Merge pull request #182 from wp-cli/restful-wp-cli-update-4

RESTful WP-CLI final update

Author: danielbachhuber

_posts/2016-07-20-restful-wp-cli-update-4.md

@@ -0,0 +1,90 @@
+---
+layout: post
+author: danielbachhuber
+title: RESTful WP-CLI - The final update?
+---
+
+Last November, I [published a Kickstarter](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danielbachhuber/a-more-restful-wp-cli), and was completely blown away by the support. This month, the funding ran out, so I thought I'd post one last [RESTful WP-CLI](https://github.com/wp-cli/restful) update.
+
+Actually, the story doesn't end here. I'm writing a massive retrospective post about using Kickstarter to fund open source, so keep an eye out for that. Also, WP-CLI v0.24.0 is due out a week from now, July 27th, and it's looking to be the largest release ever. When you do a Kickstarter, it's really just the beginning of something bigger.
+
+Enough with the superlatives, let's dive into some new features. Remember: RESTful WP-CLI features require under the hood changes to WP-CLI. You'll want to `wp cli update --nightly` to play with this new functionality locally. Once you've done so, you can `wp package install wp-cli/restful` to install the latest.
+
+### Effortlessly use WP-CLI against any WordPress install
+
+WP-CLI aliases are shortcuts you register in your `wp-cli.yml` or `config.yml` to effortlessly run commands against any WordPress install.
+
+For instance, if I'm working locally on the runcommand theme, have registered a new rewrite rule, and need to flush rewrites inside my Vagrant-based virtual machine, I can run:
+
+    $ wp @dev rewrite flush
+    Success: Rewrite rules flushed.
+
+Then, once the code goes to production, I can run:
+
+    $ wp @prod rewrite flush
+    Success: Rewrite rules flushed.
+
+Look ma! No more SSH'ing into machines, changing directories, and generally spending a full minute get to a given WordPress install.
+
+Additionally, alias groups let you register groups of aliases. If I want to run a command against both runcommand WordPress instances, I can use `@both`:
+
+    $ wp @both core check-update
+    Success: WordPress is at the latest version.
+    Success: WordPress is at the latest version.
+
+Aliases can be registered in your project's `wp-cli.yml` file, or your user's global `~/.wp-cli/config.yml` file:
+
+    @prod:
+      ssh: runcommand@runcommand.io~/webapps/production
+    @dev:
+      ssh: vagrant@192.168.50.10/srv/www/runcommand.dev
+    @both:
+      - @prod
+      - @dev
+
+### But wait, what's the 'ssh' in there?
+
+WP-CLI now natively supports a `--ssh=<host>` global parameter for running a command against a remote WordPress install. Many thanks to XWP and their community for paving the way with [WP-CLI SSH](https://github.com/xwp/wp-cli-ssh).
+
+Under the hood, WP-CLI proxies commands to the `ssh` executable, which then passes them to WP-CLI installed on the remote machine. Your syntax for `-ssh=<host>` can be any of the following:
+
+* Just the host (e.g. `wp --ssh=runcommand.io`), which means the user will be inferred from your current system user, and the path will be the SSH user's home directory.
+* The user and the host (e.g. `wp --ssh=runcommand@runcommand.io`).
+* The user, the host, and the path to the WordPress install (e.g. `wp --ssh=runcommand@runcommand.io~/webapps/production`). The path comes immediately after the TLD of the host.
+
+Or, if you use a `~/.ssh/config`, `<host>` can be any host alias stored in the SSH config (e.g. `wp --ssh=rc` for me).
+
+Note you do need a copy of WP-CLI on the remote server, accessible as `wp`. Futhermore, `--ssh=<host>` won't load your `.bash_profile` if you have a shell alias defined, or are extending the `$PATH` environment variable. If this affects you, [here's a more thorough explanation](https://runcommand.io/to/wp-ssh-custom-path/) of how you can make `wp` accessible.
+
+### RESTful WP-CLI v0.2.0 and beyond
+
+Today marks the release of [RESTful WP-CLI](https://github.com/wp-cli/restful) v0.2.0. Among [43 closed issues and pull requests](https://github.com/wp-cli/restful/milestone/2?closed=1), I'd like to highlight two new features.
+
+First, use `wp rest (post|user|comment|*) generate` to create an arbitrary number of any resource:
+
+    $ wp @wpdev rest post generate --count=50 --title="Test Post"
+    Generating items  100% [==============================================] 0:01 / 0:02
+
+When working on a site locally, you often need dummy content to work with. There are a myriad of ways custom post types can store data in the database though, so generating dummy content can be a painstaking process. Because the WP REST API represents a layer of abstraction between the client (e.g. WP-CLI in this case) and the database, it's much easier to produce a general purpose content generation command.
+
+In the future, I'd love to see [dummy data generated for each field based on the resource schema](https://github.com/wp-cli/restful/issues/69).
+
+Second, use `wp rest (post|user|comment|*) diff` to compare resources between two enviroments:
+
+    # "command" isn't a typo in this example; "command" is a content type expressed through the WP REST API on runcommand.io
+    $ wp @dev rest command diff @prod find-unused-themes --fields=title
+    (-) http://runcommand.dev/api/ (+) https://runcommand.io/api/
+      command:
+      + title: find-unused-themes
+
+When working with multiple WordPress environments, you may want to know how these environments differ. Because the WP REST API represents a higher-level abstraction on top of WordPress, computing the difference between two environments becomes a matter of fetching the data and producing a comparison.
+
+There are a [number of ways the diff command could be improved](https://github.com/wp-cli/restful/issues?q=is%3Aissue+is%3Aopen+label%3Acommand%3Adiff), so consider this implementation to be the prototype.
+
+What's next?
+
+More immediately, I'd like to start looking at how well RESTful WP-CLI works with plugins and themes. If you've written custom endpoints for the WP REST API, [please weigh in on this Github issue](https://github.com/wp-cli/restful/issues/85) so I can check it out.
+
+Ultimately, the goal is for `wp rest post` to replace `wp post`, but there are many months between here and there. In this future where WP-CLI packages are first-class citizens amongst the commands in WP-CLI core, RESTful WP-CLI gets to serve as a testbed for figuring out how that actually works. We shall see, we shall see.
+
+As always, thanks for your support!

