Tag Archives: WP Remote

#phppdx: WordPress as an Application Platform

Last night, I presented to ~25-30 people at the PDX PHP meetup on “WordPress as an Application Platform”. Even though I’m no longer with Human Made, I think what they’ve done with WP Remote (and Happytables) is the bleeding edge and worthy of sharing.

Ultimately, the point I wanted to get across is two-fold:

  • Many applications you could think of building are easily doable with WordPress.
  • WordPress-based products are even more interesting when you have a few, and durable components to share between them.

After the talk, I asked Zack for his feedback:

  • Went well: introduction via Freshbooks example really set the stage for what we were talking about. Avoided misunderstanding / different opinions of what a web application was.
  • Next time: Challenge people more. Explanation of how HM built WP Remote was a bit surface level. Could’ve gone deeper into the architecture as a frame of reference for people when they run into it.

Resources

All of the references I mentioned in the slides are available at the following links.

WP Remote components:

  • Job Agency – Asynchronous jobs system for WordPress, built on WP-CLI.
  • HM Rewrite – Wrapper for the WP Rewrite API.
  • h-api – Simple, descriptive API pattern. Needs work for public consumption.

Object cache drop-ins:

Future of WordPress:

On launching WP Remote Premium

This past Friday, after months of work and then two weeks of hard work, we launched a Premium version of WP Remote. The new feature list includes:

  • Automatic backups to WP Remote, or Dropbox or your own S3 account.
  • Daily email summaries of what’s been happening on your sites.
  • Ability to install, activate, deactivate, and delete themes and plugins.
  • Automatic core, theme, and plugin updates.
  • History now logs important actions happening within WordPress, including when a theme is switched, an administrator logs in, etc.

What I’m most excited about, and what WP Tavern nailed in their coverage, is that the launch of Premium also marks the formal announcement of the WP Remote API. Our entire JavaScript web application is built upon the same API that’s available to the public. For our users, this means the sky is the limit in how they integrate WP Remote into their workflow. For Human Made, the API is a rock solid foundation for us to continue to build WP Remote experiences with. It also means we can develop the API independently of the user-facing application.

Continue reading “On launching WP Remote Premium”

Beta test the new WP Remote API

WP Remote strives to make it much easier to manage your WordPress sites. This week, Joe and I are in Portland to build  a Premium version. Being the developers we are, our first order of business was to completely rewrite the API, and make it available for public consumption.

We’d love for you to break it try it out. The free endpoints allow you to update core, themes, and plugins, download an archive of the entire site, and access a log of the actions you’ve performed on the site. Our Premium version lets you install, activate, deactivate and delete themes and plugins, and enable automatic backups, with more to come.

Feel free to write scripts that use the API, or build a new interface on top of it (our application is built entirely on the API). We’ve also created WP Remote CLI for you, a WP-CLI command to access WP Remote. Our goal is feature parity with WP-CLI, plus more. My favorite command right now: wp --site-id=31 remote-site download

Because Premium isn’t launched yet, shoot us an email and we’d be happy to enable Premium endpoints for your site.

Oh yeah — Human Made is hiring for a product-focused frontend developer. If you know someone who might fit the bill, please send them our way. Bonus points if they pitch us with something they’ve built on the API.