WordPress.org Has Fewer Than 20 Plugins Using the WP REST API in Core

During yesterday’s pivotal WP REST API meeting, WordPress contributors discussed adoption of the API. A cursory search of the WordPress.org plugin directory shows that fewer than two dozen plugins are currently using the API scaffolding included in WordPress 4.4. For reference, here are the 20 plugins identified by Mika Epstein during the meeting, along with active installation numbers for each: With a few notable exceptions, most of these plugins are hovering around a range of 10 – 100 active installs. These low numbers may indicate that plugin authors have not yet readily embraced building with the scaffolding that was merged into core in 4.4. However, some developers who have embraced building with the API have opted not to offer their plugins and themes for large scale distribution on WordPress.org. “I think the plugin directory is the wrong place to look for adoption,” WordPress developer Nate Wright said at the most recent meeting. “As a plugin author myself, I have to bend over backwards to ensure compatibility with tens of thousands of weird plugins and themes. Javascript itself is highly unstable in the ecosystem because of all the terrible code out there. I’ve used the API #wordpress #smallbusiness #entrepreneur