 upgrade now ensures ample time for testing and deployment.

Our Take

This release line represents real progress on pain points that Drupal developers have dealt with for years. Heavy JavaScript bundles and database query overhead have been legitimate criticisms, and the core team is addressing both directly.

We recommend treating the HTMX integration as promising but not yet proven for high-stakes production use. Monitor the initiative's progress and plan to adopt it fully once the experimental flag is removed.

The performance improvements are ready now and worth pursuing, especially for sites where database load has been a limiting factor.

Next Steps

Drupal 11.3.2 delivers meaningful improvements to baseline performance and introduces a new direction for front-end development with HTMX. Understanding what's actually in the patch versus the broader 11.3.x feature line helps you set accurate expectations for your upgrade.

If you're planning a Drupal upgrade or evaluating how these changes affect your current setup, we can help you assess the impact on your specific site architecture and identify which improvements will matter most for your traffic patterns and content complexity.