Nodera

Nodera — AI-native WordPress Builder

Nodera runs directly inside the native WordPress block editor. Gutenberg post_content remains the only canonical page document; WordPress continues to own List View, rendering, Style Engine, Global Styles, Block Bindings, Save, revisions and Undo/Redo.

0.1.0-rc.4 — visual fidelity release candidate

RC4 targets WordPress 7.1+ and PHP 8.1+. The committed build/ runtime lets WordPress users install and use Nodera without Node.js, npm, Composer or an AI API key.

This remains a release candidate, not a production-certified stable release. RC4 keeps the RC3 commercial/security hardening and adds a multimodal visual portability layer for substantially more accurate external-AI redesign work.

Gutenberg-native UX

Select a Gutenberg block to get Nodera AI in the native Block Toolbar/Inspector plus Responsive, Dynamic Data and States & Effects. Page-level tools expose whole-page portable AI and Global Design. Native Gutenberg/WordPress capabilities remain authoritative whenever they exist.

Primary AI workflow: export → external AI → import

No API key is required:

1. Select one block, a subtree, or whole page.
2. Describe the requested change.
3. Use the normal portable export or, when visual precision matters, open Nodera Visual AI and choose Download Multimodal Bundle.
4. Process the sanitized bundle with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Codex or another external AI.
5. Return exactly one nodera-patch/v1 object.
6. Paste/upload it in the standard Nodera AI panel and choose Validate & Preview.
7. Review semantic diff, deterministic quality findings and Before/After previews.
8. Apply to Gutenberg. Native Undo/Redo and Save/Update remain in control.
9. Optionally run Capture Visual QA and export a correction bundle for another no-API AI iteration.

Protocol 1.0 publishes JSON Schemas under schemas/, exposes authenticated protocol capabilities at /wp-json/nodera/v1/protocol, and stamps sanitized export envelopes with deterministic SHA-256 integrity metadata. Integrity is transport evidence, never authorization: every imported patch still passes fingerprint, exact scope, block-contract, attribute, URL/CSS, candidate-tree and quality validation.

If the Gutenberg target changes after export, Nodera does not auto-merge the stale patch. The editor shows an explicit conflict and requires a fresh export or discard.

Visual Fidelity 2.0

RC4 adds a dedicated Nodera Visual AI sidebar. It uses WordPress/Gutenberg's native core/editor device preview action to measure the actual editor canvas at Desktop, Tablet and Mobile states, then restores the user's original preview.

A multimodal bundle can contain:

nodera-<session>-visual.zip
├── session.json
├── prompt.txt
├── visual/
│   ├── manifest.json
│   ├── desktop.png (or SVG fallback)
│   ├── tablet.png  (or SVG fallback)
│   └── mobile.png  (or SVG fallback)
└── references/
    ├── manifest.json
    └── optional design reference images

The visual context includes per-viewport geometry, overflow/clipping, flex/grid flow, typography, media dimensions/aspect ratios, semantic/ARIA facts, broad computed-style facts, Gutenberg style/preset provenance hints, a parent/child layout graph, read-only ancestor/sibling context and design/visual fingerprints.

Authenticated editors can also read bounded/redacted resolved WordPress Global Settings and Global Styles from /wp-json/nodera/v1/design-context. This is combined with editor design tokens such as colors, gradients, duotone, font families/sizes, spacing, layout, dimensions, shadows and typography.

Optional reference images can be bundled as desired-design references. The external AI is explicitly instructed to inspect them together with Desktop/Tablet/Mobile captures, while still returning only a safe nodera-patch/v1 result.

Visual QA / correction loop

Visual QA re-measures all three Gutenberg device previews and reports deterministic issues such as horizontal overflow, clipping, zero-size blocks, excessive mobile heading wrapping, low measurable contrast and obvious image distortion. If issues remain, Download Correction Bundle creates a fresh portable session carrying those QA findings back to the external AI.

See docs/VISUAL_AI_PORTABILITY.md.

