WP Collab Cloudflare

Proof-of-concept that offloads WordPress 7.0's real-time collaboration (RTC) to a Cloudflare Workers relay, replacing the default HTTP polling transport with WebSockets over Durable Objects.

Why

WordPress 7.0 introduces collaborative editing powered by Yjs. By default it syncs via HTTP polling (every 1-4 seconds). This works, but each poll holds a PHP worker for the duration of the request. On hosts with limited concurrency, no WebSocket support, or stateless containers, this becomes a bottleneck.

This project moves the sync relay to Cloudflare's edge:

• Durable Objects coordinate document state with single-threaded consistency
• WebSocket Hibernation means idle editing sessions cost nothing
• PHP workers are freed from long-polling — they only handle normal page/API requests

Architecture

Browser A ──WebSocket──┐
                        ├── Cloudflare Durable Object (Yjs relay) ──persists to DO storage
Browser B ──WebSocket──┘

Four pieces work together:

Component	Path	Purpose
Worker	worker/	Cloudflare Worker + Durable Object running y-partyserver as a Yjs sync relay
Plugin	plugin/wp-collab-cf/	WordPress plugin that hooks into the sync.providers filter to swap HTTP polling for a WebSocket connection to the Worker
MU-Plugin	mu-plugin/	Enables WP_ALLOW_COLLABORATION and sets the WP_COLLAB_CF_WS_URL constant that the plugin reads
Demo Plugin	plugin/wp-collab-cf-demo/	Optional. Magic link that creates temporary guest users restricted to a single demo post, useful for sharing a live demo

Setup

1. Deploy the Worker

cd worker
npm install
# Authenticate with Cloudflare (or set CLOUDFLARE_ACCOUNT_ID + CLOUDFLARE_API_TOKEN)
wrangler login
wrangler deploy

Note the deployed URL (e.g. wss://wp-collab-cloudflare.your-subdomain.workers.dev).

2. Configure WordPress

Copy the mu-plugin to wp-content/mu-plugins/ and set your Worker URL:

define( 'WP_COLLAB_CF_WS_URL', 'wss://wp-collab-cloudflare.your-subdomain.workers.dev' );

3. Install the Plugin

cd plugin/wp-collab-cf
npm install
npm run build

Copy the plugin/wp-collab-cf/ directory (with the build/ output) into wp-content/plugins/ and activate it.

4. Test

Open the same post in two browser tabs. Edits in one tab should appear in the other in real time.

Demo Plugin (Optional)

The demo plugin provides a magic link for sharing a live demo publicly (e.g. on social media). When someone visits the link:

1. A temporary guest user is created automatically (e.g. "Guest A3X9B2")
2. They're logged in and redirected straight to the post editor
3. All admin UI is hidden — they only see the block editor
4. They can only edit the designated demo post, nothing else

Setup

1. Copy plugin/wp-collab-cf-demo/ into wp-content/plugins/ and activate it.
2. Create a post to use as the demo and note its ID.
3. Set the post ID via WP-CLI or in wp-config:

define( 'WP_COLLAB_CF_DEMO_POST_ID', 123 );

Or via option: wp option update wp_collab_cf_demo_post_id 123

4. Share the magic link: https://yoursite.com/?wp-collab-demo=1

How It Works

1. The mu-plugin defines WP_ALLOW_COLLABORATION (enabling RTC) and WP_COLLAB_CF_WS_URL (the relay endpoint).

2. The plugin uses the sync.providers filter to replace WordPress's default HTTP polling provider with a WebSocket provider that connects to the Cloudflare Worker. It reuses WordPress's bundled Yjs instance (via wp.sync.Y) to avoid duplicate library issues.

3. The Worker uses y-partyserver (built on PartyServer) to run a Yjs sync relay inside a Durable Object. Each post gets its own Durable Object instance, identified by a room name derived from the post type and ID. WebSocket Hibernation keeps idle rooms free.