Last week in Basel, Switzerland—at the Alt Ctrl Org conference held alongside WordCamp Europe—I stood on stage with my colleagues to introduce the FAIR Package Manager for WordPress.
This wasn’t just another announcement. FAIR marks a shift in how the WordPress ecosystem approaches sustainability, autonomy, and the future of open source distribution. Since then, the response has been swift and wide-reaching, fueling (sometimes spicy) conversations both within the WordPress community and across the broader tech world.
I want to share my perspective.
What is FAIR? Why does it matter? Why did I choose to get involved—and what happens next?
What is FAIR?
FAIR, short for Federated and Independent Repositories, offers a completely new way to deliver software and related dependencies to WordPress sites. We’ll come back to dependencies in a moment, but let’s start with the software side of things.
Software Delivery (a.k.a. Package Management)
WordPress.org serves as a centralized hub for the open-source software that powers WordPress sites. This includes three key components:
- WordPress core
- Themes
- Plugins
If you’ve ever installed WordPress on a host, browsed the theme or plugin repository from your dashboard, or updated any of those components, your site communicated with WordPress.org to fetch those assets.
FAIR decentralizes this process. Instead of relying on a single upstream source, FAIR enables site owners (and hosts) to define multiple sources—or mirrors—for packages. In this initial release, the primary alternative source is the AspirePress mirror, but hosts can also configure their own mirrors. As adoption grows, so will the range of available sources.
Dependencies (a.k.a. API Replacement)
WordPress.org does more than distribute software. It also serves as a centralized provider of external dependencies. Some are visible—like the news and events feed in your dashboard, emoji support in the editor, or Gravatar images in comment sections. Others work in the background, such as browser checks, PHP version checks, and update telemetry.
FAIR provides local (as in, on your site) or federated replacements for these services. For example, avatar requests can be routed to alternative sources, browser and environment checks run locally without external calls, and the dashboard events feed is populated from The WP World, a community site run by Marcus Burnette.
That’s what FAIR does, but what actually is FAIR?
In practical terms, FAIR is a drop-in WordPress plugin. You can install it on an existing WordPress site today.
Once activated, FAIR begins replacing key centralized services with a federated, open-source infrastructure—without disrupting your site’s core functionality.
FAIR is available in two flavors:
- As a standalone plugin
- As FAIR Distro, a pre-packaged bundle that includes WordPress with FAIR pre-installed
You can download both directly (and freely) from the GitHub repository.
Why is FAIR important?
For 22 years, WordPress.org has been the backbone of the WordPress ecosystem. Guided by co-founder Matt Mullenweg and built on a centralized model, WordPress has grown significantly, but that growth has come with a concentration of critical systems in a single location.
This has always been risky.
When one domain oversees software delivery, extensions, services, and infrastructure, the entire ecosystem depends on its uptime, stability, and future direction. If that domain goes offline, changes course without warning, or suffers an outage, millions of users have no fallback.
In this case, the domain is personal. As Matt Mullenweg has said, “WordPress.org just belongs to me personally,” and he retains direct control over its operations.
The risks here isn’t theoretical; This single source has already caused major disruptions:
Blocking WP Engine (September 2024): Over a trademark dispute, WordPress.org cut off WP Engine and its customers from plugin and theme updates. Sites running on WP Engine couldn’t receive critical security patches until a court-ordered injunction restored access.
ACF Plugin Takeover (October 2024): WordPress.org forked the Advanced Custom Fields plugin into a version called Secure Custom Fields, which took over ACF’s slug and more than 2 million active installs. It redirected existing users without consent and triggered significant community backlash.
Sudden Holiday Shutdown (December 2025): In the middle of the holiday season, WordPress.org shut down new plugin and theme submissions, paused reviews, and disabled user registrations without notice, leaving developers and projects in limbo during a peak period.
These are just a few examples, but they point to a larger pattern. In recent months, a series of disruptive and erratic decisions, made directly under Matt Mullenweg’s personal control, have caused real harm to contributors, users, and the broader ecosystem. For a platform that powers 43% of the web, this erosion of trust isn’t just troubling, it’s unsustainable.
So why is FAIR important?
FAIR exists to eliminate these single points of failure. By decentralizing package delivery and replacing external dependencies with federated or local alternatives, it brings:
- Greater resilience—no more dependence on a single server or policy
- True autonomy—developers and hosts choose where updates and data come from
- Full transparency—open, auditable infrastructure with no hidden endpoints
FAIR isn’t about replacing WordPress.org. It’s about ensuring the ecosystem stays healthy, adaptable, and robust—no matter what happens upstream.
Why am I involved in FAIR?
So far, I’ve just shared facts, but now it’s time to get personal.
First, some backstory.
I started working with WordPress in 2011. My earliest contributions were anchored around community – organizing and speaking at Meetups and WordCamps, writing docs and tutorials, answering questions in forums, etc. I have volunteered countless hours of my time, knowledge and professional capabilities to champion the WordPress project.
This community has given me so much, personally and professionally, and I’ve always made an effort to give back to it in the ways that best matched my skills.
Somewhere in the COVID years, amidst a lot of personal change and general life upheaval, I contributed less. Not because I didn’t still love the community, but because I just wasn’t excited about WordPress in the same ways I’d previously been. Call it burn out. Call it professional boredom. Call it whatever you want.
While my official involvement lessened, I continued (and still continue) to use WordPress in my business. I build sites for clients. I teach courses for LinkedIn Learning. I consult with large organizations around content marketing for WordPress products.
