A WordPress plugin for tracking the time to publish for posts.

time-to-publish.php

<?php
/*
Plugin Name: Time to Publish
Plugin URI: https://vip.wordpress.com
Description: Track "Time to Publish" on your WordPress site.
Version: 0.1.0
Author: WordPress.com VIP
Author URI: http://vip.wordpress.com
Text Domain: time_to_publish
Domain Path: /languages
*/

/**
 * Track the "Time to Publish" - how long it takes for editors/reporters to take
 * an article from scratch to fully published.
 */

function ttp_action_transition_post_status( $new_status, $old_status, $post ) {

	// We've already logged published posts so let's ignore them.
	if ( 'publish' === $old_status ) {
		return;
	}

	// We only want to track when a post moves to published.
	if ( 'publish' !== $new_status ) {
		return;
	}

	// Log the TTP.
	ttp_log_time_to_publish( $post );

}
add_action( 'transition_post_status', 'ttp_action_transition_post_status', 10, 3 );

function ttp_log_time_to_publish( WP_Post $post ) {

	// Double-check we haven't already logged this post. For example, maybe it
	// got published, logged, then moved back into draft and re-published.
	$logged = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'ttp_time_to_publish', true );
	if ( ! empty( $logged ) ) {
		return;
	}

	// We need to grab the very first revision, which should be an auto-draft.
	// The time of this draft should be the very first time the post editor was
	// opened for the post that is currently being published for the first time.
	$revisions = wp_get_post_revisions( $post->ID );
	if ( empty( $revisions ) ) {
		// There are no revisions. Set the meta key and return.
		add_post_meta( $post->ID, 'ttp_time_to_publish', 0 );
		return false;
	}

	// Grab the oldest revision.
	$oldest_revision = array_pop( $revisions );

	// Grab the timestamp for the oldest revision.
	$start = strtotime( $oldest_revision->post_date );

	// Grab the timestamp for our published post.
	$published = strtotime( $post->post_date );

	// *drumroll* Time to publish.
	$time_to_publish = $published - $start;

	// Save it in meta.
	add_post_meta( $post->ID, 'ttp_time_to_publish', $time_to_publish );

	return $time_to_publish;

}

if ( defined( 'WP_CLI' ) && WP_CLI ):

/**
 * Command to run through posts and log Time to Publish.
 */
function ttp_log_cli_command( $args, $assoc_args ) {

	$args = wp_parse_args(
		$args,
		[
			'posts_per_page' => 100,
			'post_status' => 'publish',
			'post_type' => 'post',
			'meta_query' => [
				[
					'key' => 'ttp_time_to_publish',
					'compare' => 'NOT EXISTS',
				]
			],
		]
	);

	$posts = get_posts( $args );
	if ( ! empty( $posts ) ) {
		foreach ( $posts as $post ) {
			$ttp = ttp_log_time_to_publish( $post );
			WP_CLI::line(
				sprintf(
					'Logging TTP of %d for post ID %d',
					$ttp,
					$post->ID
				)
			);
		}
	} else {
		WP_CLI::line('No posts to log.');
	}

}
WP_CLI::add_command( 'time-to-publish log', 'ttp_log_cli_command' );

function ttp_report_time_to_publish( $args, $assoc_args ) {

	$args = wp_parse_args(
		$args,
		[
			'time-period' => 'last hour',
		]
	);

	// Define some acceptable time period values. Key is the accepted value for
	// 'time-period' and the value is the value for 'date_query' in WP_Query,
	// using strtotime() strings.
	$time_periods = [
		'last hour' => [ 'after' => '-1 hour' ],
		'last 4 hours' => [ 'after' => '-4 hours' ],
		'last 8 hours' => [ 'after' => '-8 hours' ],
		'last 12 hours' => [ 'after' => '-12 hours' ],
		'last 24 hours' => [ 'after' => '-24 hours' ],
		'last 2 days' => [ 'after' => '-48 hours' ],
		'last 5 days' => [ 'after' => '-120 hours' ],
		'last 7 days' => [ 'after' => '-168 hours' ],
		'this week' => [ 'after' => 'monday this week' ],
		'last week' => [
			'after' => 'monday last week',
			'before' => 'sunday 23:59:59 last week',
		],
		'this month' => [ 'after' => 'first day of this month 00:00:00' ],
		'last month' => [
			'after' => 'first day of last month 00:00:00',
			'before' => 'last day of last month 23:59:59',
		],
	];

	// Check the chosen time period is valid.
	if ( ! array_key_exists( $args['time-period'], $time_periods ) ) {
		WP_CLI::error(
			sprintf(
				'"%s" is not a valid time period. Please choose one of: %s.',
				esc_attr( $args['time-period'] ),
				implode( ', ', array_keys( $time_periods ) )
			)
		);
	}

	WP_CLI::line( sprintf( 'Looking at posts from the %s', $args['time-period'] ) );

	$query_args = [
		'post_type' => 'post',
		'post_status' => 'publish',
		'meta_query' => [
			[
				'key' => 'ttp_time_to_publish',
				'compare' => 'EXISTS',
			],
		],
		'date_query' => $time_periods[ $args['time-period'] ],
	];

	$data = [];
	$total_time_to_publish = 0;

	$posts = get_posts( $query_args );

	WP_CLI::line( sprintf( 'Found %d posts', count( $posts ) ) );

	if ( ! empty( $posts ) ) {
		$progress = \WP_CLI\Utils\make_progress_bar( 'Calculating TTP', count( $posts ) );

		foreach ( $posts as $post ) {
			$ttp = get_post_meta( $post->ID, 'ttp_time_to_publish', true );
			$data[] = [
				'post_id' => $post->ID,
				'time_to_publish' => $ttp,
			];
			$total_time_to_publish += $ttp;
			$progress->tick();
		}

		$progress->finish();

		// Grab and report average time to publish.
		$avg_ttp = $total_time_to_publish / count( $posts );

		WP_CLI\Utils\format_items( 'table', $data, array( 'post_id', 'time_to_publish' ) );

		WP_CLI::line(
			sprintf(
				'Average time to publish: %ds',
				$avg_ttp
			)
		);

	}

}
WP_CLI::add_command( 'time-to-publish report', 'ttp_report_time_to_publish' );

endif;