# WPGraphQL Product Requirements Document

## Product Overview
WPGraphQL is a free, open-source WordPress plugin that provides an extendable GraphQL API for WordPress websites. 

It provides a modern, performant GraphQL API that directly interfaces with WordPress internal data structures and registries, allowing developers to build headless WordPress applications.

### Core Value Proposition
- Enable headless WordPress architecture with a modern GraphQL API
- Improve performance through selective data fetching
- Provide a modern developer experience for WordPress
- Enable better integrations with modern frontend frameworks
- Maintain WordPress security model and permissions

## Target Users

### Primary Users

1. WordPress Developers
   - Building headless WordPress applications
   - Integrating WordPress with modern frontend frameworks
   - Creating custom plugins that extend WPGraphQL

2. Frontend Developers
   - Consuming WordPress data in React, Vue, or other frontend applications
   - Building JAMstack websites with WordPress as a backend
   - Developing mobile applications that use WordPress data

3. Agency Developers
   - Building enterprise WordPress solutions
   - Creating scalable multi-site implementations
   - Developing custom client solutions

### Secondary Users
1. WordPress Site Administrators
   - Managing GraphQL API access
   - Configuring API permissions
   - Monitoring API usage

2. Plugin Developers
   - Extending WPGraphQL with custom types and fields
   - Adding GraphQL support to existing WordPress plugins
   - Creating WPGraphQL extension plugins

## Core Features

### GraphQL API Endpoint
- Single endpoint at /graphql 
  - endpoint can be changed via code or WPGraphQL settings
- Handles GraphQL Queries and Mutations
- Supports HTTP POST and GET requests
- Implements GraphQL specification
- Provides schema introspection

### Schema Generation
- Automatically generates GraphQL schema for WordPress data
- Support for Post Types (built-in and custom)
- Support for Taxonomies (built-in and custom)
- Support for Users
- Support for Comments
- Support for WordPress settings

### Security & Authentication
- Can integrate with WordPress authentication
- Respects WordPress capabilities
- Supports JWT authentication
- Provides options for field-level access control
- Maintains WordPress access-control model

### Performance Features
- Selective data fetching
- Connection/pagination support
- Query batching
- Caching integration
- N+1 query prevention

### Developer Tools
- GraphiQL IDE integration
- Debug mode
- Query logging
- Performance metrics
- Schema exploration tools

### Extension System
- Hook and filter system for schema and data modification
- Custom Type registration API
- Field registration API
- Custom resolver support

## Technical Requirements

### WordPress Compatibility
- WordPress (6.0+ preferred)
- PHP (7.4+ preferred)
- MySQL (8+ preferred) or MariaDB (10.0+ preferred)
- Standard WordPress plugin installation. Can be installed via composer as well.

### Security Requirements
- Input sanitization
- Output escaping
- Follow WordPress Access Control standards

### API Standards
- GraphQL Specification compliance
- Relay specification support
- REST API coexistence
- Proper error handling
- Clear error messages

## Integration Requirements

### Frontend Framework Support
- React compatibility
- Vue.js compatibility
- Next.js compatibility
- Svelte compatibility
- Astro compatibility
- Gatsby compatibility
- Apollo Client support

### Plugin Ecosystem
- WooCommerce integration
- ACF integration
- Yoast SEO integration
- Gravity Forms integration
- Custom plugin extensibility
- Multi-plugin compatibility

### Development Tools
- WP-CLI support (limited)
- Composer integration
- npm package management
- Docker development environment
- CI/CD pipeline support

## Success Metrics

### Performance Metrics (ideals)
- Query response times
- Server resource usage
- Cache hit rates
- Error rates
- Concurrent user handling

### Developer Metrics
- GitHub stars and forks
- Active installations
- Community contributions
- Documentation usage
- Support forum activity

### User Success Metrics
- Successful installations
- API uptime
- Query success rates
- Extension adoption
- User satisfaction
- Query response times

## Future Considerations

### Planned Features
- Real-time subscriptions
- Enhanced caching system (see WPGraphQL Smart Cache)
- Improved debugging tools (see WPGraphQL IDE)
- Better error reporting
- Performance optimizations
- Custom Scalars
- Support for additional directives

### Scalability Goals
- Increased Support for high-traffic sites
- Enterprise-level performance
- Multi-site network support (tbd)

### Community Growth
- Documentation expansion
- Tutorial development
- Example project creation
- Community event participation
- Contributor program development

## Implementation Guidelines

### Code Standards
- WordPress Coding Standards
- PHPStan Level 10 compliance
- 85+% unit test coverage
- Integration test suite
- E2E test coverage

### Documentation Requirements
- Inline code documentation
- API documentation
- Usage examples
- Integration guides
- Troubleshooting guides

### Release Process
- Semantic versioning
- Change log maintenance
- Beta testing process
- Release candidates
- Backward compatibility (breaking changes communicated with semver)

### Support Requirements
- GitHub issue tracking
- WordPress.org support
- Documentation updates
- Security advisories
- Version compatibility