WP REST API & the future of WordPress

The WordPress REST API is effectively a framework that will allow developers to send and receive information to or from a WordPress website.

There has been lots of excited chatter in the WordPress community recently surrounding the REST API, and rightfully so. Considering WordPress already powers nearly 25% of the entire internet, the potential for advanced WordPress development that comes with using a RESTful API is huge. In the words of the WP-API website itself, “WordPress is moving towards becoming a fully-fledged application framework, and we need new APIs.”

Effectively having an API built to universal RESTful standards means that experienced WordPress developers will be able to use WordPress to power applications, either within a WordPress theme or plugin, or a separate client side front end that has no link to the WordPress backend.

Using the WordPress REST API, developers can use a series of endpoints (as well as being able to create their own routes and endpoints) that will give them the ability to do things such as creating a new post, editing a post, adding a new user and much more. The API will allow them to edit or receive data within a WordPress site from external applications, for example a mobile app that would otherwise have no easy or standard way of connecting to WordPress.

The possibilities for advanced WordPress development and application developers are enormous. Part of the WordPress REST API has been committed to core in WordPress 4.4 – if it goes well, the development team will have access to the complete REST API in WordPress 4.5.

Nonetheless, progress so far certainly marks a milestone for WordPress and we look forward to making use of the REST API on future projects.