Headless CMS vs hotlinking policy

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  nwarp · Member · Nov 29, 2022 at 9:23 am

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  I would like to use a wordpress.com account as a headless CMS. However, this seems to be prohibited by the “no hotlinking” policy under the user guidelines.

  https://wordpress.com/support/user-guidelines/

  Could I get some clarity on my use case? What is the point of having an API if I am not allowed to display my content on other non WordPress sites?

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  staff-95percentghost · Staff · Nov 29, 2022 at 3:32 pm

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  Hi there, just to check – were you specifically intending to use WordPress.com as a headless CMS, or were you planning to use the WordPress software which comes from WordPress.org?

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  nwarp · Member · Nov 29, 2022 at 3:37 pm

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  I am intending to use WordPress.com. I understand that the open source, self hosted software from WordPress.org has no restrictions beyond it’s software license.

  It would be great to have some clarity to the intended/acceptable/fair usage of WordPress.com API.

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  helper-heroponriki · Member · Nov 29, 2022 at 8:22 pm

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  Thanks for clarifying. You can start by reviewing the content and Usage Guidelines at our Developer site: https://developer.wordpress.com/

  Also, we limit what you can do with the WordPress software here at WordPress.com and it would not be possible to host your site here but use “headless” WordPress.

  However, you can still use the WordPress.com API even if you have a self-hosted WordPress site as long as your site is connected to WordPress.com through the Jetpack plugin to make authenticated requests and you’ve set up a WordPress.com Client Application. You can read more about this here:

  https://developer.wordpress.com/docs/api/getting-started/

  If you have further questions about the WordPress.com API and its implementation, you can reach out through the Developer support contact form:

  https://developer.wordpress.com/contact/

  I hope that clarifies things!

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  nwarp · Member · Dec 1, 2022 at 2:47 am

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  I am asking specifically about the “no hotlinking policy” in the user guidelines

  When using the API, the posts I retrieve could contain images hosted by WordPress.com CDN. If I display these posts on other websites, this would also display said images and would be hotlinking.

  Could I get specifics on what is considered acceptable in this case?

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  supernovia · Staff · Dec 2, 2022 at 2:41 am

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  We’ll do some digging and let you know. Thanks :)

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  supernovia · Staff · Dec 2, 2022 at 5:33 pm

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  Hi, the case you’re describing should be fine. Let us know how it turns out!