System Requirements - WordPress Developer Showcase

Overview

The WordPress Developer Showcase is built on modern technologies and requires specific versions of WordPress, PHP, and Node.js to function correctly. This page details all requirements for both development and production environments.

Both the Bifrost Noise theme and Bifrost Music plugin require PHP 8.1 or higher. Using older PHP versions will result in fatal errors.

Core Requirements

WordPress Version

Minimum Version

WordPress 6.9 or higher

Block Bindings API - Connect custom data sources to block attributes
Theme.json v3 - Enhanced theme configuration schema
Block Hooks API - Programmatically modify block registration
Pattern Overrides - Enhanced pattern customization capabilities
Interactivity API - New frontend interactivity framework

PHP Requirements

Component	Minimum Version	Recommended Version
Bifrost Noise Theme	PHP 8.1	PHP 8.3
Bifrost Music Plugin	PHP 8.1	PHP 8.3

Both the theme and plugin specify "php": ">=8.1" in their composer.json files. This is enforced by WordPress when activating the theme or plugin.

Required PHP Extensions

The following PHP extensions are required:

json - JSON encoding/decoding (required by WordPress core)
mbstring - Multibyte string handling
mysqli or pdo_mysql - Database connectivity
curl - HTTP requests (for WordPress HTTP API)
openssl - Secure connections
zip - Handling zip archives (for plugin/theme installation)

Recommended PHP Extensions

gd or imagick - Image processing
intl - Internationalization support
opcache - Performance optimization
apcu - Object caching (for production)

Node.js Requirements

Purpose	Minimum Version	Recommended Version
Asset Building	Node.js 18.x	Node.js 20.x (LTS)
Package Manager	npm 9.x	npm 10.x

The build process uses @wordpress/scripts which requires Node.js 18 or higher. Older versions are not supported.

Composer Requirements

Component	Minimum Version
Composer	2.0 or higher

Development Dependencies

Theme Development (Bifrost Noise)

PHP Dependencies (via Composer)

{
  "require": {
    "php": ">=8.1"
  },
  "require-dev": {
    "wp-coding-standards/wpcs": "^3.0",
    "phpcompatibility/phpcompatibility-wp": "*",
    "symfony/var-dumper": "^6.4",
    "dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer": "^1.0"
  }
}

WPCS

WordPress Coding Standards for PHP_CodeSniffer - enforces WordPress coding style

PHPCompatibility

Checks PHP version compatibility for WordPress environments

VarDumper

Symfony’s debugging component for enhanced var_dump() functionality

CodeSniffer Installer

Automatically configures PHP_CodeSniffer with WordPress standards

Node.js Dependencies (via npm)

{
  "dependencies": {
    "@wordpress/blocks": "^15.12.0",
    "@wordpress/i18n": "^6.12.0",
    "@wordpress/scripts": "^31.4.0",
    "copy-webpack-plugin": "^13.0.1",
    "glob": "^13.0.3",
    "path": "^0.12.7",
    "webpack-remove-empty-scripts": "^1.1.1"
  }
}

@wordpress/scripts

WordPress-maintained webpack configuration and build tools

@wordpress/blocks

Block Editor block registration and manipulation APIs

@wordpress/i18n

Internationalization functions for JavaScript

Webpack Plugins

Custom webpack plugins for optimized asset compilation

Plugin Development (Bifrost Music)

PHP Dependencies (via Composer)

Same as theme requirements (see above).

Node.js Dependencies (via npm)

{
  "scripts": {
    "build": "wp-scripts build",
    "start": "wp-scripts start",
    "check-licenses": "wp-scripts check-licenses",
    "format": "wp-scripts format",
    "lint:css": "wp-scripts lint-style",
    "lint:js": "wp-scripts lint-js"
  },
  "devDependencies": {
    "@wordpress/scripts": "^27.0.0"
  }
}

Production Requirements

Server Environment

Production deployments should use optimized builds without development dependencies.

Component	Requirement
Web Server	Apache 2.4+ with mod_rewrite OR Nginx 1.18+
PHP	8.1+ with OPcache enabled
Database	MySQL 5.7+ OR MariaDB 10.5+
Memory Limit	256 MB minimum (512 MB recommended)
Max Execution Time	60 seconds minimum

Production Build Commands

cd themes/bifrost-noise

# Install production PHP dependencies
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

# Build optimized assets
npm run build

The --no-dev flag excludes development dependencies like WPCS and VarDumper. The --optimize-autoloader flag generates an optimized class map for better performance.

Local Development Environment Options

Any of the following local development environments will work:

Local by Flywheel

Recommended for beginners. Provides one-click WordPress setup with easy PHP version switching.

Docker / wp-env

Official WordPress Docker environment. Great for consistent development across teams.

XAMPP / MAMP

Traditional local server stacks. More manual configuration required.

Laravel Valet

For macOS developers. Lightweight and fast with minimal configuration.

