The github-proxy.com was created previously to Blueprints, load branches, pull requests, and commits on GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ without CORS issues and add a dynamic packaging functionality. This service is hosted and maintained by a community contributor, Christoph Khouri, and he will end this service at the beginning of 2026 (but your Blueprints are safe).

The good news: The Playground team has introduced an automatic migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. layer in WordPress Playground. If your Blueprints currently rely on github-proxy.com, they will continue to work automatically.

What is changing?

When Playground encounters a github-proxy.com URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org in a Blueprint, it will now automatically rewrite it to use native Playground resources like git:directory.

Your Blueprints will continue to work, but you’ll see a console warning to update them. Update your Blueprints to use native resources for future compatibility and to remove these warnings.

How to migrate

The automatic migration handles several patterns:

Here is how you can update your Blueprints to match the native implementation:

1. Repositories, Branches, and Pull Requests

The old proxy returned a ZIP file of a repository. You can now achieve this natively using the git:directory resource.

Old:

{
    "resource": "url",
    "url": "https://github-proxy.com/proxy/?repo=user/repo&branch=main"
}

New:
Use the git:directory resource directly in your steps (like installPlugin or installTheme).

{
    "step": "installPlugin",
    "pluginData": {
        "resource": "git:directory",
        "url": "https://github.com/my-user/my-repo",
        "ref": "main"
    }
}

You can target specific commits or pull requests using the ref property:

• Pull request: "ref": "refs/pull/123/head"
• Commit: "ref": "abcdef123456..."

2. Release Assets

If you were using the proxy to fetch a specific asset (like a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party zip) from a GitHub release, you can now use the resource zip with an inner object.

Old:

{
    "resource": "url",
    "url": "https://github-proxy.com/proxy/?repo=user/repo&release=v1.0&asset=plugin.zip"
}

New:

{

  "resource": "zip",
  "inner": {
    "resource": "git:directory",
    "url": "https://github.com/owner/repo",
    "ref": "main"
  }
}

Why is this better?

The proxy was vital in Playground’s early days. Recent infrastructure improvements, Playground’s built-in CORS proxy, and GitGit Git is a free and open source distributed version control system designed to handle everything from small to very large projects with speed and efficiency. Git is easy to learn and has a tiny footprint with lightning fast performance. Most modern plugin and theme development is being done with this version control system. https://git-scm.com/. over HTTPHTTP HTTP is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. support now enable native GitHub repository access. This removes the dependency on third-party services and improves stability.

A huge thank you to Christoph for keeping this service running and stable over the past years. It played a massive role in making Playground useful early on.

Please check your Blueprints today. If you have any questions, please get in touch with the Playground Team via the #playground SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel.

We are excited to announce a significant update to the WordPress Playground that completely improves the developer experience: a brand-new Blueprint Editor.

While the ability to edit Blueprints has existed previously, this update brings a polished, cohesive interface that combines a powerful code editor directly with the file browser. This new functionality is designed to streamline your workflow, making it easier than ever to prototype, test, and share WordPress configurations.

Key Features

1. Intelligent Auto-Completion
Writing JSONJSON JSON, or JavaScript Object Notation, is a minimal, readable format for structuring data. It is used primarily to transmit data between a server and web application, as an alternative to XML. schemas just got a lot faster. The new editor features built-in auto-completion that guides developers as they type. Whether you are adding a new step or defining a specific configuration, the editor helps you generate valid Blueprints without constantly referring to documentation. It also includes full support for Blueprints v2.

2. Live “Auto-Recreate” Functionality
This is the game-changer. We have introduced an “Auto-recreate Playground from the Blueprint” toggle.

When enabled, any change you make in the code editor is immediately reflected in the WordPress instance on the right. You no longer need to manually reload or restart the instance. As seen in the demo, you can simply type a command to install a pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party (like GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/), and watch the site update in real-time.

Faster Iteration

This update is perfect for developers who need to iterate quickly. You can easily copy a Blueprint from another environment, load it into Playground, and tweak it live. It creates an immediate feedback loopLoop The Loop is PHP code used by WordPress to display posts. Using The Loop, WordPress processes each post to be displayed on the current page, and formats it according to how it matches specified criteria within The Loop tags. Any HTML or PHP code in the Loop will be processed on each post. https://codex.wordpress.org/The_Loop. that drastically reduces development time. The Blueprint Editor also provides a validation that can guide your blueprint creation.

Try It Out

We invite you to explore the new editor features today. We want to hear your thoughts. Please let us know what you think about this new workflow in the comments below, or share your feedback directly with us in the Playground SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel.

WordPress Playground now loads GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ development branches directly in your browser. Test the latest trunk changes or explore feature branches without creating a pull request or setting up a local environment.

This solves a common challenge: testing bleeding-edge Gutenberg development typically requires cloning repositories, running build scripts, and managing local installations. Now you can skip all that.

Why does this matter?

New features land trunk daily, and experimental work occurs in feature branches before being merged into pull requests. Previously, you could only preview specific PRs in Playground, and now you can preview any branch related to a pull request.