restful/index.md

@@ -5,13 +5,13 @@ title: A more RESTful WP-CLI
 
 ## A more RESTful WP-CLI
 
-*Landing page last updated: April 14, 2016*
+*Landing page last updated: July 20, 2016*
 
-WP-CLI's mission is to be, quantitatively, the *fastest* interface for developers to manage WordPress. "A more RESTful WP-CLI" is a [Kickstarter-backed](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danielbachhuber/a-more-restful-wp-cli/description) project to unlock the potential of the [WordPress REST API](http://v2.wp-api.org/) at the command line. This funding supports 283 hours of [Daniel Bachhuber](http://danielbachhuber.com/)'s time towards making improvements to WP-CLI and the WP REST API.
+WP-CLI's mission is to be, quantitatively, the *fastest* interface for developers to manage WordPress. "A more RESTful WP-CLI" was a [Kickstarter-backed](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/danielbachhuber/a-more-restful-wp-cli/description) project to unlock the potential of the [WordPress REST API](http://v2.wp-api.org/) at the command line. This funding supported 232.42 hours of [Daniel Bachhuber](http://danielbachhuber.com/)'s time towards making improvements to WP-CLI and the WP REST API.
 
-Wait a second, what does it mean to "unlock the potential of the WP REST API at the command line"? Pragmatically, it means any endpoints registered in plugins or themes will be *automagically* accessible as WP-CLI commands. For instance, if you were to register an endpoint for `GET /my-plugin/v1/product/<id>`, this endpoint will also be accessible on the command line as (more or less) `wp @prod product get <id>`. You can check out the work to date at [danielbachhuber/wp-rest-cli](https://github.com/danielbachhuber/wp-rest-cli)
+Wait a second, what does it mean to "unlock the potential of the WP REST API at the command line"? Pragmatically, it means any endpoints registered in plugins or themes are *automagically* accessible as WP-CLI commands. For instance, if you were to register an endpoint for `GET /my-plugin/v1/product/<id>`, this endpoint is also accessible on the command line as (more or less) `wp @prod product get <id>`.
 
-However, this project is also a multi-faceted exploration of what it means for WP-CLI to be the fastest way to manage WordPress, in a world backed by the WP REST API.
+For a summary of these features, check out [wp-cli/restful](https://github.com/wp-cli/restful). Or, read through the updates linked below for a broader overview of how the project progressed.
 
 Quick links: [Achievements](#achievements) - [Budget](#budget) - [Supporters](#supporters)
 
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ Quick links: [Achievements](#achievements) - [Budget](#budget) - [Supporters](#s
 
 Blog posts:
 
+* [RESTful WP-CLI - The final update?](/blog/restful-wp-cli-update-4.html) - July 20, 2016
 * [RESTful WP-CLI - What I've been hacking on](/blog/restful-wp-cli-update-3.html) - April 14, 2016
 * [RESTful WP-CLI - No rest for the weary](/blog/restful-wp-cli-update-2.html) - February 4, 2016
 * [RESTful WP-CLI - The journey begins](/blog/restful-wp-cli-update-1.html) - January 12, 2016
@@ -35,23 +36,24 @@ Releases:
 
 Presentations:
 
+* [My condolences, you’re now the maintainer of a popular open source project](https://runcommand.io/2016/06/26/my-condolences-youre-now-the-maintainer-of-a-popular-open-source-project/) - WordCamp Europe (June 25, 2016)
 * [Unlocking the potential of the WP REST API at the command line](http://blog.handbuilt.co/2016/01/28/feelingrestful-a-more-restful-wp-cli/) - A Day of REST (January 28, 2016)
 
 ***
 
 ## Budget
 
-Here's a breakdown of how the project's 283 total hours have been used (between January 1st and April 14th, 2016):
+Here's a breakdown of how the project's 232.42 total hours have been used (between January 1st and July 20th, 2016):
 
 | Activity      | WP-CLI                     | WP-API                    |
 |---------------|----------------------------|---------------------------|
-| Development   | 65.46                      | 67.95                     |
+| Development   | 84.38                      | 67.95                     |
 | Support       | 10.91                      | 15.39                     |
-| Documentation | 24.96                      | 1.17                      |
-| Blogging      | 12.51                      | 0                         |
+| Documentation | 27.21                      | 1.17                      |
+| Blogging      | 16.97                      | 0                         |
 | Meetings      | 0                          | 7.91                      |
 | Admin         | 0.77                       | 0                         |
-| **Total**     | 114.61 (of 150.58 budgeted)| 92.42 (of 92.42 budgeted) |
+| **Total**     | 140.24 (of 140.00 budgeted)| 92.42 (of 92.42 budgeted) |
 
 Note: time spent fulfilling the Kickstarter rewards is tracked separately.