ReleaseWP

A minimal WordPress plugin that receives changelog updates from GitHub via REST API and automatically publishes them as WordPress posts.

What It Does

ReleaseWP creates a REST API endpoint on your WordPress site that accepts changelog content in Markdown format. When triggered (typically via GitHub Actions), it:

1. Receives a title and Markdown content via POST request
2. Converts the Markdown to HTML using Parsedown
3. Sanitizes the content for security
4. Creates a new WordPress post with your configured post type
5. Returns success/error status

Perfect for: Automatically publishing release notes, changelogs, or version updates from your GitHub repository to your WordPress site.

Requirements

• WordPress 5.0 or higher
• PHP 7.0 or higher
• WordPress user with edit_posts capability

Installation

1. Upload the releasewp folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through the 'Plugins' menu in WordPress
3. Go to Settings → ReleaseWP to configure:
   • Target Post Type: Select which post type to use (defaults to standard Posts)
   • Title Template: Format post titles using %version% placeholder (defaults to "Version %version%")

GitHub Integration Setup

Step 1: Create WordPress Application Password

1. Log into your WordPress admin dashboard
2. Go to Users → Profile
3. Scroll to Application Passwords section
4. Enter a name (e.g., "GitHub Actions")
5. Click Add New Application Password
6. Copy the generated password (you won't be able to see it again)

Step 2: Configure GitHub Secrets

In your GitHub repository:

1. Go to Settings → Secrets and variables → Actions

2. Click New repository secret

3. Add two secrets:

   WP_API_ENDPOINT

   https://your-wordpress-site.com/wp-json/releasewp/v1/post-update

   WP_API_TOKEN

   your-username:your-application-password

   (Replace with your WordPress username and the application password from Step 1)

Step 3: Create GitHub Action Workflow

Create .github/workflows/update-wordpress.yml in your repository:

name: Update WordPress with Changelog

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      version:
        description: 'Changelog Version'
        required: true
        default: '1.0.0'

jobs:
  updateWordPress:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - name: Checkout Repository
      uses: actions/checkout@v3

    - name: Install jq
      run: sudo apt-get install jq

    - name: Extract Specific Changelog Block
      run: |
        VERSION_HEADER="## [${{ github.event.inputs.version }}]"
        VERSION_HEADER_ESCAPED=$(printf '%s\n' "$VERSION_HEADER" | sed -e 's/[]\/$*.^[]/\\&/g')
        lines_under_version_header=$(awk "/$VERSION_HEADER_ESCAPED/"' {p=1; next} p && /^## \[/ {p=0} p' CHANGELOG.md)
        echo "$lines_under_version_header" > specific-changelog.md

    - name: Convert Extracted Changelog to JSON
      run: |
        VERSION="${{ github.event.inputs.version }}"
        # Send just the version number - WordPress will format the title
        jq -Rs --arg version "$VERSION" '{title: $version, content: .}' specific-changelog.md > changelog.json

    - name: Update WordPress
      env:
        WP_API_ENDPOINT: ${{ secrets.WP_API_ENDPOINT }}
        WP_API_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.WP_API_TOKEN }}
      run: |
        echo "Updating WordPress..."
        curl -X POST $WP_API_ENDPOINT \
             -H "Authorization: Bearer $WP_API_TOKEN" \
             -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
             --data @changelog.json

Step 4: Format Your CHANGELOG.md

Your CHANGELOG.md should follow this format:

# Changelog

## [1.2.0] - 2024-01-15

### Added
- New feature X
- Enhancement Y

### Fixed
- Bug fix Z

## [1.1.0] - 2024-01-01

### Changed
- Updated something

Plugin Configuration

After installation, configure the plugin:

Plugin Configuration

After installation, configure the plugin in Settings → ReleaseWP:

1. Target Post Type: Select which post type to create (Posts, Pages, or any custom post type)
2. Title Template: Customize how post titles are formatted
   • Use %version% as a placeholder for the version number from GitHub
   • Default: Version %version% (e.g., "Version 1.2.0")
   • Examples:
     • MyPlugin %version% is here! → "MyPlugin 1.2.0 is here!"
     • %version% Release Notes → "1.2.0 Release Notes"
     • What's New in %version% → "What's New in 1.2.0"
3. Click Save Settings

The GitHub Action will send just the version number (e.g., "1.2.0"), and WordPress will format it according to your template.

Manual Trigger (Recommended)

1. Go to your GitHub repository
2. Click Actions tab
3. Select "Update WordPress with Changelog" workflow
4. Click Run workflow
5. Enter the version number (e.g., 1.2.0)
6. Click Run workflow

The workflow will extract that version's changelog and post it to WordPress.

Automatic Trigger on Release

To trigger automatically when creating a GitHub release, modify the workflow's on: section:

on:
  release:
    types: [published]
  workflow_dispatch:
    inputs:
      version:
        description: 'Changelog Version'
        required: true

API Endpoint Documentation

POST /wp-json/releasewp/v1/post-update

Authentication: Bearer token (WordPress application password)

Request Body:

{
  "title": "Release v1.2.0",
  "content": "## Changes\n- Feature added\n- Bug fixed"
}

Response:

• 200 OK: "Post Created"
• 500 Internal Server Error: "Error creating post"

Testing

Test your endpoint with cURL:

curl -X POST https://your-site.com/wp-json/releasewp/v1/post-update \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer username:application_password" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d '{"title":"Test Release","content":"## Test\n- Item 1\n- Item 2"}'

Customization

Change Post Type

Edit line 47 in releasewp.php:

'post_type' => 'your_custom_type',

Change Post Status

To publish as draft instead:

'post_status' => 'draft',

Add Custom Fields

After line 48, add:

$post_id = wp_insert_post( $new_post );

if ( ! is_wp_error( $post_id ) ) {
    update_post_meta( $post_id, 'version_number', $version );
}

Troubleshooting

403 Forbidden Error

• Check your application password is correct
• Verify the WordPress user has edit_posts capability

404 Not Found

• Ensure the plugin is activated
• Verify the endpoint URL matches: /wp-json/releasewp/v1/post-update

500 Internal Server Error

• Check if the update custom post type exists
• Review WordPress error logs

Post Not Appearing

• Verify the update post type is registered and visible in admin
• Check if posts are being created as drafts instead of published

Security

• All content is sanitized using wp_kses_post() and wp_strip_all_tags()
• Requires WordPress authentication (application passwords)
• Only users with edit_posts capability can create posts
• Markdown is converted server-side to prevent XSS attacks

License

This plugin is provided as-is for integration between GitHub and WordPress.

Author

James Welbes

Version

1.0