How it works?

How It Works

The short version: videos upload directly to Cloudflare Stream or Bunny.net. Your WordPress server never touches the file. No media library gymnastics. No manual conversion. Just works.

Upload Flow

Here's what happens when someone uploads a video (spoiler: it's simpler than WordPress media library):

1. User creates post/comment in FluentCommunity (normal stuff)
2. Clicks video upload button or drags & drops (desktop users get the luxury)
3. File validation runs (format check, size check, permission check - the boring but necessary part)
4. Direct upload starts to streaming provider (your WordPress server? Never heard of it. Files go straight to Cloudflare/Bunny)
5. Provider processes video (transcoding, optimization, all the magic that makes videos actually play)
6. Status polling checks every 10s (or webhook callback if you configured it - webhooks are cooler but polling works fine)
7. Video player embeds automatically when ready (no refresh needed, no manual iframe copy-paste)

Admin Experience

Setup takes 5 minutes. Maybe 10 if provider dashboards confuse you (they will). Here's the drill:

1. Install plugin (download from GitHub Releases, standard WordPress install - you've done this before)
2. Choose provider (Cloudflare Stream or Bunny.net - pick one, both work, don't overthink it)
3. Add API credentials (copy-paste from provider dashboard - yes, finding API keys is tedious, I know)
4. Configure upload settings (max size, allowed formats, who can upload - set it once, forget it)
5. Enable video in posts and/or comments (checkbox, save - revolutionary UX, I know)
6. Done

Configure once. Works forever. Or until WordPress updates break something unrelated (it happens, I'm not responsible for WordPress being WordPress).

User Experience

For end users, it's stupidly simple (which is the point):

1. Create post or comment (like normal - nothing changes here)
2. Upload video (drag & drop or click button - same as images, different file type)
3. Wait for processing (1-5 minutes, depends on video length - yes, encoding takes time, that's how video works)
4. Video plays automatically (player embeds when ready - no refresh, no manual steps, just works)

No training needed. If they can upload an image, they can upload video. Same experience, different file type. Revolutionary? No. Functional? Yes. That's the bar I'm clearing here.