How we developed a flexible WordPress plugin designed to centralise content from multiple external APIs

The purpose was to develop a custom WordPress plugin designed to aggregate and synchronise content from multiple external APIs, offering flexibility, scalability and full automation for editorial platforms.

Project context: Destination Earth

The plugin was developed as part of the ongoing management of the Destination Earth website (destination-earth.eu), a flagship initiative of the European Commission aimed at creating a highly accurate digital twin of the Earth to support climate policy, risk management and data-driven decision-making.

The platform brings together information and news published by partner websites, each providing content through its own API and data model. The primary requirement was to centralise these distributed news sources within a single WordPress ecosystem, while ensuring editorial consistency, reliability and timely updates.

One solution, multiple content sources

To meet these requirements, the plugin was designed to:

• integrate multiple JSON API endpoints;
• handle heterogeneous data structures;
• automate the content import process;
• minimise manual fix and long-term maintenance.

The result is a solution that allows each external source to be configured directly from the WordPress administration area, effectively transforming third-party APIs into fully integrated editorial feeds.

A control panel designed for maintainability and scalability.

At the core of the plugin is a dedicated administration interface that allows each API endpoint to be managed independently. For every source, it is possible to:

• define the API endpoint URL;
• configure the batch size to optimise performance and server load;
• Select the target WordPress post type;
• monitor status, last import date and number of imported items.

This structure proved essential in managing multiple parallel types of content streams while maintaining full visibility and control over the import process.

Field mapping: unifying different data models

One of the key requirements of the Destination Earth project was the ability to adapt to APIs with significantly different data structures, while minimising the duplication of parsing logic. 

The goal was to make the plugin as flexible as possible: instead of creating dedicated parsers for each endpoint, configurable field mapping was introduced. This system unifies data processing, allowing all endpoints to flow into a single reusable parser, thereby optimising performance and code maintainability.

To achieve this, the plugin introduces a configurable field mapping system that allows:

• mapping API fields to WordPress core fields and custom meta fields;
• normalising titles, content, excerpts and additional metadata;
• feeding all endpoints into a single, reusable parser.

This approach significantly reduces complexity and makes the system easy to extend as new sources are added or existing APIs evolve.

Taxonomies and editorial organisation

Beyond content import, the plugin supports structured editorial classification.

When a post type is selected, the system automatically loads all associated taxonomies, allowing categories or other terms provided by external APIs to be mapped and assigned during the import process. This ensures that imported content remains well organised and aligned with the site’s editorial structure.

For an institutional platform such as Destination Earth, this level of consistency and clarity is essential.

Automation and reliability through scheduled imports

To guarantee that content remains up to date, the plugin includes a cron-based scheduling system for automated imports.

Imports can be:

• scheduled at regular intervals;
• monitored directly from the administration panel;
• can be manually initiated for immediate updates or testing.

This ensures a reliable and transparent workflow, reducing operational overhead while maintaining a continuous flow of fresh content.

A tool shaped by real-world requirements

This plugin was not developed as a purely technical exercise, but as a direct response to the needs of a large-scale European initiative. The experience gained through the Destination Earth project informed key architectural decisions, resulting in a tool that can be reused across other complex editorial and institutional platforms.

It is a solution designed for organisations that need to centralise content, manage multiple external sources and ensure consistency, scalability and long-term maintainability within the WordPress environment.