JSON REST API for

WordPress

@tlovett12

+JSON

REST API=

• My name is Taylor Lovett

• Director of Web Engineering at 10up

• Plugin author and contributor

• Core contributor

• WP API team member

Who Am I?

@tlovett12

We are hiring!

So what’s this new WP API

thing all about? Don’t we

already have one?

Right now, we have XML-RPC. It works but

is extremely hard to use and outdated.

Comparison to other WordPress API’s

https://github.com/WP-API/WP-

API/blob/master/docs/comparison.md

• In a nutshell, JSON REST API’s have swept the

web becoming an almost standard. They are

extremely intuitive and provide an easy way to

distribute, collect, and modify data.

Why JSON REST API?

Let’s break it down a bit.

• JSON is an abbreviation for “JavaScript Object Notation”

• It’s simply a way to describe data that is lightweight and

extremely easy to use. Arguably much easier to use than XML.

JSON

• REST (Representational State Transfer) is an architectural style

that dictates how HTTP and URI’s should be used and organized.

• Verbs and resources: GET /post/1

• Hypermedia as the Engine of Application State (HATEOAS) -

Server provides everything you need to know how to use it in a

response.

• Actions are autonomous and do not depend on each other.

• Bottom line: RESTful API’s have become extremely popular

across the web. They are much easier to use than things like RPC

or SOAP.

REST

• An API (Application Programming Interface) is a

set of entry points that allow you to interact with a

platform (WordPress in this case).

And of course, API

Ryan McCue and Contributors

How can I start using it

now?

http://wordpress.org/plugins/json-rest-api/

Core integration (probably) in 4.1

First, install the plugin

What does the API allow

me to do?

/wp-json/Shows all the routes and endpoints available

/wp-json/postsCreate, read, update, and delete posts

/wp-json/usersCreate, read, update, and delete users

/wp-json/mediaCreate, read, update, and delete media items

/wp-json/taxonomiesRead taxonomies and terms

/wp-json/pages/Create, read, update, and delete pages

The API is rich with

functionality. Explore the

documentation!http://wp-api.org/docs-development/

Let’s look at a few key endpoints.

List Posts

[{

"ID": 11297,

"title": "Post 19",

"status": "publish",

"type": "post",

"author": 1,

"content": "",

"parent": null,

"link": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",

"format": "standard",

"slug": "post-19",

"guid": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",

"excerpt": null,

"menu_order": 0,

"comment_status": "closed",

"ping_status": "open",

"sticky": false,

"meta": {},

"featured_image": null,

"terms": {}

}]

GET /wp-json/posts

List PostsEndpoint: /wp-json/posts

Takes a number of useful parameters:

• Filter[]: Accepts WP_Query arguments

• Page: Allows for pagination

• Context: Determines usage context i.e. “view or edit”

• …

https://github.com/WP-API/WP-API/blob/master/docs/routes/routes.md

Retrieve A Post

{

"ID": 11297,

"title": "Post 19",

"status": "publish",

"type": "post",

"author": 1,

"content": "",

"parent": null,

"link": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",

"format": "standard",

"slug": "post-19",

"guid": "http:\/\/example.com\/2014\/08\/post-19\/",

"excerpt": null,

"menu_order": 0,

"comment_status": "closed",

"ping_status": "open",

"sticky": false,

"meta": {},

"featured_image": null,

"terms": {}

}

GET /wp-json/posts/<id>

Edit A PostPUT /wp-json/posts/<id>

curl -X PUT -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘

{

"title": “Updated Title",

“content_raw": “Updated post content"

}

‘ -u admin:password http://example.com/wp-json/posts/<id>

We need to send a PUT request to this endpoint with

our post data. Of course we must authenticate before

doing this.

Three ways to

authenticate

• Cookie Authentication (client side)

• HTTP Basic Authentication

• OAuth 1

HTTP Basic

AuthenticationFirst install the WP Basic Auth Plugin:

https://github.com/WP-API/Basic-Auth

Remember this piece of our cURL request?

-u admin:password

That’s HTTP Basic Authentication! Essentially we are authenticating

by passing an HTTP header like this:

Authorization: Basic QWxhZGRpbjpvcGVuIHNlc2FtZQ==

Where that crazy looking string is username:password base64

encoded.

HTTP Basic

Authentication should

only be used for testing!

OAuth 1.0aFirst install the WP OAuth Plugin:

https://github.com/WP-API/OAuth1

OAuth is outside of the scope of this talk. However, it

should be used instead of HTTP Basic Auth when

building external applications that interact with the API.

Rather than giving someone an account on your site,

you can give them temporary access with OAuth.

Create A PostPOST /wp-json/posts/

curl -X POST -H “Content-Type: application/json” -d ‘

{

"title": “Title",

“content_raw": “Post content"

}

‘ -u admin:password http://example.com/wp-json/posts/

Notice we are using a POST request this time.

TaxonomiesGET /wp-json/taxonomies

[

{

"name": "Categories",

"slug": "category",

"labels": {},

"types": { /* Registered post types */ },

"show_cloud": true,

"hierarchical": true,

"meta": {}

},

{

"name": "Tags",

"slug": "post_tag",

"labels": {},

"types": { /* Registered post types */ },

"show_cloud": true,

"hierarchical": false,

"meta": {}

}

}

]

TaxonomyGET /wp-json/taxonomies/<taxonomy>

{

"name": "Categories",

"slug": "category",

"labels": {},

"types": { /* Registered post types */ },

"show_cloud": true,

"hierarchical": true,

"meta": {}

}

Taxonomy TermsGET /wp-json/taxonomies/<taxonomy>/terms

[

{

"ID": 1,

"name": "Books",

"slug": "books",

"description": "",

"parent": null,

"count": 1,

"link": "http:\/\/example.com\/category\/books\/",

"meta": {}

},

{

"ID": 2,

"name": "Products",

"slug": "products",

"description": "",

"parent": null,

"count": 1,

"link": "http:\/\/example.com\/category\/products\/",

"meta": {}

}

]

WP API is very extensible (custom post types!)

http://wp-api.org/guides/extending.html

Build Your Own Routes and

Endpoints

What can I do with the

JSON REST API for

WordPress?

JavaScriptInteract with your (or someone else’s) WordPress install with

JavaScript.

Backbone.js Client:

https://github.com/WP-API/client-js

Node.js Client:

https://github.com/kadamwhite/wordpress-rest-api

• Backbone.js is a JavaScript framework that lets

you structure code in terms of models, views, and

collections. It works great with RESTful JSON

API’s.

Backbone.js

• _s or underscores is a popular starter theme by

Automattic:

https://github.com/automattic/_s

• _s_backbone is an _s fork that powers post

loops using the WP API Backbone client

_s_backbone

https://github.com/tlovett1/_s_backbon

e

• It means _s_backbone is a starter theme with

infinite scroll built-in using the WP API Backbone

client.

• Infinite scroll is the concept of loading multiple

rounds of entities without reloading the page.

What does this mean?

Let’s look at some code!

This is some JavaScript you could add to a theme or

plugin to display your site’s posts. You will first need

to have JSON REST API for WordPress installed and

the “wp-api” JavaScript dependency enqueued.

functions.php:

js/scripts.js:

If you learned nothing

so far, know this:

You can do amazing things with the JSON REST

API for WordPress.

With core integration and ~23% of the web using

this API in the near future, you will have much

easier access to data across the web.

Questions?

@tlovett12