Ask HN: I'm developing a desktop app for local WP dev and deployment. Thoughts?
I'm trying to gauge interest. The app will likely be around $20-$30 and it will allow you to create local development sites via Vagrant with a click of a button, as well as deploy projects over SSH using Capistrano with a single click.
Would any of you guys be interested in an app like this? We're getting close to finished and will be having a closed beta. Would anybody be interested in joining the beta period?
The app is essentially a GUI for the tj command line utility (https://github.com/ezekg/theme-juice-cli). I wanted to do an app because I know a lot of people aren't comfortable with the command line and would benefit from the features tj offers.
Anyways, I'd love to hear your thoughts and if you'd be interested in joining the beta in a few weeks. You can just message me your email address if you are.
16 comments
[ 4.2 ms ] story [ 45.4 ms ] threadAlso vagrant will be obsolete once docker for osx and windows is out of beta. I think a wordpress targeted app that uses docker instead would be more appealing. Then you could also integrate with gitlab and dockerhub container registries for deployment instead of ssh.
This product (the command line utility included) are my way of trying to push WP development forward, out of cowboy coding on a production server or deploying over FTP.
I think the price is fair, given that the app will not have any outside dependencies other than VirtualBox and Vagrant. You won't even need a Ruby, because the app comes bundled with Ruby. All build commands can be run inside the VM, which comes stocked with Node, Ruby, PHP and more.
There are apps like CodeKit and Tower that are GUI's to command line apps priced for the same price. They sell well, because not every developer is comfortable on the command line. Think of a front-end developer who only does design with HTML/CSS. They don't want to mess with Vagrant or anything like that. They just want to do their job, and most of the time that means coding on an external dev server and uploading via FTP.
1. Setup a dev environment with all the nuts and bolts that wp requires at the minimum which is LAMP/WAMP/MAMP etc. Windows, Mac, Linux wherever.
2. If you go the vagrant route, that is great. I love vagrant BUT can you ensure that it makes my life easy to use with things like xdebug ? I would prefer not write any PHP code without using a debugger like xdebug. My experience with vagrant environments has been a pain when it comes to setting up debugging.
3. Please don't pre-package it too many tools that are opinionated ? For example, I may not prefer deploying using capistrano. May be make them optional. I have googled a few vagrant boxes so far and most of them are overloaded with too much crap. Again, this suggestion makes sense as you are trying to release a product that works for a lot of people not just a single developer.
4. How will integrate with version control tools like git and others ? If you are doing wp, you may want to consider svn as well.
5. How will it integrate with code editors like visual studio code, sublime, vim etc ?
Finally, what value will this desktop app add over a regular pre-packaged WordPress vagrant environment that are already out there ?
Hope this helps. My 2 cents.
1. Yes, it configures an Ubuntu virtual machine using Vagrant and VirtualBox. The beta will require those 2 tools to be preinstalled, but we are looking at ways to package those tools into our app so that it will require no dependencies.
2. Our VM comes pre-installed with xdebug as well as a lot of other features. I've tried to keep it as lean as possible, and we are still working on making it feature-complete for the final release. Our VM can be viewed at https://github.com/ezekg/theme-juice-vvv.
3. If you prefer not to use Capistrano, that is completely fine. You can deploy however you want, tj just comes with a deploy command that can be taken advantage of if you like.
4. The entire app focuses on best practices, so it requires you to version control your code in order to take advantage of starter templates and SSH deployments.
5. We don't plan on any specific integration, as tj is just a command line utility with a single configuration file called a Juicefile. The desktop app will simply act as a GUI for the command line utility.
And for your last question, the value in this app and the CLI is that it tries to push WP into modern best practices using version control, dependency management, build tools and consistent deployments. It's a lot more than just a simple Vagrant environment. It makes managing and creating WP sites a lot more enjoyable, as it automates all of the setup and gets rid of the dreaded FTP deployment.
I dipped my toes in to WP dev recently to address a client's needs and was shocked by the lack of local development practices / guides etc.
on-topic: $20/$30 is a tad too much for my taste. And even then I rather doing everything myself, so I know 100% how everything is done.