Feature Request: Add support for studio://createFromBlueprint?<REMOTE-BLUEPRINT-URL> links

[juanmaguitar]

What

Implement a feature that allows web demos to provide a link (using a custom protocol handler, e.g., studio://createFromBlueprint?<REMOTE-BLUEPRINT-URL>) which, when clicked, launches Studio and generates a local WordPress instance from a specified blueprint.

Expected Behavior

• Web demos can include a link or button that uses the custom protocol.
• When the link is clicked, Studio opens (or prompts for installation) and creates a new WordPress instance from the given remote blueprint URL.

Feedback on this suggestion is welcome!

Why

This feature would provide the following benefits:

• Streamlined developer experience: go from demo to local instance in one click
• Enables sharing reproducible environments for onboarding, learning, or collaboration
• Increase the number of WordPress.com sites, leveraging the seamless transition from Studio to WordPress.com.

How

Studio already implements a custom protocol handler. Enabling web demos to include links like studio://createFromBlueprint?<REMOTE-BLUEPRINT-URL> would allow users to seamlessly move from viewing a demo online to reproducing that demo locally in Studio, based on a remote blueprint.

cc: @adamziel @ndiego @jamiemarsland

[georgestephanis]

I'd love for this to also expand to including a step in the blueprint to allow running a git checkout of a repo into the themes or plugins directory. It feels like it'd enable eventually a one-click creation of a local dev environment.

[wojtekn]

@juanmaguitar good timing - this is something we are actively exploring!

@georgestephanis, yes, this would open a lot of new cases (CC @adamziel).

[adamziel]

Sourcing data from git is already supported, see https://wordpress.github.io/wordpress-playground/blueprints/steps/resources#gitdirectoryreference

You don't get a ".git" directory at the moment, but we can trivially support that if that would be useful for you. Just say a word. We already do that for WordPress core in https://github.com/Automattic/experimental-wp-dev-env

[georgestephanis]

@adamziel It would, a hundred percent.

I'm thinking with the ability for Studio to pull down an actual git repo, it would be much simpler for someone to view a plugin's repo on github, click to clone it locally, draft and test a fix, then push it up for a pr.

I think we all have a "directory of shame" filled with old clones that we don't delete because we might need to use it again someday -- if we can made them much easier to pull down and set up, it can also result in a leaner environment.

[adamziel]

@georgestephanis draft PR .git: WordPress/wordpress-playground#2789. It works but needs some more attention before merging which may go either slow or fast. If it's not merged at the point where you'll want to work on that feature, feel free to ping me in that PR and I'll give it more priority.

[adamziel]

@georgestephanis I've merged that PR 🙂