I was still in WordPress professionally, but I was feeling a little meh about the project.
Then WCUS 2024 happened.
I went to Portland for WordCamp US 2024 and was honored to speak. This was my first US-based camp to attend since 2019 and it was so lovely to see faces and hug necks of people I hadn’t seen in many years.
It was a great camp, until it ended with a Q&A in which Matt called WP Engine a “cancer to WordPress.” Myself, along with many in the community, collectively dropped our jaws in shock at how events unfolded in the days, weeks, and months to follow.
If WordPress was already feeling a little lackluster for me, Matt’s actions were the nails in the proverbial coffin.
In my 2024 year–in-review , I summed it up like this:
I want a future for WordPress, the project, the software, the community, the whole thing. But I’m not betting any more on a project with unstable leadership.
Along came an opportunity.
I wasn’t being secretive with my feelings. I’m fortunate to be unaffiliated (a fancy word for “self-employed”) and, unlike other contributors, I didn’t have much to lose by being outspoken with my thoughts about WordPress governance and project direction. To be blunt: my job wasn’t at stake. Other people’s livelihoods were and I didn’t take my “luxury” lightly.
I aligned philosophically with Karim Marucchi and Joost de Valk who had publicly shared their visions for breaking the WordPress status quo. I began conversations with them. That turned into discrete conversations with others who aligned with a vision of something different, though exactly what that something different looked like was to be determined.
This wasn’t the Karim and Joost show, but because of the trust I had with them personally and the trust others had in them, they became a conduit for connecting me with people and conversations.
Conversations continued and FAIR was born.
Over the past ~6 months, I’ve been working with a very talented team of contributors. Some of them are public, others are not yet. I’ve known many of these people for many years but never had the opportunity to actually work together with them.
The sheer amount of institutional knowledge, project history, technical chops, understanding of the broader open source world, connections…I was blown away by what this team was capable of producing.
And we got to work planning and building what would eventually become FAIR.
Contextually, it’s important to understand that the reason this group even came together was because of the instability in the WordPress project, most notably its opaque governance and single-handed control. From the beginning, we knew that whatever we built had to take a different path.
That’s where the Linux Foundation (LF) comes in. If you’re not familiar, LF is a non-profit that supports open source software projects like Linux, Kubernetes, Node.js, OpenSSF, and more.
The Linux Foundation focuses on leveraging best practices and addressing the needs of contributors, users, and solution providers to create sustainable models for open collaboration. – About the Linux Foundation
With the help of LF, we established FAIR as a technical project under a neutral charter with shared ownership and transparent governance. Part of that governance includes a Technical Steering Committee (TSC), a common structure in many open source communities, but a new concept for those of us whose open source experience has been shaped primarily by WordPress.
In a nutshell, the TSC is responsible for guiding the technical direction of the project. Leadership is handled by an elected Chair, or in our case, Co-Chairs. As part of the early contributor group, my name was put forward, and I was honored (and humbled) to be elected Co-Chair alongside Ryan McCue and Mika Epstein. I hold deep respect for both of them, as professionals and as humans.
So, why am I involved?
Now that you have the backstory of what led me to my involvement and my current role in FAIR, you might wonder why?
In short, I believe FAIR is a path forward for WordPress. The WordPress I thought I knew is dying a slow death. Without change, it will eventually fade into the sunset (remember Magento?). FAIR can be that change. It’s a great opportunity to show how open governance operates and how a decentralized infrastructure benefits everyone involved, including Matt Mullenweg and WordPress.org.
Beyond what it could mean for the ecosystem, the process of working on FAIR with so many talented contributors has re-energized me. FAIR is a project I am excited about and look forward to contributing to. It’s an opportunity to make a meaningful and lasting impact on the open web.
Huzzah!
What’s next for FAIR?
The announcement of FAIR in Basel is an important milestone, but it’s also just the beginning.
We’ve laid the foundation for a more resilient and decentralized WordPress ecosystem, one that reduces reliance on any single point of control and re-centers the values of transparency, autonomy, and shared stewardship.
In the coming months, we’ll continue expanding FAIR’s technical capabilities. That includes adding support for alternative mirrors, building moderation tools that ensure package integrity, and deepening integration with developer workflows for both official and commercial plugin distribution. We’re also focused on strengthening governance by building out our Technical Steering Committee and working groups to ensure FAIR remains open and accountable.
But FAIR isn’t just about code. It’s a response to a deeper need: an effort to restore trust, invite broader participation, and ensure the long-term health of a platform we all rely on.
If that resonates with you, this is a great time to get involved. Whether you contribute code, offer feedback, or simply help carry the conversation forward, there’s room at the table.
The future of FAIR isn’t set in stone. It will be shaped by the people who show up to build it.
Additional articles from FAIR contributors:
- A new path forward for WordPress, and for the open web by Joost de Valk
- A way forward with FAIR by Siobhan McKeown
- Aspiring to FAIR Package Management by Brent Toderash
- Building a Stronger Ecosystem by Ryan McCue (TSC Co-Chair)
- Introducing FAIR: A Stronger, More Resilient WordPress Ecosystem by Karim Marucchi
- Launch of the FAIR project by Javier Casares
- The Hiatus is Over by Andy Fragen
- We Should Free All WordPress Plugins and Themes by Mika Epstein (Co-Chair)
- Why I joined FAIR by Sam Sidler
* Featured image photo by Kostas Fryganiotis. Licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
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