Hangar Connect

WordPress site agent for Hangar: pairing keys, own REST API, and productivity reports via WP Activity Log (no Activity Reports dependency).

Free and open: public GitHub repo, no license token. Updates come from GitHub Releases (hangar-connect.zip).

Admin UI source strings are English (i18n); languages/hangar-connect-pt_BR.po + .mo provide Portuguese (Brazil).

Slug: hangar-connect (immutable). Display name defaults to Hangar Connect; filter hangar_connect_display_name for white-label ({company} Connect).

Features

• Settings -> Hangar Connect -- connections list, generate pairing key (copy once), rotate when pending, disconnect / disconnect all.
• One active Hangar pairing at a time: New connection card and "Generate new key" are hidden while connected.
• REST namespace /wp-json/hangar-connect/v1/... (never /wp/v2).
• Legacy alias /wp-json/barbas-connect/v1/... for older Hangar images still calling the pre-rebrand path.
• Pairing secret encrypted at rest (OpenSSL AES via shared crypto helpers).
• GET /health public discovery; POST /pair for Hangar handshake; HMAC-protected /capabilities and productivity reports via WP Activity Log (no Activity Reports dependency).
• WordPress updates from public GitHub Releases (Plugin Update Checker) -- no Barbas Update license tab.
• Migrates leftover barbas-connect/ plugin folder to hangar-connect/ after updates.
• WP-CLI: wp hangar-connect status|doctor|snapshot|capabilities (see Command line below).

Installation

1. WordPress -> Plugins -> Add New -> Upload Plugin
2. File: hangar-connect.zip
3. Activate
4. Settings -> Hangar Connect -> generate a pairing key
5. Paste the key in Hangar to pair the site

If updating from barbas-connect, prefer upload of hangar-connect.zip (or wait for the in-plugin folder migration on 0.2.5+).

REST routes

Legacy: the same routes under /barbas-connect/v1/....

POST /pair body: { "pairing_key": "bc_..." } -> { ok, connection_id, site_url, site_name }.

Structure

hangar-connect/
|-- hangar-connect.php
|-- uninstall.php
|-- readme.txt
|-- includes/
|   |-- hangar-connect-admin.php
|   |-- hangar-connect-activity.php
|   |-- hangar-connect-changelog-data.php   <- the changelog, single source
|   |-- hangar-connect-connections.php
|   |-- hangar-connect-hmac.php
|   |-- hangar-connect-migrate.php
|   |-- hangar-connect-rest.php
|   |-- barbas-changelog.php                <- shared renderer, copied as-is
|   |-- barbas-update-*.php
|   \-- cli/
|-- assets/
|-- languages/
\-- lib/plugin-update-checker/

Command line

Every Barbas plugin answers on the command line. Hangar Connect keeps a small, read-only surface - issuing a pairing key stays on the Connections screen, because a key is shown exactly once and belongs to a person, not to a script.

wp hangar-connect status         pairing state, connections, what it reports
wp hangar-connect doctor         everything needed to answer Hangar; non-zero exit on failure
wp hangar-connect snapshot       the fleet payload; non-zero exit when updates are waiting
wp hangar-connect capabilities   what this site tells Hangar it can do

doctor and snapshot exit non-zero when something needs attention, so a sweep across the fleet can pick out the sites that do by exit code alone:

wp hangar-connect doctor || echo "$SITE needs attention"

Changelog source

The changelog is written once, in includes/hangar-connect-changelog-data.php, and every surface is generated from it - the == Changelog == section of readme.txt (which is what the WordPress "View version details" window shows) and the changelog and version badge below.

php scripts/sync-readme.php           # regenerate readme.txt and README.md
php scripts/sync-readme.php --check   # exit 1 if either has drifted

scripts/build-zip.php runs that check, so a release whose readme has drifted, or whose newest changelog entry is not the version in the plugin header, cannot be built. Never edit a changelog anywhere but the data file.

Changelog

0.3.1 - 2026-09-09

• Improved Fixed the WordPress version number in this plugin's own metadata; it carried a trailing ".0" that WordPress.org does not expect.

0.3.0 - 2026-09-03

• New Command line: Hangar Connect now answers on the command line: wp hangar-connect status, doctor, snapshot and capabilities. Written for running unattended across a fleet - a missing prerequisite is a non-zero exit code, never a silent no-op.
• New Command line: wp hangar-connect doctor checks the things that keep a site from reporting to Hangar - pairing, encryption of the stored secret, REST reachability, WP Activity Log readiness and the update source - and exits non-zero when any of them fails, so a sweep across many sites tells you which need attention by exit code alone.
• Improved The changelog is now written once, in a single data file, and every place that shows it is generated from that one source. The readme and the project page had already drifted apart from each other.
• Fixed Updates: The release zip no longer includes .gitattributes or .gitignore - repository files with no reason to be on a live site. A build check now refuses to package them, so it cannot happen unnoticed again.
• Fixed Removed the em dash from the plugin details text, which could render as a broken character depending on the WordPress locale.

0.2.21

• Improved Tested up to WordPress 7.1.

0.2.20

• Improved Updates: Barbas Update hub 2.2.28. Connect registers as a hub candidate only and remains free, with no licence tab.
• Fixed The admin screens stayed in English on WordPress 6.7 and later even with the site in Portuguese. The plugin now loads its own translation file on init.

0.2.19

• Fixed Connections: The Status column came back to the connections table, with the badge centred in it.