Alex Kirk

<p>This plugin adds a <code>/my-apps/</code> route to your WordPress so that it can act as your personal apps launcher — a dashboard that feels like a mobile phone home screen, so you don’t have to navigate wp-admin to reach the apps you use.</p>
<p>Apps can be plugins that register their own icon, custom links you add yourself, or plugins you install on demand from the built-in app store.</p>
<h3>Features</h3>
<ul>
<li><strong>Launcher</strong> at <code>/my-apps/</code> with grid or flow layouts, drag-to-reorder, and an edit mode for customization.</li>
<li><strong>Display settings</strong> live in the launcher itself (no admin page): icon size, spacing, grid columns, layout toggle, background color/image, optional personalized greeting, and, in WordPress Playground, a default-on per-user redirect from <code>/</code> to <code>/my-apps/</code> plus a default-on simplified WordPress mode that hides legacy admin shortcuts, plugin recommendations, manual add links, and core WordPress guides behind a reveal button. Device-specific display settings are stored per-device while in edit mode, and app-level options live in a dedicated My Apps Settings window.</li>
<li><strong>App Store</strong> for installing new apps: browse a curated catalog, view app detail pages, and install via WordPress Playground blueprints. Paste a custom blueprint JSON from the clipboard to install anything.</li>
<li><strong>Plugin-provided launcher icons</strong>: installed apps appear in My Apps when the plugin registers through <code>my_apps_plugins</code>.</li>
<li><strong>Mobile-friendly</strong>: full-screen app store, three icons per row, and a My Apps link in the admin bar on the frontend.</li>
</ul>
<h3>Adding an app from a plugin</h3>
<p>Plugins can register their own launcher icon by filtering <code>my_apps_plugins</code>:</p>
<pre><code>add_filter( 'my_apps_plugins', function ( $apps ) {
    // Add your app to the array. These three keys are mandatory:
    $apps['friends'] = array(
        // Name: The name that will be displayed.
        'name'     => __( 'Friends', 'friends' ),
        // The icon as a URL. You can also use a local URL inside a plugin, using `plugins_url()`.
        'icon_url' => 'https://ps.w.org/friends/assets/icon-256x256.png',
        // The URL this should link to.
        'url'      => home_url( '/friends/' ),
    );
    return $apps;
} );
</code></pre>
<h3>Temporarily adding an app from a blueprint</h3>
<p>You can add your own app to the App Store by pasting a complete WordPress Playground <code>blueprint.json</code>. Open My Apps, choose Add, then paste the blueprint anywhere in the App Store. On mobile, focus the Search field and paste the blueprint there.</p>
<p>My Apps reads the blueprint’s <code>meta.title</code>, <code>meta.description</code>, and <code>meta.author</code> fields to create the app-store entry. If the title matches an existing app, you can temporarily override that app with your pasted blueprint. Custom and modified blueprint entries are stored in this browser, appear in the Custom section, and can be removed or reverted from their badge in the App Store. When you paste multiple versions for the same entry, My Apps keeps a short version list so you can switch between them from the App Store.</p>
<p>To test App Store catalog, What can I do? guide, or plugin recommendation changes from another blueprints source without changing this plugin, paste a <code>WordPress/blueprints</code> PR number, a PR URL, or a GitHub fork branch URL anywhere in the App Store. On mobile, paste it into Search. Use the x next to the source indicator to return to the default catalog.</p>
<p>To test an app or plugin change from GitHub, paste a PR URL, commit URL, or PR changes URL for the repository installed by an existing app blueprint, such as <code>https://github.com/example-user/example-plugin/pull/117</code>, <code>https://github.com/example-user/example-plugin/commit/0123456789abcdef0123456789abcdef01234567</code>, or <code>https://github.com/example-user/example-plugin/pull/144/changes/fedcba9876543210fedcba9876543210fedcba98</code>. My Apps will point the matching blueprint or recommended GitHub plugin at the PR branch or commit. Reverting that modified entry also clears its pasted version list.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<pre><code>`json
</code></pre>
<p>{<br />
    “$schema”: “https://playground.wordpress.net/blueprint-schema.json”,<br />
    “meta”: {<br />
        “title”: “My Custom App”,<br />
        “description”: “Installs my custom WordPress app.”,<br />
        “author”: “Your Name”<br />
    },<br />
    “landingPage”: “/wp-admin/”,<br />
    “steps”: [<br />
        {<br />
            “step”: “installPlugin”,<br />
            “pluginData”: {<br />
                “resource”: “wordpress.org/plugins”,<br />
                “slug”: “gutenberg”<br />
            }<br />
        }<br />
    ]<br />
}<br />
    `</p>
<h3>Short install links</h3>
<p>For QR-code-friendly shares, link to the site root with <code>myapps-i=<app-slug></code>. My Apps redirects the request into <code>/my-apps/</code>, installs the matching App Store entry if needed, and opens the app’s landing page with the remaining query parameters preserved.</p>
<p>Example:</p>
<pre><code>`
</code></pre>
<p>https://my.wordpress.net/?myapps-i=wordcamp-companion&schedule=https%3A%2F%2Fexample.com%2Fschedule.json<br />
    `</p>
<pre><code>wordcamp-companion resolves to the matching App Store catalog key, including `apps/wordcamp-companion.json` and `blueprints/wordcamp-companion/blueprint.json`. You can also use `?install=1&app=wordcamp-companion` when an `app` parameter is easier to generate.
</code></pre>
<h3>Abilities API</h3>
<p>When the WordPress Abilities API is available, My Apps registers a <code>my-apps</code> category with App Store search, What can I do? guide discovery, and launcher customization abilities:</p>
<ul>
<li><code>my-apps/get-all</code> returns the full launcher state, including grouped background metadata, visible apps in display order, and app customization metadata.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/get-what-can-i-do</code> returns the default My Apps What can I do? guide catalog for questions like “what can I do?”. It intentionally excludes browser-local custom blueprints and alternate App Store catalog sources; the backing catalog file remains <code>recipes.json</code>.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/search-app-store</code> searches or browses the default My Apps App Store catalog, including curated installable apps and optional curated plugin recommendations. It intentionally excludes browser-local custom blueprints and alternate App Store catalog sources.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/set-background</code> updates the launcher background using a preset slug, an image attachment ID, a remote image URL to sideload or use directly if sideloading fails, or a safe CSS color/gradient value.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/add-app</code> creates a custom app icon with a name, URL, and optional icon. Icons can be an image URL, Dashicon, emoji, gradient, generated letter tile, or the app URL’s conventional <code>/favicon.ico</code>.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/set-app-details</code> renames an existing launcher app, changes its URL, or reverts those name/URL overrides.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/set-app-icon</code> updates or reverts the icon for an existing launcher app by slug.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/set-visible-ordered</code> sets the complete <code>visible_ordered</code> launcher app list; apps omitted from this list are hidden.</li>
<li><code>my-apps/set-app-visibility</code> hides or restores a launcher app by slug.</li>
</ul>
<p>When the AI Assistant plugin is available, My Apps also registers domain hints so questions about the My Apps App Store, app catalog search/browsing, installable apps/plugins, What can I do? guides, what WordPress can do, the launcher, app icons, hidden apps, app order, and launcher backgrounds are routed to these abilities.</p>


