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Cloudflare Announces EmDash As Open-Source 'Spiritual Successor' To WordPress (phoronix.com) 41

Posted by BeauHD from the not-a-joke dept.
In classic Cloudflare fashion, the CDN provider used April Fool's Day to unveil an actual, "not a joke" product. Today, the company announced EmDash -- an open-source "spiritual successor" to WordPress that aims to solve plugin security. Phoronix reports: With the help of AI coding agents, Cloudflare engineers have been rebuilding the WordPress open-source project "from the ground up." EmDash is written entirely in TypeScript and is a server-less design. Making plug-ins more secure than the WordPress architecture, EmDash plug-ins are sandboxed and run in their own isolate. EmDash builds upon the Astro web framework. EmDash doesn't rely on any WordPress code but is designed to be compatible with WordPress functionality. EmDash is open-source now under the MIT license. The EmDash code is available on GitHub.

Cloudflare Announces EmDash As Open-Source 'Spiritual Successor' To WordPress More | Reply

Cloudflare Announces EmDash As Open-Source 'Spiritual Successor' To WordPress

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  • I expect that it'll go towards U+2E3A and U+2E3B rather than U+2013.

  • If you're going to rewrite it, can you write it in Rust? I've never been quite clear on what the point of TypeScript was. "JavaScript, but with types!" isn't much of a selling point.

    • It makes it harder to write bad Javascript since it lets you catch errors earlier. Basically it's a safety net for your IDE.

      The side effect of this is LLMs can generate compatible code more reliably, so you're going to see a lot more of it.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by znrt ( 2424692 )

      can you write it in Rust?

      why? can't you?

      I've never been quite clear on what the point of TypeScript was

      you do look a bit challenged indeed, mate. hang on!

      disclaimer: i give exactly the same number of fucks about rust, typescript, wordpress, emdash and cloudflare for that matter: none. this comment for educational entertainment only.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Himmy32 ( 650060 )

      The most practical reason is simply mindshare when you are relying on the success of the platform in people developing plugins. People who are interested in a CMS and displaying web content to folks are much more likely to know JS/TS. And that's pretty clear going a level deeper than the CMS to the framework level, can look at the GitHub stars on Astro is 10x compared Rust frameworks. Which is undoubtedly the reason that Cloudflare has been sponsoring Astro. And now they have something to monetize through t

    • EmDash builds upon the Astro web framework.

      That pretty much precludes the use of anything but Typescript/Javascript. Also it isn't a rewrite in the traditional sense, since they're clean-room implementing wordpress features on an existing framework.

      Due to Astro being a fairly large framework already, I'm curious to see what exactly emdash brings to the table; is it just a couple extra integrations, or did they have to change a bunch of baseline astro code as well...

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by keltor ( 99721 ) *
      This is just a CMS frontend that runs on TOP of Astro which necessitates writing it in TypeScript.

      Now I CAN write it all in Rust, compile Rust to WASM and then run WASM in TypeScript on top of Astro (or running my own Astro server, I can run the WASM direct.)

      It's just one of those days isn't it?

      I'm having Claude rewrite it into Rust right now.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Kisai ( 213879 )

      Wordpress is just an absolute terrible CMS. It's core feature is posting text and letting bozos spam the blog with millions of spam comments.
      - Wordpress has no anti-spam solution
      - Wordpress has no caching mechanism
      - Wordpress relies heavily on themes and plugins to have any functionality at all, all it takes is one bad plugin to kick the tentpole holding the site up.

      Why would anyone want to replicate this godawful design.

    • TypeScript has a very very advanced type system that pushes the boundaries far beyond the old-same 80s-90 Java/C++ Object stuff.

    • With the help of AI coding agents, Cloudflare engineers have been rebuilding ...

      Next!

  • My inner editor is incensed. (Score:3)

    by nightflameauto ( 6607976 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @04:19PM (#66072724)

    Making plug-ins more secure than the WordPress architecture, EmDash plug-ins are sandboxed and run in their own isolate.

    While technically you can use "isolate" as a noun, the usage here is in such an awkward state that it would make a line editor do the line editor equivalent of flipping a table and throwing a bottle of expensive scotch at the writer's head while screaming, "Fix your shit!"

    Also, let's not burden EmDash with the historical baggage of Wordpress just because people are looking for an alternative. I mean, it sicks in its own special way, but it's not *THAT* terrible. Yet. Move enough people to it and I'm sure it can get there, but no reason to start its race with all the baggage of Wordpress hanging on its neck.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by NaCh0 ( 6124 )

      WordPress developers are very hive minded. Marketing this new cleanroom CMS as a successor to WordPress is a brilliant move.

      If I can have my AI engine of choice design up a new site, and emdash has the MCP engine to control the CMS side, deploying a website just became even simpler than the various drag and drop wordpress page editors.

      • WordPress developers are very hive minded. Marketing this new cleanroom CMS as a successor to WordPress is a brilliant move.

        If I can have my AI engine of choice design up a new site, and emdash has the MCP engine to control the CMS side, deploying a website just became even simpler than the various drag and drop wordpress page editors.

        Oh yeah, you got marketing directors the world over wet with throwing AI on top of a successor to WP.

    • but no reason to start its race with all the baggage of Wordpress hanging on its neck.

      Wordpress is a name everyone knows. This is unfortunate on multiple levels, but still true.

