bacÀsable

Instantly start a Retraceur development environment in Node.js with WebAssembly PHP and SQLite.

Installation

git clone https://github.com/retraceur/bacasable.git
cd bacasable
npm install

Build bacÀsable

# Build
npm run build

Use Your Local Version

# In your bacasable clone repository
npm link

# Now usable anywhere
cd ~/projects/my-plugin
bacasable start

Quick Start

# In a plugin directory
cd my-retraceur-plugin
bacasable start

# In a theme directory
cd my-retraceur-theme
bacasable start --php=8.3

# With a specific Retraceur version
bacasable start --retraceur=2.0.1

# In a complete Retraceur installation
cd ~/projects/retraceur/coeur
bacasable start

Available Options

Option	Description	Default
--path=<path>	Project path	Current directory
--php=<version>	PHP version (8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3)	8.0
--port=<port>	Server port	8881
--retraceur=<version>	Retraceur version	latest
--core	Alias for core development	-

Examples

# Custom port
bacasable start --port=3000

# PHP 8.3 with Retraceur 2.0.1
bacasable start --php=8.3 --retraceur=2.0.1

# Plugin development with specific path
bacasable start --path=~/projects/my-plugin

Automatic Mode Detection

bacasable automatically detects your project type:

🔌 Plugin

Plugin development (detects Plugin Name: in PHP header)

cd my-plugin
bacasable start
# → Mounts plugin in wp-content/plugins

🎨 Theme

Block theme development (detects style.css with Theme Name:)

cd my-theme
bacasable start
# → Mounts theme in wp-content/themes

📁 wp-content

Development with multiple plugins and themes

cd my-wp-content
bacasable start
# → Uses the entire wp-content directory

🏠 retraceur

Complete local Retraceur installation

cd ~/retraceur/coeur
bacasable start
# → Uses local installation (no download)

What is Retraceur?

Retraceur is a WP fork focused on personal publishing:

• ✅ No dependency on wordpress.org
• ✅ Libravatar instead of Gravatar
• ✅ OpenMojis integrated
• ✅ Block Editor required
• ✅ Block themes only
• ✅ Multisite available via plugin
• ✅ Comments available via plugin

Learn more: github.com/retraceur/coeur

Features

⚡ Instant Start

• No Docker, Apache, or MySQL required
• PHP in WebAssembly via Node.js
• SQLite as database
• Start in seconds

🎯 Multi-Mode

• Automatic project type detection
• Supports plugin, theme, wp-content, full installation
• Mode-specific optimizations

🛠️ Multiple PHP Versions

• Supports PHP 8.0, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3
• Switch versions easily
• Test your code compatibility

Credits

bacasable is based on wp-now, developed by the WP Playground team.

Thanks to the WP Playground team for:

• @php-wasm/node and @php-wasm/universal: PHP in WebAssembly
• WP Playground: Virtualization infrastructure
• wp-now: Concept and base architecture

Without their innovative work, bacasable would not be possible.

Supported Retraceur Versions

• latest → trunk (latest development version)
• trunk → Main development branch
• 2.0.1 → Stable release
• 2.0.0 → Previous release

See all available versions: Retraceur Releases

Compatibility

• Node.js: >= 18.0.0
• npm: >= 9.0.0
• Systems: macOS, Linux, Windows (WSL recommended)

Known Limitations

• 📝 No support for old Retraceur versions (< 2.0.0)
• 🔌 Plugins requiring system dependencies may not work
• 🌐 No native multisite support

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Here’s how to contribute:

1. Fork the project
2. Create a branch: git checkout -b feature/my-feature
3. Commit: git commit -m 'Add: My feature'
4. Push: git push origin feature/my-feature
5. Pull Request: Open a PR on GitHub

Authors

• Retraceur Community - Adaptation for Retraceur
• WP Playground Team - Original wp-now project

Links

• Retraceur Website
• Retraceur Core
• WordPress Playground
• Original wp-now

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Made with ❤️ by the Retraceur community