WSS Core self-updates

Lightweight base plugin for Webshopschool client websites. No frontend/admin features yet — it exists as a stable foundation that can auto-update from GitHub so future functionality can be rolled out to all client sites by publishing a new release.

How it works

• The plugin polls https://api.github.com/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases/latest (cached for 6 hours).
• It compares the GitHub release tag against the installed version.
• If the release tag is newer, WordPress shows an update notice exactly like a wordpress.org plugin.
• Update package preference:
  1. A release asset named wss-core.zip (recommended — produced by the bundled GitHub Action).
  2. Otherwise the auto-generated GitHub zipball_url (the folder rename is corrected automatically).
• The Update URI header points to GitHub so the wordpress.org updater never collides with this plugin.

Configuration

Edit includes/class-wss-core.php:

const GITHUB_OWNER = 'webshopschool';
const GITHUB_REPO  = 'wss-core';

That is the only configuration. Everything else is derived from the plugin headers.

Setup guide

1. Create the GitHub repository

1. Create a new public GitHub repo (e.g. webshopschool/wss-core).
2. Update GITHUB_OWNER and GITHUB_REPO in includes/class-wss-core.php to match.

2. Upload the plugin

git init
git remote add origin git@github.com:webshopschool/wss-core.git
git add .
git commit -m "Initial commit: WSS Core 1.0.0"
git branch -M main
git push -u origin main

3. Create the first release

1. Bump the version in both:
   • wss-core.php — Version: header and WSS_CORE_VERSION constant.
   • readme.txt — Stable tag:.
2. Commit and push.
3. On GitHub: Releases → Draft a new release.
4. Tag: 1.0.1 (plain SemVer — 1.0.1, 1.1.0, 2.0.0, …). v1.0.1 also works but plain is preferred.
5. Title: 1.0.1.
6. Write release notes — they appear in the WP "View details" modal.
7. Publish release.
8. The bundled GitHub Action automatically builds and attaches wss-core.zip to the release. Wait ~1 minute for it to finish.

4. Install on a client website

Three options:

A. Manual install (first time):

1. Download the wss-core.zip asset from the GitHub release.
2. WP admin → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → choose the zip → Install → Activate.

B. SFTP/SSH:

• Upload the wss-core folder to wp-content/plugins/.
• Activate via WP admin.

C. WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/webshopschool/wss-core/releases/latest/download/wss-core.zip --activate

5. Push a future update

1. Make your changes.
2. Bump Version: in wss-core.php, WSS_CORE_VERSION, and Stable tag: in readme.txt.
3. Commit & push.
4. Draft a new release with the matching tag (e.g. 1.0.2).
5. Publish — within 6 hours every client site sees an update notice in Plugins → Installed Plugins. Click "update now" as usual.
6. To force an immediate check, visit Dashboard → Updates → Check again or run wp plugin update wss-core.

Folder-name caveat

WordPress requires the unzipped plugin folder to be named exactly wss-core/.

• GitHub auto-generated zipballs unpack into a folder like webshopschool-wss-core-abc1234/ — this plugin's updater automatically renames that to wss-core/ during installation, so it still works.
• But the safest approach is to ship a release asset named exactly wss-core.zip containing a top-level wss-core/ folder. The included GitHub Action (.github/workflows/release.yml) does this for you on every release.

Cache & debugging

• Release data is cached in a transient (wss_core_github_release) for 6 hours.
• Failed API calls cache an error marker for 15 minutes to prevent hammering GitHub.
• The transient is cleared automatically when WSS Core itself updates and on activation/deactivation.
• Force-clear manually:

  wp transient delete wss_core_github_release
  wp transient delete update_plugins --network

Private repos

Currently public-only. To support a private repo you would need to send an Authorization: token … header in wp_remote_get() and use the asset API URL (not browser_download_url) with Accept: application/octet-stream. Out of scope for v1.0.0.