Joost de Valk and Karim Marucchi, co-founders of FAIR, announced that they are stepping back from the FAIR initiative after efforts to obtain the financial and structural support needed for the project from hosting companies and other major ecosystem players did not materialise.
Although efforts to bring FAIR to WordPress have ended at least for now, development on the project will continue, with upcoming work focused on the TYPO3 ecosystem.
What is the FAIR Project
FAIR (Federated and Independent Repositories) is a Linux Foundation-backed initiative aimed at creating a distributed system for WordPress core updates, plugins, themes, and translations. Installed as a plugin by site owners or hosts, it provides access to decentralized repositories instead of relying solely on WordPress.org.
Why Joost and Karim Chose to Step Back
Joost and Karim highlighted that months of discussions with hosting companies and ecosystem players showed that those companies were unwilling to invest, “In recent months, we’ve had many conversations with hosting companies and other large ecosystem players. What became increasingly clear is this: they do not want to invest in this kind of solution.”
The lack of interest did not reflect approval of existing arrangements, but stemmed from concerns about the costs, ongoing obligations, and risks involved, “ Not because they love the current situation. Not because they agree with everything that’s happened. But because investment means commitment. It means cost. It means stepping into political tension. And most of all, it means risk. “
Both of them also noted that building such infrastructure requires more than goodwill, “ You cannot build alternative infrastructure of this magnitude on goodwill alone. You need adoption and funding. You need shared responsibility. You need large players willing to say: “Yes, we will carry part of this.”
They added that without broad support, advancing the FAIR initiative would be difficult, “ Without that, FAIR becomes aspirational rather than actionable. And we are not here to do an aspirational infrastructure project.”
Acknowledging the Issue, Rejecting the Approach
In examining why hosting companies were not stepping up, they came to understand concerns long raised by Matt Mullenweg, “ He has often argued that too many companies benefit from WordPress without contributing proportionally. That the burden of maintaining core infrastructure falls on too few shoulders. That the incentives are misaligned.”
However, they said they disagreed with Matt’s methods but acknowledged that the economic issue he highlighted is real. “ We still fundamentally disagree with how he has handled that frustration. The methods have caused damage. Public pressure campaigns and unilateral decisions are not the way to build trust. But the underlying economic problem is real.”
Both of them also voiced that they still see a need for clearer, more accountable governance in WordPress and that the concentration of power creates risks.
The Road Ahead
Karim and Joost de Valk said that FAIR will continue to be developed within the TYPO3 ecosystem at this year’s CloudFest hackathon. They noted that TYPO3’s community and technical leaders see significant value in the system: “ The TYPO3 community and technical leadership sees a lot of value in the system that was created, because the technical project actually delivered a good, technically solid, federated package management system.”
They added that their focus for WordPress will shift toward helping businesses adapt, improving plugins and tools, and supporting independent publishers as the platform enters a new phase shaped by AI and other platform changes.
Reflecting on their experience with FAIR, they noted, “The FAIR experiment clarified something important: if the ecosystem won’t fund neutrality, neutrality won’t materialize. That’s a lesson worth learning.”
The FAIR team also followed with an announcement and said the initiative will continue and remains active under the Linux Foundation, despite the departure of Joost de Valk and Karim Marucchi, stressing that “FAIR isn’t stopping.”
Ryan McCue, Co-chair for the Technical Steering Committee, said FAIR was designed so its technical work could continue even if commercial participation did not materialise, allowing the project to move forward, “We planned and designed for this. The structure of our project means the technical project is separated from the commercial side, and the nature of FAIR being decentralised means we don’t actually need a huge amount of investment to run.”
Earlier this month, FAIR also published its roadmap for 2026, and the FAIR Software Security Assistant made its debut at CloudFest USA 2025 hackathon.
Community Response
Jeff Chandler tweeted, “ A valiant effort with important lessons learned. But kudos to them for knowing when to stop.”
   Katie Keith also weighed in on the recent development.