My Apps

Nick Hamze

<p>ODD turns your WordPress admin into a customizable desktop you actually want to spend time in.</p>
<p>WordPress does not have to feel like a plain control panel. With ODD and WP Desktop Mode, your admin can become a little digital room: a place with wallpaper, personality, favorite tools, charming desk toys, and a shop full of strange little upgrades.</p>
<p>ODD is made by Nick Hamze. Visit https://weirdpress.com/odd to learn more or try it in Playground.</p>
<p>Open the ODD Shop, pick what feels right, and make the workspace yours.</p>
<p>With ODD you can:</p>
<ul>
<li>Add living wallpapers that make your desktop feel alive.</li>
<li>Dress up your Desktop Mode dock, taskbar, and desktop icons with themed raster icon sets.</li>
<li>Swap in custom cursors that match the mood.</li>
<li>Drop tiny widgets onto the desktop, like notes, toys, embeds, and little desk companions.</li>
<li>Install small desktop apps that open in their own windows.</li>
<li>Start with a ready-made starter pack, then customize from there.</li>
</ul>
<p>ODD is for people who live in WordPress all day and want it to feel less like rented office furniture and more like their own place.</p>
<p>Maybe your WordPress should be calm and cozy. Maybe it should be weird and neon. Maybe it should look like a tiny operating system from a dream. ODD gives you the pieces and lets you decorate.</p>
<h3>Why You’ll Like It</h3>
<h4>Your admin gets a personality</h4>
<p>Change the look and feel of WordPress without changing your public site. ODD decorates your workspace, not your visitors’ experience.</p>
<h4>It is easy to try things</h4>
<p>Browse the ODD Shop, install something, apply it, swap it, remove it, and keep playing until the desktop feels right.</p>
<h4>It makes everyday WordPress more fun</h4>
<p>Your tools are still there. Your admin still works. It just feels more alive while you work.</p>
<h4>It works with WP Desktop Mode</h4>
<p>ODD is made for WP Desktop Mode, the plugin that turns wp-admin into a desktop-style workspace.<br />
It works with Desktop Mode’s own windows, dock, taskbar, desktop icons, and widget layer instead of replacing the desktop shell.</p>
<h3>External services</h3>
<p>ODD connects to the public ODD catalog at https://odd.regionallyfamous.com/catalog/v1/. This catalog is used to show items in the ODD Shop and download the wallpapers, icon sets, cursors, widgets, and apps you choose to install.</p>
<p>When an administrator opens or refreshes the ODD Shop, when WordPress cron checks whether new catalog content is available, when the starter pack runs, when catalog content is installed, or when an installed item is repaired, the site makes normal HTTPS requests for static catalog files and assets. Those requests may include normal web request information such as the server IP address, user agent, requested URL, and timestamp.</p>
<p>ODD does not send site content, user account details, cookies, analytics events, license keys, or diagnostic reports to the catalog service.</p>
<p>Service terms: https://odd.regionallyfamous.com/terms/</p>
<p>Privacy policy: https://odd.regionallyfamous.com/privacy/</p>
<h3>Source and build tools</h3>
<p>The human-readable source code for ODD is available at https://github.com/RegionallyFamous/odd. The repository includes the source files, build scripts, catalog sources, and package metadata used to create the plugin.</p>
<p>The generated JavaScript runtime files in <code>apps/runtime/*.js</code> are built from the public <code>react</code> and <code>react-dom</code> npm packages pinned in the repository. React source code is maintained at https://github.com/facebook/react, and the exact package versions are recorded in <code>package-lock.json</code>.</p>
<p>Typical build commands:</p>
<ol>
<li><code>npm ci</code></li>
<li><code>odd/bin/build-runtime</code></li>
<li><code>python3 _tools/build-catalog.py</code></li>
<li><code>odd/bin/build-zip</code></li>
</ol>


ODD — Outlandish Desktop Decorator


This plugin is a breath of fresh air. It has that crazy potential to become more than just a plugin, turning WordPress into a space that feels truly personal.


Radical!

Make WordPress feel like your digital home with living wallpapers, custom icons, playful cursors, desk widgets, and tiny apps for WP Desktop Mode.

My Apps vs ODD — Outlandish Desktop Decorator