WP Plugin Pulse

WP Plugin Pulse is a fast, browser-based competitor intelligence and optimization platform for WordPress plugin developers, product managers, and marketers. It analyzes public WordPress.org Plugin Directory data to surface market trends, benchmark competitors head-to-head, and audit readme.txt files for directory best practices and discovery.

Built with pure vanilla TypeScript, modern CSS, and Vite, managed with Bun — zero heavy frontend frameworks.

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Key Features

Multi-Mode Plugin Search & Discovery

• Tag Search: Explore plugins by tag category with quick-access preset chips (form-builder, seo, woocommerce, security, performance, backup).
• Keyword Search: Search plugin titles, descriptions, and metadata across the WordPress.org directory.
• Slug Lookup: Directly inspect any specific plugin by its WordPress.org repository slug.
• Client-side Filtering & Multi-criteria Sorting: Filter loaded results instantly by name, author, tag, or description. Sort by Active Installs, Lifetime Install Pace, Name, Rating Score, Support Thread Resolution, or Last Updated date.
• Pagination Support: Seamless pagination with page indicators and batch result controls.

Competitive Landscape KPIs

• Real-time aggregated performance indicators for loaded query results:
  • Total combined active installs across the niche
  • Median customer rating score
  • Average support thread resolution rate
  • Lifetime install pace leader

Head-to-Head Competitor Intelligence

• Subject vs. Competitors: Designate "My Plugin" (subject) and benchmark against up to 3 competitors side-by-side.
• Metric Comparison: Compare Active Installs, Lifetime Install Pace, Observed Snapshot Momentum, Star Ratings & Review Counts, Support Resolution Rates, WordPress Core Compatibility (Requires at least / Tested up to), Minimum PHP versions, and Update Freshness.
• Automated Feature Matrix: Multi-niche automated feature extraction with evidence citations pulled from tags, short descriptions, and full descriptions.
• Tag Gap Analysis: Identify high-performing category tags used by competitors that the subject plugin is missing.
• Prioritized Opportunities: Deterministic gap scoring categorizing actionable improvements into high, medium, and low impact.
• Persistent Tray: Selections persist locally across sessions via localStorage.

Readme & Header Optimization Workspace

• Browser-Based Parsing: Upload or paste readme.txt and main plugin .php files (all parsing happens locally in the browser — no remote uploads).
• Comprehensive Audit Rules:
  • Standard WordPress.org header fields validation (Contributors, Tags, Requires at least, Tested up to, Requires PHP, Stable tag, License).
  • Version consistency checks between readme.txt and the main PHP file header.
  • Core compatibility freshness checks against current WordPress releases.
  • Section checks for Screenshots, FAQ, Installation, Changelog, and Upgrade Notices.
  • Evidence-gated competitor tag and keyword enhancement suggestions.
• Interactive Diff Viewer & Export: Inspect generated improvements in Unified or Side-by-Side diff views, with one-click copy and .txt file export.

Performance, Resilience & Accessibility

• Zero Frontend Framework Overhead: Fast startup and rendering via native browser APIs and modular TypeScript.
• Light & Dark Theme: Built-in theme switcher with system preference detection and flash-free initial rendering.
• Resilient Error Handling: Classified error states (network timeouts, HTTP failures, malformed payloads) with in-place retry triggers and background refresh preservation.
• Accessible Design: Semantic HTML table structures, accessible keyboard navigation, high-contrast states, and ARIA live regions for screen readers.

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Important Data Methodology & Notes

1. Lifetime Install Pace vs. Recent Growth:
   • The Lifetime Install Pace metric is calculated as: $$\text{Lifetime Pace} = \frac{\text{Reported Active Installs}}{\text{Days since plugin was added to WordPress.org}}$$
   • This represents historical daily adoption since launch, not short-term daily download spikes or recent momentum.
   • Observed Momentum is tracked across local snapshots taken between visits.
2. WordPress.org Active Install Rounding:
   • Active install counts provided by the WordPress.org API are capped or bucketed (e.g., 100,000+, 1,000,000+, 5,000,000+).
3. Data Freshness & Development Proxy:
   • During local development, requests to the WordPress.org API pass through a Vite dev server proxy that includes a 24-hour file-based cache to prevent rate-limiting.
4. Privacy & Security:
   • Uploaded plugin files and readme content are parsed completely client-side in browser memory and are never transmitted to external servers.

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Prerequisites

• Bun 1.3 or later

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Getting Started

1. Install dependencies:

   bun install

2. Start the development server:

   bun run dev

   Open the printed local URL (typically http://localhost:5173) in your browser.

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Available Commands

Command	Purpose
bun run dev	Start the Vite development server with the WordPress.org API caching proxy.
bun run typecheck	Run the TypeScript compiler (tsc --noEmit) to verify type integrity.
bun run test	Run the unit test suite with Bun's built-in test runner.
bun run build	Type-check and build the optimized production bundle in dist/.
bun run preview	Locally preview the built production assets in dist/.

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Project Structure

├── .agents/                    # Agent skills and workflow configuration
├── index.html                  # Main application HTML entry point
├── package.json                # Project scripts and dependencies
├── tsconfig.json               # TypeScript compiler configuration
├── vite.config.js              # Vite configuration & WordPress.org API caching proxy
└── src/
    ├── main.ts                 # Application bootstrapping and event coordination
    ├── style.css               # Global responsive styles & design tokens
    ├── api/                    # WordPress.org API clients and query transformers
    │   ├── plugins.ts
    │   └── plugin-query.test.ts
    ├── components/             # DOM-based UI views and components
    │   ├── card-view.ts
    │   ├── comparison-section.ts
    │   ├── comparison-tray.ts
    │   ├── kpi-summary.ts
    │   ├── pagination-controls.ts
    │   ├── plugin-card.ts
    │   ├── plugin-compare.ts
    │   ├── plugin-row.ts
    │   ├── plugin-table.ts
    │   ├── readme-audit-results.ts
    │   ├── readme-diff.ts
    │   ├── readme-workspace.ts
    │   └── table-status-row.ts
    ├── domain/                 # Core domain logic, parsers, and calculations
    │   ├── error-classifier.ts
    │   ├── feature-dictionary.ts
    │   ├── feature-extractor.ts
    │   ├── php-header-parser.ts
    │   ├── plugin-comparison.ts
    │   ├── plugin-kpi.ts
    │   ├── plugin-metrics.ts
    │   ├── plugin-momentum.ts
    │   ├── plugin-normalizer.ts
    │   ├── plugin-selectors.ts
    │   ├── plugin-snapshots.ts
    │   ├── plugin-types.ts
    │   ├── readme-audit.ts
    │   ├── readme-parser.ts
    │   ├── readme-rules.ts
    │   ├── readme-types.ts
    │   ├── recommendations.ts
    │   ├── tag-intelligence.ts
    │   ├── text-edits.ts
    │   └── wordpress-versions.ts
    ├── state/                  # Centralized reactive application state
    │   └── app-state.ts
    └── utils/                  # Formatting, theme, storage, and text helpers
        ├── comparison-preference.ts
        ├── decode-html-entities.ts
        ├── results-meta.ts
        ├── theme.ts
        └── view-preference.ts

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Data Source & Disclaimer

All plugin metrics are sourced from the public WordPress.org Plugin Information API.

Disclaimer: WP Plugin Pulse is an independent open-source project and is not affiliated with, authorized, or endorsed by WordPress.org, Automattic, or the WordPress Foundation.