Discover, trust, install: FAIR 1.0 is here
Today marks a major milestone for the FAIR project: the 1.0 release. After months of development, testing, and community feedback, we're shipping a complete, production-ready system for decentralized software distribution.
AspireCloud
AspireCloud is the discovery layer of the FAIR network. It aggregates packages from multiple FAIR repositories and provides a unified interface for searching and browsing.
- Aggregation — AspireCloud crawls and indexes FAIR repositories across the network, building a comprehensive catalog of available packages. New repositories are discovered automatically through the federation protocol.
- Search — Full-text search across plugin names, descriptions, tags, and author information. Results are ranked by relevance and can be filtered by various criteria.
- Faceted API — A rich API that supports faceted filtering by category, tag, compatibility, rating, and more. The API is designed for both human-facing interfaces and programmatic access.
AspireExplorer
AspireExplorer is the web interface for browsing the FAIR network. Think of it as a package directory you can visit in your browser.
- Web browsing — Browse packages with a clean, modern interface. Each package has a detail page with description, screenshots, changelog, compatibility information, and installation instructions.
- FAIR badges — Packages display trust badges based on labels from the FAIR labeling system. At a glance, you can see whether a package has been security audited, is actively maintained, or meets other quality criteria.
FAIR Plugin 1.0
The FAIR Plugin is the WordPress component that connects your site to the FAIR network.
- ED25519 signatures — Every package installed through FAIR is cryptographically verified using ED25519 digital signatures. This ensures that the package you install is exactly what the author published, with no tampering in transit.
- GDPR compliance — Unlike the default WordPress update system, FAIR does not send site data to third parties without consent. All external requests are transparent and documented, and users can control what data is shared.
- Features — Browse and install packages from any FAIR repository directly in the WordPress admin. View package details, screenshots, and changelogs in an integrated modal. Manage DID-based identity for your site. Receive update notifications from FAIR repositories.
Mini-FAIR Repo
Mini-FAIR Repo makes it easy for anyone to create their own FAIR-compatible repository. It supports multiple hosting platforms:
- GitHub — Host your repository as a GitHub repository with GitHub Actions for automated builds.
- Gitea — Self-hosted Git? Mini-FAIR works with Gitea out of the box.
- GitLab — Both GitLab.com and self-hosted GitLab are supported.
- Bitbucket — Bitbucket Cloud support for teams already using Atlassian tools.
Planet FAIR
Planet FAIR is the community hub for the FAIR ecosystem:
- News feed — Aggregated news from across the FAIR community, including blog posts, release announcements, and community updates.
- Events — Upcoming FAIR-related events, meetups, and conferences. Community members can submit events for inclusion.
Why it matters
FAIR 1.0 is more than a software release — it's proof that a decentralized approach to software distribution can work in practice. The system is live, packages are being distributed, and the network is growing.
For the first time, WordPress site owners can install and update plugins from sources they choose and trust, verified with modern cryptography, without depending on any single provider. This is what software distribution should look like.