Export scopes

• Selected block only — only the selected root stable ID is editable; inner structure cannot be changed.
• Selected subtree — the full selected subtree is editable.
• Whole page — the current Gutenberg document root is editable.

Stable IDs are materialized lazily and checked for page-wide uniqueness.

WordPress-native authoring

• responsive styling writes WordPress 7.1 style.@tablet / style.@mobile states;
• supported Core Button/Navigation Link states use :hover, :focus, :focus-visible, :active;
• Dynamic Data uses native Block Bindings;
• Global Design writes native WordPress Global Styles;
• Core Accordion/Tabs are preferred for new content; old Nodera variants remain hidden legacy compatibility blocks;
• AI Apply dispatches through core/block-editor and never auto-saves.

Ecosystem adapters

A reviewed third-party block contract adapter API keeps unknown third-party blocks AI read-only until a trusted integration explicitly opts them into authoring. Dynamic Data detects optional ACF and WooCommerce integrations and exposes safe native Block Bindings sources without creating a parallel data-binding engine.

See docs/BLOCK_ADAPTERS.md and docs/BLOCK_BINDINGS.md.

Commercial operations

Nodera includes:

• Tools → Nodera onboarding/readiness diagnostics with a non-secret support fingerprint;
• optional Settings → Nodera Commercial entitlement configuration;
• licensing that controls only update/support entitlement, never Gutenberg content or editor access;
• an inert-by-default signed commercial updater with safe HTTPS manifest transport, RSA/SHA-256 manifest verification and package SHA-256 verification before install;
• idempotent internal migration tracking that never rewrites post_content;
• compatibility matrix and rollback/distribution policy.

The updater requires explicit NODERA_UPDATE_MANIFEST_URL and NODERA_UPDATE_PUBLIC_KEY_PEM configuration. Production licenses may be supplied using NODERA_LICENSE_KEY in wp-config.php. See docs/COMMERCIAL_DISTRIBUTION.md.

Optional direct AI providers

OpenAI, Anthropic, Google Gemini and OpenAI-compatible direct providers remain optional under Settings → Nodera AI. They use the same patch validator and are not required by the portable workflow.

Release engineering

Direct npm and Composer dependencies are pinned to exact versions. A stable release additionally requires generated/reviewed package-lock.json and composer.lock; Nodera deliberately does not fabricate lockfiles. npm run release:stable:verify blocks stable promotion when either lockfile is absent.

Developer gates include PHP 8.1–8.4 syntax/PHPUnit matrix, PHPCS, TypeScript, JS/CSS lint, JS unit tests, clean build, visual-runtime source/build drift verification, runtime verification, ZIP/SHA-256 packaging and package verification. Real Playwright acceptance is configured for Chromium, Firefox and WebKit when a WordPress test site is supplied through environment variables.

npm install --no-audit --no-fund
npm run release:verify
composer install
vendor/bin/phpcs
vendor/bin/phpunit

Before a stable commercial release, generate/review the lockfiles in a trusted networked environment and run:

npm run release:stable:verify

Architecture invariant

Nodera does not maintain a parallel whole-page document, fork Gutenberg, replace WordPress revisions, create a second history engine or render ordinary Core blocks through a second renderer. Visual bundles, screenshots and correction packages are transport evidence only.

Status

0.1.0-rc.4 is suitable for controlled commercial pilots/early access after site-specific acceptance testing. Do not describe it as production-certified stable until the real-browser, theme/plugin, accessibility and stable-lockfile gates in docs/PRODUCTION_READINESS.md are satisfied.

See docs/AI_PROTOCOL.md, docs/AI_ARCHITECTURE.md, docs/AI_PORTABILITY.md, docs/VISUAL_AI_PORTABILITY.md, docs/BLOCK_ADAPTERS.md, docs/COMMERCIAL_DISTRIBUTION.md, docs/COMPATIBILITY_MATRIX.md, docs/TESTING.md, docs/PRODUCTION_READINESS.md, docs/KNOWN_LIMITATIONS.md and SECURITY.md.