Can ChatGPT Construct a Helpful WordPress Plugin That Truly Works?

Can AI flip non-coders into professional WordPress plugin builders? To search out out, we requested ChatGPT to construct a customized WordPress plugin from scratch after which had our crack workforce of builders look at the code…

AI is the world’s hottest two-letter phrase proper now. With all of the latest information headlines about whether or not AI will take our jobs away, we wished to know… can ChatGPT really develop a purposeful and helpful WordPress plugin with out having to write down code from scratch? And does the plugin meet finest coding practices?

Happily, WPMU DEV builds a number of the most sturdy WordPress plugins on the planet, so we’ve got loads of skilled WordPress plugin builders who can put ChatGPT to the take a look at.

Actually, for those who take a stroll round our firm’s digital corridors, you possibly can’t assist however stumble upon WordPress coders and builders. It appears everybody round right here can take a look at a WordPress plugin and see PHP the way in which Neo sees the Matrix’s digital rain code.

What PHP code appears to be like prefer to skilled WordPress plugin builders. Supply: Giphy.com

Everybody, that’s …besides me!

I’m only a weblog author with no coding abilities and a burning want so as to add “immediate engineer” to my CV.

So, on this put up, we’ll discover learn how to leverage the facility of ChatGPT to construct a easy customized WordPress plugin rapidly and securely, even for those who lack intensive coding abilities.

We’ll do that by:

1) Asking ChatGPT to generate the code for a helpful plugin that we are able to take a look at, and

2) Working the code generated by ChatGPT previous our workforce {of professional} plugin builders to allow them to overview it and supply their trustworthy suggestions.

We’ll cowl the next:

Step 1 – Outline the Plugin’s Performance
Step 2 – Generate Code Snippets with ChatGPT
Step 3 – Check the Customized Plugin
Suggestions from Our Professional Plugin Builders
Can ChatGPT Flip You Right into a WordPress Plugin Developer?

Step 1 – Outline the Plugin’s Performance

Earlier than utilizing ChatGPT to generate code, we have to have a transparent understanding of the performance we wish our plugin to supply.

This begins by outlining the particular options, actions, or modifications we’ll need to obtain with our plugin. This may then assist us generate correct prompts for ChatGPT and make sure that our AI-generated code aligns with our desired outcomes.

Step 2 – Generate Code Snippets with ChatGPT

To generate our code snippets utilizing ChatGPT, we’ll preserve issues easy (and free) and use the freely accessible interface supplied by OpenAI.

Take #1…

Word: My first try at utilizing ChatGPT to create a WordPress plugin from scratch was means too formidable. I requested ChatGPT to construct me a easy WordPress time-travel dummy textual content producing plugin, utilizing the immediate beneath…

This immediate will certainly kick ChatGPT’s WordPress plugin improvement tyres.

As somebody who spends quite a lot of time writing WordPress tutorials, I usually want dummy content material to check plugins, create screenshots, and so forth.

So, I believed it might be nice to mannequin my AI-generated dummy content material plugin on a plugin I usually use referred to as FakerPress.

ChatGPT pushed again on my request and let me know that creating a completely purposeful WordPress plugin with all of the options I requested was past the scope of a single response.

Nevertheless, it did provide to supply me with a fundamental template, information me on learn how to implement a number of the options I discussed, and even gave me directions on learn how to create a plugin listing and file…

Mmm…possibly my first try at making a WordPress plugin was too formidable!

At first, ChatGPT output code that seemed fairly spectacular…

To somebody who is aware of ‘zip’ about coding, the above code snippet certain appears to be like spectacular!

ChatGPT additionally output all the extra code required to finish the following steps.

Missing coding abilities, I relied on ChatGPT to information me by way of every step of the plugin improvement course of.

With the plugin code output, the following step was to add the plugin to my take a look at web site and take a look at it to ensure it really works.

Step 3 – Check The Customized Plugin

After importing the folder containing the plugin code to the wp-content > plugins listing of my take a look at web site and activating it contained in the Plugins display…

And now for the second we’ve all been ready for [drumroll]…I bought a deadly error!

What an anticlimax…the bottom level of my WordPress plugin improvement profession!

Assuming that possibly I didn’t add the extra snippets that ChatGPT supplied appropriately, I went again and requested for all of the code to be supplied as a single file that I may merely copy and paste to overwrite and replace the uploaded plugin file…

Why couldn’t it simply have given me your entire copy and paste code the primary time?

There was quite a lot of code to output, so each time the method got here to a standstill, I instructed ChatGPT to proceed…

ChatGPT typically simply wants a bit mild encouragement to maintain going.

After repeating this course of a number of occasions, ChatGPT output your entire code and even supplied some useful data.

After ready a complete 2 minutes…ChatGPT lastly output all the plugin code!

I uploaded the plugin file with the brand new code to my take a look at web site, then jumped into the positioning’s admin space and activated the plugin.

It labored! Or, so it appeared.

ChatGPT gave the plugin its personal menu merchandise…

ChatGPT created all this!

And a settings display with plenty of fancy containers and fields…

Seems to be spectacular…however will it work?

However I couldn’t see a discipline to specify what number of posts or pages to create, so I merely ticked some containers, entered some values, and clicked on the “Save Adjustments” button to see what occurs.

And now, for the second of reality…

And…completely nothing occurred!

The most recent lowest level of my WordPress plugin improvement profession…a plugin that does nothing!

My fancy-ass plugin was all make-believe, identical to a kind of youngsters’s playground spaceships that’s stuffed with ineffective knobs you possibly can flip and buttons you possibly can press whereas pretending to be flying in outer area.

