Stretch goal: 2016 WP REST API contributions

Wow — I'm completely blown away. My Kickstarter campaign was 100% funded in just short of 12 hours. Totally incredible.

Let's establish a stretch goal, shall we? For every $100 contributed past $17,500, I'll contribute one hour of time towards the WP REST API project in 2016. Because there's still a ton of thorny problems to solve.

Campaign hits $40,000? That's 225 hours of bug fixing, writing documentation, and helping to figure out just how we're going to handle password-protected posts.

While I'll likely be donating a bunch of personal time towards the WP REST API anyway, your support makes contributing to open source much more sustainable for an independent, one-person shop. Plus, there are still awesome rewards to pick up.

Thanks!

***

What's the goal?

I'd like to solve a problem you don't yet know you have.

At the end of this project, all WP REST API endpoints registered via plugins and themes will automagically be usable as WP-CLI commands. By supporting this project, you make it possible to push and pull posts (including custom post types), users, and other WP REST API data between separate WordPress installations with one simple WP-CLI command.

Need a copy of a post on production? Use wp post pull. Need to push your menu changes to staging? Use wp menu item push. You get the idea.

WP-CLI is known for delightfully surprising its users:

Contribute to a more RESTful WP-CLI, and unlock the potential of the WP REST API at the command line.

Plus, all of the rewards are designed to help you and your team take full advantage of everything WP-CLI and the WP REST API can do together.

Why is this campaign important?

This project matters because both WP-CLI and the WP REST API offer CRUD interfaces to WordPress, and the functional components for WP-CLI's internals are duplicated by WP REST API endpoints. By using WP REST API endpoints to power WP-CLI, we can remove a lot of code from WP-CLI.

However, putting a substantial amount of volunteered time towards new feature development is challenging, while balancing regular life and client work. I already spend hours each week improving WP-CLI, debugging support requests, and shipping new releases.

A successful fundraising campaign will enable me to help bring the utility of the highly-anticipated WP REST API to the command line, without sacrificing the time that normally goes to regular bug fixes and releases.

Tell me more...

… about the WP REST API?

The WP REST API will make it easy to access your WordPress website’s data through a HTTP REST API. The project started in 2013 as a Google Summer of Code project, and is led by Ryan McCue (@rmccue) and Rachel Baker (@rachelbaker). Joe Hoyle (@joe_hoyle) and I (@danielbachhuber) became involved as contributing developers in fall 2014.

The infrastructure classes for the WP REST API were recently committed to WordPress for the upcoming 4.4 version. The individual endpoints will be committed to WordPress in a future release, to be determined.

If you’ve ever been frustrated by wp_insert_post() or wp_update_nav_menu_item(), the WP REST API represents a rethink of WordPress' internals with the end goal of providing clean and consistent ways for developers to interface with WordPress, without needing to understand the entire history of its internal logic.

The WP REST API also makes it much easier to use alternative frontend templating tools and create iOS apps that connect to 24% of the web. 

… about WP-CLI?

WP-CLI offers a command line interface to WordPress. It's loved by developers, comes installed by default on many web hosts, and is a business-critical component of the WordPress economy.

The project was started by Andreas Creten (@andreascreten) in 2011, and maintained for a few years by Cristi Burca (@scribu). I took over the reins in April 2014. 

How will you use my money?

$17,500 represents 150 hours of development at $100/hour, plus Kickstarter's cut and costs associated with the rewards. I intend to use this time over the first six months of 2016.

***

Thanks to @aaronjorbin, @borekb, @jjj, @krogsgard, @netaustin, and @strebel for their very helpful feedback on versions of this proposal.