Sofware Library

A WordPress plugin for managing and distributing version information for your themes and plugins via the WordPress REST API. It can also serve as an update hub — other WordPress sites running your plugins can point to a site running this plugin to receive automatic update notifications.

Features

• Registers a Software Library custom post type for tracking plugins, themes, and other software
• Stores key technical metadata per entry: type, download URL, version, required/tested WordPress versions, and release date
• Exposes a public REST API endpoint to query software info by slug
• Integrates with the WordPress update system — sites running your plugins can poll a hub site for new versions and receive in-dashboard update notifications
• Supports i18n / translations via a .pot file
• Cleans up scheduled tasks on plugin deactivation

Requirements

Installation

1. Clone or download this repository into your wp-content/plugins/ directory:cd wp-content/plugins/ git clone <repo-url> afca-software-library
2. Install PHP dependencies via Composer:cd afca-software-library composer install –no-dev
3. Activate the plugin from the WordPress Admin → Plugins screen.

Usage

Adding a Software Entry

After activation, a Software Library menu item (portfolio icon) will appear in the WordPress admin sidebar.

Create a new entry and fill in the Technical Information meta box:

The post title is the software name and the post content serves as release notes.

REST API

The plugin registers a public REST API endpoint:

GET /wp-json/afca-software-library/v1/ref/{slug}

Parameters

Example Request

curl https://your-site.com/wp-json/afca-software-library/v1/ref/my-plugin

Example Response

{
  "id": 42,
  "title": "My Plugin",
  "released_notes": "Fixed a critical bug in the settings page.",
  "version": "1.2.0",
  "url": "https://your-site.com/downloads/my-plugin.zip",
  "wp_required": "6.1",
  "wp_tested": "6.5",
  "released_date": "2024-11-01"
}

Returns a 404 error object if no entry is found for the given slug.

Using as an Update Hub

This plugin is designed so that your other plugins can point to a site running AFCA Software Library to receive automatic update checks — bypassing the WordPress.org repository.

In a plugin that should receive updates from the hub, instantiate the Updates class:

use Afca\Plugins\SoftwareLibrary\Updates;

new Updates(
    'https://your-hub-site.com/', // Hub site URL
    'your-plugin-folder-name',    // Plugin folder/slug (must match the Software Library post slug)
    '1.0.0'                       // Current installed version
);

The Updates class will:

• Check the hub’s REST API endpoint daily (via wp_schedule_event)
• Cache the response for 24 hours using a transient
• Inject available update data into WordPress’s native plugin update system
• Show update notifications in the WordPress admin dashboard just like plugins from WordPress.org

Development

Dev dependencies (PHP CodeSniffer with WordPress Coding Standards) are managed via Composer:

composer install

To run the linter:

./vendor/bin/phpcs --standard=phpcs.xml

File Structure

afca-software-library/
├── afca-software-library.php   # Plugin entry point
├── composer.json
├── phpcs.xml                   # Coding standards config
├── uninstall.php               # Cleanup on uninstall
├── languages/
│   └── afca-software-library.pot
└── src/
    ├── Init.php                # Bootstraps all classes
    ├── PostType.php            # Registers the custom post type
    ├── MetaFields.php          # Admin meta box & field persistence
    ├── Endpoints.php           # REST API endpoint
    └── Updates.php             # Update hub integration