Populate Event Log

Add test events to the Simple History event log using WP-CLI.

Prerequisites

• Commands run from /Users/bonny/Projects/_docker-compose-to-run-on-system-boot
• Requires SIMPLE_HISTORY_DEV constant set to true

Base Command

cd /Users/bonny/Projects/_docker-compose-to-run-on-system-boot && docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate [OPTIONS]

Options

Option	Default	Description
--count=<n>	1000	Number of events to create
--type=<type>	mixed	Type of events (see below)
--days=<n>	90	Spread events over this many days
--reactions	off	Add 1-10 random reactions to each event

Event Types (--type)

Type	Description	Use Case
mixed	Realistic distribution: 40% posts, 25% plugins, 15% users, 10% options, 10% custom	General testing, realistic log
posts	Post/page events: created, updated, trashed, restored	Testing post-related UI/filters
plugins	Plugin events: activated, deactivated, updated, installed	Testing plugin-related UI/filters
users	User events: login, logout, profile edits, user creation	Testing user-related UI/filters
simple	Generic SimpleLogger messages (backups, cron, API, forms)	Testing fallback search
large	Events with ~2MB context data (simulated API responses)	Performance/memory benchmarking
showcase	Curated set of specific events (ignores --count), see below	UI testing with diverse event types

Common Recipes

# Quick: 50 mixed events for general UI testing
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate --count=50 --days=7

# Realistic: 1000 mixed events over 90 days (default)
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate

# Heavy: 5000 events for performance testing
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate --count=5000

# Type-specific
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate --count=200 --type=posts
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate --count=200 --type=plugins
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate --count=200 --type=users

# Large events for memory/export benchmarking
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate --count=100 --type=large --days=30

# Showcase: curated set of specific events for UI testing (ignores --count)
docker compose run --rm wpcli_mariadb simple-history dev populate --type=showcase

Showcase Events

The showcase type creates a fixed curated set (ignores --count):

1. Successful login (with IP and user agent)
2. Failed login — known user, wrong password (with IP)
3. Failed login — unknown username (bot user agent)
4. Plugin updated (WooCommerce 9.4.3 → 9.5.1)
5. Plugin installed (Query Monitor with full details)
6. Page updated with content diff (About Us)
7. Blog post published
8. Post trashed
9. Plugin activated (Yoast SEO)
10. Plugin deactivated (Hello Dolly)

Workflow

1. Ask the user what kind of test data they need (if not specified):
   • What type of events? (mixed, posts, plugins, users, simple, large)
   • How many? (default: 50 for quick testing)
   • Over how many days? (default: 7 for recent data, 90 for realistic spread)
2. Run the populate command
3. Confirm the result

Realistic Features Built Into Populate

The command automatically generates realistic patterns:

• Timestamps: Weekdays 3x more active than weekends, business hours bias, random spike days
• Initiators: ~60% WP_USER, ~15% WP_CLI, ~15% WORDPRESS, ~5% WEB_USER, ~5% OTHER
• IP addresses: ~40% of events get public IPs, some with X-Forwarded-For headers
• Context data: Realistic metadata matching each logger's format

Implementation

Source: inc/services/wp-cli-commands/class-wp-cli-populate-command.php

Available loggers in populate: SimplePluginLogger, SimplePostLogger, SimpleUserLogger, SimpleOptionsLogger, SimpleLogger.