This opens new possibilities:

• Test the Gutenberg trunk branch to catch issues before they reach release.
• Explore Gutenberg experimental features and fixes before they’re merged.

How do you preview branches?

Playground introduces two new Query API parameters gutenberg-branch. Add them to your Playground URLURL A specific web address of a website or web page on the Internet, such as a website’s URL www.wordpress.org to load specific branches.

Preview Gutenberg trunk or a specific feature branch:

https://playground.wordpress.net/?gutenberg-branch=trunk

Other branches:

https://playground.wordpress.net/?gutenberg-branch=add/new-feature

What about pull requests?

Pull request previewing still works exactly as before for Gutenberg and WordPress coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress.. If you know the PR number, use:

https://playground.wordpress.net/?core-pr=9500
https://playground.wordpress.net/?gutenberg-pr=73010

What should you know?

When you preview a branch, Playground loads the latest available build artifact from GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged be the repository owner. https://github.com/ Actions. If GitHub Actions is still building the most recent commit, Playground uses the next available build. This means you might see changes from a few commits back, not the absolute latest code. This approach strikes a balance between freshness and reliability.

This feature works anywhere you use the Playground Query APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways., ideally, for testing and bug reporting. The playground can be embedded for educational purposes in future releases. For example, if you’re documenting a new Gutenberg feature still in trunk, link directly to a Playground instance that demonstrates it.

Start testing today

The WordPress and Gutenberg teams constantly ship improvements. With branch previewing, you can explore these changes the moment they merge, report issues early, and contribute to WordPress development—all from your browser.

Try it now and learn more about Query API documentation.

The WordPress Playground CLICLI Command Line Interface. Terminal (Bash) in Mac, Command Prompt in Windows, or WP-CLI for WordPress. version 3.0.20 is live! This update introduces powerful new PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/preface.php. extensions (ImageMagick, SOAP, and AVIF GD Support) that enhance the capabilities of your in-browser WordPress instances, making the playground compatible with plugins and themes that utilize these extensions. Let’s dive into what’s new.

ImageMagick: Your All-in-One Image Processing

Many developers rely on ImageMagick for advanced image manipulation, and now you can use it directly within WordPress Playground. The new ImageMagick extension supports a wide range of formats, including: JPG, PNG, GIF, WEBP (for PHP 8.0 and newer).

This addition increases the PHP bundle size by approximately 4.39MB, a worthwhile trade-off for the power and flexibility it provides. We are also exploring the possibility of shipping ImageMagick in the browser in the future for even better performance.

SOAP Extension: Connecting to Web Services Made Easy

The SOAP extension now supports all PHP builds, allowing you to connect your Playground instances to SOAP-based web services.

Getting started is simple. Here’s a quick example of how you can use the SOAP client to convert temperatures:

<?php
try {
    // Create SOAP client that in theory Convert Celsius to Fahrenheit
    $client = new SoapClient('<your SOAP endpoint>');
    
    // Submit the values to the client
    $celsius = 25;
    $params = array('Celsius' => $celsius);
    $response = $client->CelsiusToFahrenheit($params);
    
    echo "Input: {$celsius}°C\n";
    echo "Result: {$response->CelsiusToFahrenheitResult}°F\n";
    
} catch (SoapFault $e) {
    echo "SOAP Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
} catch (Exception $e) {
    echo "Error: " . $e->getMessage() . "\n";
}

In the previous version of @wp-playground/cli, this code, it triggered a Fatal Error, and now it executes successfully. 

AVIF Support in the GD Extension

The GD extension in WordPress Playground now supports AVIF (AV1 Image File Format) for PHP 8.1 and newer. This enables you to convert images to and from the AVIF format, which provides higher compression, smaller file sizes compared to JPEG, and also supports transparency.

Now WordPress Playground compiles the libaom (AV1 codec) and libavif libraries (version 0.8.2) to WebAssembly, this is a significant technical achievement that brings modern image processing directly to your browser.

Two new functions are available for builders on WordPress Playground from the GD extension:

• imagecreatefromavif: Reads an AVIF image and returns a GdImage instance for manipulation.
• imageavi: Outputs or saves an image in AVIF format. With the possibility of setting quality and speed compression as parameters.

For more information, check the imageavif and imagecreatefromavif guides.

Practical Example

Convert a JPEG to AVIF:

<?php
// Load JPEG image
$image = imagecreatefromjpeg('photo.jpg');

// Save as AVIF with custom quality
imageavif($image, 'photo.avif', quality: 85);

// Clean up
imagedestroy($image);

echo "Converted photo.jpg to photo.avif\n";

Conclusion

These additions enhance the WordPress Playground’s compatibility with a broader range of plugins and themes. Is there another pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party you feel is essential to the WordPress ecosystem? Please let us know in the comments. 

To use the WordPress Playground’s latest version, run the command:

$ npx @wp-playground/cli@latest server

To learn more about @wp-playground/cli at the Playground CLI guide. You create! Share your projects and feedback with us in the  #playground Slack channel.