      • but no reason to start its race with all the baggage of Wordpress hanging on its neck.

        Wordpress is a name everyone knows. This is unfortunate on multiple levels, but still true.

        And some for precisely the reasons you wouldn't want to associate with it. I know, no bad press, and I also know our marketing people love it, but that shouldn't really help the cause.

    • Also, let's not burden EmDash with the historical baggage of Wordpress just because people are looking for an alternative. I mean, it sucks in its own special way, but it's not *THAT* terrible. Yet. Move enough people to it and I'm sure it can get there, but no reason to start its race with all the baggage of Wordpress hanging on its neck.

      While Cloudflare is certainly free to release their own alternative...it's not like Wordpress lacks competition - there's Ghost and WriteFreely for blogging. There's Drupal and Joomla for website building. There's Plone, Concrete, Hugo, Silverstripe, and Ametys (if you hate yourself) for niche requirements. ClassicPress and WPDistrib are direct forks of Wordpress. All of these are free-as-in-beer. Most have some form of OSS license.

      So...while I'd certainly agree that Wordpress sucks in its own way, its mass

    • While technically you can use "isolate" as a noun, the usage here is in such an awkward state that it would make a line editor do the line editor equivalent of flipping a table and throwing a bottle of expensive scotch at the writer's head while screaming, "Fix your shit!"

      I concur 100%; using it that way is awkward and pointless. It adds nothing but reduced clarity.

    • Itâ(TM)s a class in the V8 JS engine, if that changes your mind at all. https://v8docs.nodesource.com/... [nodesource.com]

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

      It's the name of a specific technology that they call "isolates". A lightweight container system designed for this kind of application.

    • Isolate should be capitalized as Cloudflareâ Isolate©. They're probably running out of synonyms for Sandbox, Container, Jail, Cage, Cell, Vault, Pod, etc... And has the side effect of also being an homage to oldschool Science Fiction (Isaac Asimov The Foundation which probably has the word "Isolate" as a noun used more per page than any non-scientific book in history).

  • hmm (Score:2)

    by GoTeam ( 5042081 )
    In the future, it's probably better to save actual announcements for days other than April 1st...
  • Making an announcement on AFD and saying it's not a joke doesn't clarify whether it's a joke.
  • The summary quotes the article in saying "the open-source WordPress project". If WordPress is already open-source, how likely is it that anyone will switch to this new codebase? Seems like any of their existing reasons for not switching haven't changed a great deal.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Himmy32 ( 650060 )

      Open Source isn't the real selling point here. People clearly like WordPress style development, but that comes along with how heavy weight WordPress is and the dangers of the plugin ecosystem. A simple web search for "WordPress plugin attacks" will reveal a large number of serious CVEs.

      Then making design choices that are popular with the frontend community with Astro, TypeScript, Tailwind or vanilla CSS. Is likely to attract people to write good plugins. And lastly is combining those design decisions with C

  • Nope (Score:1)

    by mabu ( 178417 )

    With the help of AI coding agents,

    No thanks. Good Bye!

  • The whole point of Wordpress is so you can host your own site and not have to have your web site held hostage by one of the oligarch-controlled cloud providers!

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Himmy32 ( 650060 )

      This whole project is MIT-licensed and runs on standard web infrastructure [github.com] so there's not really much lock-in here. But I don't think it's unreasonable of them to make it nice, cheap, and easy to run on their own platform.

    • I'm not sure what your complaint here is. You can run Emdash at home (or on an web server or cloud provider). It requires the same things as wordpress: webserver, filesystem / storage, database server. Also Wordpress very much also offers a hosted platform for their product for users to use.

  • It went from zero to "beta preview" in 10 hours? (Score:3)

    by Danborg ( 62420 ) on Wednesday April 01, 2026 @05:11PM (#66072866)

    My hot take: This is Matt Kane (a legit Astro core team member) using Claude Code to generate an entire CMS in a day as an April Fools flex / proof of concept / "look what AI-assisted development can do now."

  • And they're RIGHT, Wordpress is a mess, an absolute mess on multiple levels.

    Yes it's a versatile framework with all the plugins available, but the security is mediocre and it's so, so dated.

    In terms of functionality it's a great platform with add-ons and themes etc etc for literally anything you could want, AND it's clumsy, spaghettified, and some things just don't make sense. The theme and permissions structures are discombobulated- it's like they built it backwards, if that makes any sense.

    I, for one, I w

    • Exactly. WP have had years to sort this shit out, but they were too afraid of cannibalising their existing base. I genuinely hope this gains support from plugin authors and wipes WP out.

  • Stupid stupid product name (Score:3)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Thursday April 02, 2026 @03:20AM (#66073564)

    Stupid! Why name your product after a grammatical symbol? Is the intention here to make it impossible to find any information about it? Any search for this project will automatically be corrected to "em dash". For those not familiar with English gramma it's the long dash used to conjoin sentences: you could have used it instead of this colon. Not to be confused with an "en dash" or a hyphen.

    But I said stupid stupid, not just stupid. Well here's the second one:

    Stupid! It clashes with another open source project with the same name: https://www.emdash.sh/ [emdash.sh] Who came first? Who cares, they both have stupid names already.

  • Matt Mullenweg says EmDash, while open source, is designed “to sell more Cloudflare services” and lacks the cross-platform democratization of WordPress

    https://ma.tt/2026/04/emdash-feedback/

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