Mini Content API by Umair Arshad

A headless-ready WordPress backend architecture for micro content applications. This plugin provides a custom post type "Articles" with topics taxonomy, custom meta fields, optimized REST API endpoints, and performance enhancements.

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0+
• PHP 7.4+
• REST API enabled

Installation

Standard Installation

1. Upload the mini-content-plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. Go to Settings → Permalinks and click "Save Changes" to flush rewrite rules

File Structure

mini-content-plugin/
├── mini-content-plugin.php # Main plugin bootstrap
├── includes/
│ ├── cpt.php # Articles CPT registration
│ ├── taxonomy.php # Topics taxonomy registration
│ ├── meta-box.php # Article Settings meta box
│ ├── rest-api.php # REST API endpoints & caching
│ └── admin.php # Admin columns
└── readme.md # Documentation

Features Implemented

1. Custom Post Type (CPT)

• Name: Articles (slug: hs_articles)
• Supports: Title, Content Editor, Excerpt, Featured Images
• Location: WordPress admin menu

2. Custom Taxonomy

• Name: Topics (slug: hs_topics)
• Type: Hierarchical
• Assignment: Explicitly bound to hs_articles only

3. Custom Meta Box ("Article Settings")

• Reading Time Field: Numeric input (minutes)
• Featured Status Toggle: Checkbox for priority flag
• Security: Nonce validation, capability checks, sanitization

4. REST API Endpoint

• URL: GET /wp-json/mini/v1/articles
• DTO Response: Clean structure with no raw database noise

5. Query Filters

• ?topic=tech - Filter by topic slug
• ?featured=true - Show only featured articles
• ?page=2&per_page=20 - Pagination

6. Performance Optimizations

• Transient Caching: 1-hour cache with automatic invalidation
• WP_Query Optimization: no_found_rows => true eliminates SQL_CALC_FOUND_ROWS
• Bulk Cache Deletion: Wildcard pattern for efficient invalidation

7. Security Protocols

• Nonce validation (wp_verify_nonce)
• Capability checks (current_user_can)
• Context-aware escaping (esc_html, esc_url, absint)

8. Admin Improvements

• Custom columns for Reading Time and Featured Status
• Visual indicators for featured articles

API Usage Examples

Get all articles

curl https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/mini/v1/articles

Filter by topic

curl https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/mini/v1/articles?topic=technology

Get featured articles

curl https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/mini/v1/articles?featured=true

Combined filters with pagination

curl https://yourdomain.com/wp-json/mini/v1/articles?topic=tech&featured=true&page=1&per_page=10

Sample Response

{
  "articles": [
    {
      "id": 101,
      "title": "Optimizing Relational Post Storage",
      "excerpt": "An in-depth analysis of high-throughput transactional database states...",
      "reading_time": 6,
      "featured_image": "https://cdn.example.com/uploads/sample.jpg",
      "topics": ["Database Management", "Engineering"]
    }
  ],
  "total": 1,
  "page": 1,
  "per_page": 10
}