Example: Local by Flywheel Configuration

PHP Version: 8.1 or higher
Web Server: Nginx (default)
Database: MySQL 8.0
WordPress: Latest version

Example: wp-env Configuration

Create a .wp-env.json file:

{
  "core": "WordPress/WordPress#6.9",
  "phpVersion": "8.1",
  "plugins": [
    "./plugins/bifrost-music"
  ],
  "themes": [
    "./themes/bifrost-noise"
  ]
}

Then run:

npx @wordpress/env start

Optional Components

Recommended Tools

Git

Version control system for contributing to the project

VS Code

Code editor with excellent WordPress development extensions

WP-CLI

Command-line interface for WordPress management and automation

Xdebug

PHP debugger for step-through debugging and profiling

Useful VS Code Extensions

PHP Intelephense - PHP code intelligence
WordPress Snippets - WordPress function snippets
ESLint - JavaScript linting
Prettier - Code formatting
EditorConfig - Consistent coding styles

Browser Requirements

Development

For Block Editor development, use modern browsers:

Chrome 90+ (recommended for DevTools)
Firefox 88+
Safari 15+
Edge 90+

Production

The theme and plugin are compatible with:

All evergreen browsers (auto-updating)
IE11 is not supported (consistent with WordPress 6.9+ policy)

Deployment Environment

The showcase includes automated deployment workflows for:

GitHub Actions Requirements

Requirement	Description
GitHub Environments	Separate `production` and `staging` environments
SFTP Credentials	For automated vendor folder deployment
Repository Secrets	`SFTP_USER`, `SFTP_PASSWORD`, `SFTP_KNOWN_HOSTS`

See the CONTRIBUTING.md file for detailed deployment workflow information.

Verification Checklist

Before starting development, verify your environment meets these requirements:

Check PHP Version

php -v
# Should show 8.1 or higher

Check Node.js Version

node -v
# Should show v18.x or higher

npm -v
# Should show 9.x or higher

Check Composer

composer --version
# Should show 2.x

Verify WordPress Version

wp core version
# Should show 6.9 or higher

Check PHP Extensions

php -m | grep -E "(json|mbstring|mysqli|curl|openssl|zip)"
# All should be listed

Troubleshooting

PHP Version Errors

Error: “Parse error: syntax error, unexpected token…” Solution: Your PHP version is too old. Upgrade to PHP 8.1 or higher.

Node.js Version Errors

Error: “This version of Node.js requires a newer version…” Solution:

# Install nvm (Node Version Manager)
curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.39.0/install.sh | bash

# Install Node.js 20 LTS
nvm install 20
nvm use 20

Composer Installation Issues

Error: “Fatal error: Allowed memory size…” Solution:

# Increase PHP memory limit for Composer
php -d memory_limit=-1 $(which composer) install

Next Steps

Once you’ve verified all requirements are met:

Proceed to Setup

Follow the step-by-step installation guide to get the showcase running locally

Get Started

Plugin Development

Theme Development

Contributing

​Overview

​Core Requirements

​WordPress Version

Minimum Version

Recommended

​PHP Requirements

​Required PHP Extensions

​Recommended PHP Extensions

​Node.js Requirements

​Composer Requirements

​Development Dependencies

​Theme Development (Bifrost Noise)

​PHP Dependencies (via Composer)

WPCS

PHPCompatibility

VarDumper

CodeSniffer Installer

​Node.js Dependencies (via npm)

@wordpress/scripts

@wordpress/blocks

@wordpress/i18n

Webpack Plugins

​Plugin Development (Bifrost Music)

​PHP Dependencies (via Composer)

​Node.js Dependencies (via npm)

​Production Requirements

​Server Environment

​Production Build Commands

​Local Development Environment Options

Local by Flywheel

Docker / wp-env

XAMPP / MAMP

Laravel Valet

​Example: Local by Flywheel Configuration

​Example: wp-env Configuration

​Optional Components

​Recommended Tools

Git

VS Code

WP-CLI

Xdebug

​Useful VS Code Extensions

​Browser Requirements

​Development

​Production

​Deployment Environment

​GitHub Actions Requirements

​Verification Checklist

​Troubleshooting

​PHP Version Errors

​Node.js Version Errors

​Composer Installation Issues

​Next Steps

Proceed to Setup

Build docs developers (and LLMs) love

Overview

Core Requirements

WordPress Version

PHP Requirements

Required PHP Extensions

Recommended PHP Extensions

Node.js Requirements

Composer Requirements

Development Dependencies

Theme Development (Bifrost Noise)

PHP Dependencies (via Composer)

Node.js Dependencies (via npm)

Plugin Development (Bifrost Music)

PHP Dependencies (via Composer)

Node.js Dependencies (via npm)

Production Requirements

Server Environment

Production Build Commands

Local Development Environment Options

Example: Local by Flywheel Configuration

Example: wp-env Configuration

Optional Components

Recommended Tools

Useful VS Code Extensions

Browser Requirements

Development

Production

Deployment Environment

GitHub Actions Requirements

Verification Checklist

Troubleshooting

PHP Version Errors

Node.js Version Errors

Composer Installation Issues

Next Steps