A new initiative called FAIR, short for Federated and Independent Repositories, aims to reduce reliance on the centralized WordPress.org platform by creating a distributed system for managing core updates, plugins, themes, translations, and other critical services. The initiative is also supported by the Linux Foundation.
FAIR is essentially a WordPress plugin that can be installed by site owners and hosting providers, granting access to decentralized repositories for availing services that are currently served through WordPress.org resources. The initiative was announced at the Alt Ctrl Org event in Basel, Switzerland, which took place alongside WordCamp Europe 2025.
What Exactly is FAIR – Federated and Independent Repositories?
FAIR is a system designed to enable Federated and Independent Repositories within the WordPress ecosystem, as highlighted, “ The FAIR Package Manager is a decentralized alternative to the central WordPress.org plugin and theme ecosystem, designed to return control to WordPress hosts and developers. It operates as a drop-in WordPress plugin, seamlessly replacing existing centralized services with a federated, open-source infrastructure.”
Central to this is a plugin that, once installed, transforms how WordPress interacts with its traditional centralized services. This plugin blocks all connections from WordPress core to WordPress.org, WordPress.com, Gravatar.com, and other Automattic servers.
With the plugin installed, a new notice message appears at the bottom of the dashboard, “Updates served from the FAIR Package Manager and AspirePress”.
The FAIR project is led by a Linux Foundation Technical Steering Committee chaired by Carrie Dils, Mika Epstein, and Ryan McCue, with contributions from across the WordPress ecosystem, as stated “ The project’s Technical Steering Committee is led by co-chairs Carrie Dils, Mika Epstein and Ryan McCue, all recognized experts in content management.”
FAIR will also provides support for commercial plugins, secure cryptographic signing and more, as highlighted by Karim Marucchi Crowd Favorite CEO, “ Working together, this group rapidly developed a suite of impressive features, including a decentralized way to manage packages, mirrors ready for federation, the ability to support commercial plugins, and secure cryptographic signing, alongside other advancements.”
Siobhan McKeown stated, “ The FAIR Package Manager is built to complement and work alongside the WordPress central project, ensuring that users, contributors, hosts, and business owners have a choice, and have a secure and decentralised option with a sustainable and reliable form of governance.”
The Road to FAIR: The Events That Set It in Motion
The ongoing legal drama between Automattic and WP Engine that began with Matt Mullenweg’s keynote at WordCamp US 2024 triggered a series of unfortunate events that impacted the WordPress community, ultimately giving rise to this initiative. From blocking community members to forking ACF plugin and restricting WP Engine’s access to WordPress.org resources.
The idea of FAIR, Federated and Independent Repositories for WordPress, was suggested by Joost de Valk and also supported by Karim Marucchi.
All of it led to this project, which was in development for the past six months, as Karim Marucchi pointed out, “ After more than six months of intense, collaborative development, FAIR is no longer just an idea; it’s real, and it’s running.”
Karim has highlighted that FAIR is not a fork of WordPress, “ FAIR is a new distribution layer for WordPress. Think of it as a robust, independent package manager, much like those that are foundational to so many other successful open-source ecosystems. It’s designed to serve everything WordPress needs: updates, themes, plugins, and translations, etc., but in a decentralized, federated manner.”
Joost de Valk also iterated on this, “ FAIR is not a protest. It’s not a fork. It is a contribution. It reflects our belief that WordPress deserves better infrastructure and more accountable governance, and that we can build that ourselves, together.”
Fastly is powering FAIR and its resources as highlighted by Tracy Hinds, Fast Forward Lead, Fastly, “Fastly is proud to champion the FAIR Package Manager project’s efforts to build an ever more vibrant and decentralized WordPress ecosystem. By powering the package manager, we’re supporting the open source principles that drive creativity, collaboration and the sustained growth of the open internet’s most impactful builders.”The GitHub repo is now live and open to contributions.
Community Response
Takis Bouyouris tweeted, “WordPress history was written today at the @altctrlorg WCEU 2025 side event in Basel/Switzerland – Federated, decentralised independent repositories are a thing. Backed by the Linux Foundation.”
Kellie Peterson voiced, ” FAIR (Federated and Independent Repositories) introduces a #wordpress package manager in an aim to fully decentralize & futureproof WP by insulating the ecosystem from the anti-competitive whims of @photomatt…”