rangerhq-buddy/README.md

# 🐾 RangerHQ Buddy

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> A friendly little companion that lives in your WordPress dashboard.

Adopt a small virtual pet that lives in your WordPress admin. Right now Buddy just exists — they bob, they blink, they show their mood. As the plugin grows, their stats will reflect how well you take care of your WordPress site itself: published posts feed them, outdated plugins make them sick, clearing spam makes them happy.

**Gamifies WordPress maintenance with a bit of charm.**

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## What this is

- A standalone WordPress plugin, GPL v2+ licensed.
- The spiritual successor to the tamagotchi feature that once lived inside A-WP-Notes v1.1.5 (now gracefully retired). Rebuilt from scratch, with all the v3-discipline lessons baked in from day one.
- Sister plugin to [Logbook](https://git.davidtkeane.com/ranger/a-logbook) in the RangerHQ plugin family. Logbook is *work*. Buddy is *play*.

## What it does

- Dashboard widget shows your Buddy with name, mood, and four stats bars.
- Dedicated Buddy admin page for the bigger view.
- Settings page where you can rename your Buddy and check for updates.
- Each WP admin gets their own Buddy stored per-user in `user_meta` — nothing leaves your site's database.

## What it doesn't do (yet)

- No interactions — feed / play / clean / sleep coming in Phase B.
- No time-based stat decay yet — Phase C.
- Only one species available right now — Phase D will add dog, dragon, sprite, etc.
- The killer feature — having Buddy's stats reflect your actual WP site health — is Phase E.

See [CHANGELOG.md](CHANGELOG.md) for the full version history and roadmap.

## Install

1. Download the latest [release zip](https://git.davidtkeane.com/ranger/a-buddy/releases) from Gitea.
2. WordPress admin → Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin → choose the zip → Install Now → Activate.
3. Find Buddy in the admin sidebar (paw-print icon).

The plugin self-checks for updates via the Gitea repo — see Settings → Buddy → Settings → Updates.

## Project pace

This is a **side project** built at a side-project pace. No commercial pressure, no release deadlines. Issues and feedback welcome via Gitea.

## Licence

GPL v2 or later — see [LICENSE](https://www.gnu.org/licenses/old-licenses/gpl-2.0.html).