
Ask HN: I'm developing a desktop app for local WP dev and deployment. Thoughts? - ezekg
Note: This is an x-post from Reddit, https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;webdev&#x2F;comments&#x2F;4kumnu&#x2F;im_in_the_middle_of_developing_a_desktop. Trying to get multiple opinions and feedback. Thanks!<p>I&#x27;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.<p>Would any of you guys be interested in an app like this? We&#x27;re getting close to finished and will be having a closed beta. Would anybody be interested in joining the beta period?<p>The app is essentially a GUI for the tj command line utility (https:&#x2F;&#x2F;github.com&#x2F;ezekg&#x2F;theme-juice-cli). I wanted to do an app because I know a lot of people aren&#x27;t comfortable with the command line and would benefit from the features tj offers.<p>Anyways, I&#x27;d love to hear your thoughts and if you&#x27;d be interested in joining the beta in a few weeks. You can just message me your email address if you are.
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codegeek
I am working with wp lately as a developer. Would I pay for an awesome tool
that makes my life easy as a wp dev ? I may. But can it do the following:

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.

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ezekg
Thanks for the reply. I'll hit your questions in order:

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](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.

~~~
codegeek
thx for your response. Yes I realized after checking your website that the
desktop is a GUI for the tj cli which looks great. I will surely try it. Sign
me up for beta testing if more slots are still available.

~~~
ezekg
Awesome. Would you mind messaging me your email over on Reddit?
[https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/](https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/)

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moondev
$20 - $30 seems a bit steep considering it's just a front end for a free open
source cli. Are there really that many wordpress developers that are not
comfortable with the command line?

Also 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.

~~~
ezekg
Baby steps. A very, very small fraction of WordPress developers even do local
development, much less use build tools and/or Vagrant. Most of them know how
to tinker with a functions.php file, but not much else. It's surprising, but
true. Just look at subreddits like r/ProWordPress. Very few are even using
Git.

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.

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avail
When you wrote WP at first I thought Windows Phone, which made me happy -
someone thinking about it.

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.

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thenomad
I'm not doing heavy WP dev right now, but if I was this would definitely seem
like an interesting tool, and the price wouldn't particularly phase me if it's
feature-rich enough.

~~~
ezekg
Awesome to hear. If you message me your email on Reddit
([https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/](https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/)),
I'll keep you updated on the beta and give you access whenever we launch it in
a few weeks. Even if you just tested it out, it would help a lot to find bugs
so that our release can be as stable as possible.

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brianjking
Sent email via Reddit, thanks! Can't wait to try it out!

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patrickgordon
Yes, I would be interested in this.

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.

~~~
ezekg
Good to hear. Would you mind messaging me your email over on Reddit?
[https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/](https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/) – we
should be doing a beta in a few weeks, so I'll send out updates and beta-
licenses then. Sorry that I don't have an email campaign or anything set up
yet.

~~~
patrickgordon
I'd rather not over reddit. any other options?

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wprapido
definitely would love to use it and US$20 sounds about right. may i sign up
for a beta, please?

~~~
ezekg
Awesome. Would you mind messaging me your email over on Reddit?
[https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/](https://www.reddit.com/user/ezekg/) – we
should be doing a beta in a few weeks, so I'll send out updates and beta-
licenses then.

~~~
wprapido
i'm not a reddit user. my mail is info [at] wprapido [dot] com . thank you

