WordPress launches browser-based private workspace via new my.WordPress.net service

WordPress publishing software now runs entirely within a web browser, the organization behind the open source platform announced Wednesday. With the new my.WordPress.net service, users can set up a site and start publishing without signing up, arranging hosting, or registering a domain. Instead, it uses the same technology that powers WordPress demos, offering it as a permanent, personal publishing environment.

There’s one major catch to running WordPress this way: sites created on my.WordPress.net are private by default and cannot be accessed from the public internet.

“They aren’t optimized for traffic, discovery, or presentation, and they don’t need to be,” a blog post introducing the service explains. “WordPress instead becomes a personal space where ideas can exist before they’re ready to share—or where they may never be shared at all.”

Sites built through this service are tied to your browser, with data stored locally in the browser’s storage. That means you can’t access the site from another device. However, you can move your site to a dedicated WordPress host if you ever decide to make it public.

This positions WordPress as a personal workspace for activities such as private writing, journaling, drafting, research, and learning, or for building tools for personal use. For the latter, my.WordPress.net includes an App Catalog with a variety of tools built using WordPress plugins, including a Personal CRM, Personal RSS Reader, bookmarking tool, AI Workspace, and more.

Image credit: WordPress.org

The post notes that my.WordPress.net is powered by WordPress Playground, an open source project that lets you install WordPress on any device with a single click, and also integrates with OpenAI and CLI apps to create new tools. As a result, you can use an AI assistant to modify my.WordPress.net, for example to tweak a plugin or build a new one.

You can also ask the assistant about data stored in WordPress, which it remembers, effectively turning WordPress into a personal knowledge base accessed by AI.

Image credit: WordPress.org

The service takes longer to load on first use, the post cautions, and recommends regularly saving backups. Storage starts at roughly 100 MB, making it better suited for smaller, personal apps and use cases.

If you ever want to delete your current work, you can click a button to reset the site. Alternatively, you can set up new temporary instances that reset themselves when the browser is refreshed.

The service launch follows the formation of a WordPress AI team last year, focused on delivering new AI products for the developer community. The commercial hosting platform WordPress.com also introduced an AI website builder last year, allowing users to design a site through an AI chatbot-style interface.