Altly for WordPress

Description

Altly is a cutting-edge plugin that seamlessly integrates Altly’s AI-powered alt text generation into your WordPress website, transforming your media library into an accessibility and SEO asset. By automatically creating detailed, optimized alt text without overwriting your existing content—and allowing for manual adjustments when needed—Altly saves you time, ensures compliance with accessibility standards, and boosts your site’s search engine performance.

Documentation

• Developer Documentation
• User Documentation

Installation

Upload the generated altly.zip folder through the WordPress backend.

1. In your WordPress admin panel, go to Plugins > Add New > Upload Plugin.
2. Select and upload the altly.zip file, then activate the plugin.

Developer Guide

Getting Started

1. Clone the Repository:

   git clone <repository-url>
   cd altly-wp-plugin

2. Install Dependencies: Use either npm or yarn:

   npm install
   # or
   yarn

3. Start the Development Server: This command watches for file changes so you can preview your updates in real time. Note: The base URL for your plugin interface depends on your local WordPress environment (for example, http://localhost).

   npm run dev
   # or
   yarn dev

4. Open your browser and visit: http://your-local-wordpress-site/wp-admin/upload.php?page=altly For further details, refer to the official developer documentation.

Environment Variables

The environment variables are critical because they define the external API endpoints that the plugin uses to connect to Altly. When developing locally, create a .env.local file in the project root with:

REACT_APP_API_VALIDATE_URL=http://localhost:3000/v2/validate
REACT_APP_API_QUEUE_URL=http://localhost:3000/v2/queue

If you are not running the API locally, update these values accordingly:

REACT_APP_API_VALIDATE_URL=https://api.altly.io/v2/validate
REACT_APP_API_QUEUE_URL=https://api.altly.io/v2/queue

Building and Packaging

1. Build the Assets:

   yarn build
   # or
   npm run build

2. Create the ZIP Package: Run the following command to generate a ZIP file named altly.zip that includes all necessary files (PHP files, the build/ folder, readme.txt, etc.), while excluding development files such as source maps and environment files:

   yarn zip
   # or
   npm run zip

3. Test the Plugin: Upload altly.zip via the WordPress plugin installer on a clean WordPress setup to ensure that all features function as expected.

Important Note on Local API Development

If you're running the Altly API locally, you can queue and process images and see those changes reflected in your local WordPress environment. To process images locally, use a tool like Bruno or HTTPie to send a GET request to:

http://localhost:3000/v2/queue/process/

Include an Authorization header with your API key. Delivery is pull-only: the plugin pulls finished alt text from the API (via "Sync results" or the hourly cron) and writes it locally — the API never pushes changes to your site. If you're not running the API locally, your local site has nothing to pull from; this setup is provided purely for development convenience.

Changelog

The user-facing changelog lives in readme.txt (the WordPress.org-format readme) — see its == Changelog == section for the canonical, version-by-version history.