So, I reached out to one in every of our builders by way of Slack and requested them to take a look at the plugin file.

Among the feedback that got here again included the next:

“The plugin tries to generate random content material on every admin web page load”
“It calls a perform dummy_content_generator_generate_content_paragraphs which, in flip, makes an attempt to name dummy_content_generator_get_random_paragraph for each paragraph it tries to generate. The issue is that there isn’t any dummy_content_generator_get_random_paragraph perform.
“The web page masses to some extent, then it errors out as a result of there’s extra lacking stuff”
“Apart from all of the talked about points, there’s no validation in any way, and no escaping of the output, which is horrible”
“By way of having one thing as start line, this can be a very, very poor one. By way of having a working plugin, that is nowhere close to that”

After some forwards and backwards discussions , it was deemed that there was rather a lot mistaken with the plugin, that it might take quite a lot of work to repair it, they usually urged I scrap the mission.

At this level, nevertheless, I used to be too invested in my mission to easily abandon all the things and quit. Recalling Sir Winston Churchill’s well-known phrases (“Fetch me one other brandy” “By no means give in, by no means give in, by no means, by no means, by no means…”), I made a decision it was time for…

Take #2…

Okay, so my first try and get ChatGPT to construct a WordPress plugin from scratch was a dismal failure. This in itself supplied some priceless insights into ChatGPT’s capacity to carry out advanced coding duties (or, as somebody within the workforce put it, “you possibly can’t code utilizing ChatGPT with out having intensive coding data.”)

So, for “Take #2,” I made a decision to strive once more with a less complicated plugin request.

Going again to the drafting board, a genius lightbulb second lit up in my thoughts…why not ask ChatGPT to recommend concepts for easy WordPress plugins it may then generate the code for?

So, that’s what I did. Right here’s the immediate I promptly engineered…

My genius immediate.

And right here’s the checklist of urged plugins ChatGPT replied with…

The blueprint of my WordPress plugin empire.

I appreciated the final suggestion, so I requested ChatGPT to generate the code for a purposeful content material duplicator plugin, and it instantly went to work.

That is what a license to print cash appears to be like like!

ChatGPT generated the next code for the plugin within the blink of an eye fixed:

<?php
/*
Plugin Identify: Content material Duplicator
Description: Permits customers to duplicate posts, pages, or customized put up varieties with one click on.
Model: 1.0.0
Writer: Your Identify
Writer URI: https://yourwebsite.com
*/

// Add duplicate motion hyperlinks to put up row actions
perform content_duplicator_add_duplicate_link( $actions, $put up ) {
if ( current_user_can( ‘edit_posts’ ) ) {
$actions[‘duplicate’] = ‘<a href=”‘ . wp_nonce_url( admin_url( ‘admin-post.php?motion=content_duplicator_duplicate_post&post_id=’ . $post->ID ), ‘content_duplicator_duplicate_post’ ) . ‘” title=”Duplicate this merchandise” rel=”permalink”>Duplicate</a>’;
}
return $actions;
}
add_filter( ‘post_row_actions’, ‘content_duplicator_add_duplicate_link’, 10, 2 );

// Duplicate the put up
perform content_duplicator_duplicate_post() {
if ( isset( $_GET[‘post_id’] ) ) {
$post_id = absint( $_GET[‘post_id’] );

if ( current_user_can( ‘edit_posts’ ) && wp_verify_nonce( $_GET[‘_wpnonce’], ‘content_duplicator_duplicate_post’ ) ) {
$put up = get_post( $post_id );

$args = array(
‘post_title’ => $post->post_title . ‘ (Duplicate)’,
‘post_content’ => $post->post_content,
‘post_type’ => $post->post_type,
‘post_status’ => $post->post_status,
‘post_parent’ => $post->post_parent,
‘post_author’ => get_current_user_id(),
);

$new_post_id = wp_insert_post( $args );

if ( $new_post_id ) {
// Duplicate meta fields
$meta_fields = get_post_custom( $post_id );
foreach ( $meta_fields as $key => $values ) {
foreach ( $values as $worth ) {
add_post_meta( $new_post_id, $key, $worth );
}
}

// Redirect to the duplicated put up
wp_redirect( admin_url( ‘put up.php?motion=edit&put up=’ . $new_post_id ) );
exit;
}
}
}
}
add_action( ‘admin_post_content_duplicator_duplicate_post’, ‘content_duplicator_duplicate_post’ );

It even supplied a set of directions after producing the code.

The code not solely comes with directions, however ChatGPT even says “Please”!

I then uploaded the brand new plugin file to the wp-content > plugins listing of my take a look at web site utilizing The Hub’s file supervisor.

There’s quite a lot of motion to unpack on this screenshot.

And created a dummy put up to check the plugin with…

Did the plugin duplicate this tacky put up? Let’s discover out!

Listed below are the put up’s menu choices earlier than activating the plugin…

A default put up with default choices.

After activating the plugin…

“Activate Content material Duplicator” – Appears like a line from a Star Trek film.

Success!

A gratuitous screenshot proving that the plugin efficiently activated.

The plugin activated. However did it really work?

Right here’s my take a look at put up once more (be aware that the plugin added a brand new “Duplicate” merchandise to the menu after activation). I then clicked on “Duplicate” to see what occurs…

ChatGPT even added a “Duplicate” menu merchandise tooltip to the code!

And a reproduction put up was created!

A replica of the unique put up.

Right here’s the desk of posts exhibiting entries for the unique and duplicated put up.

The unique put up and its cloned model.

I’m certain that with higher immediate engineering and a few code tweaking, the plugin may have been considerably improved. For instance, I would like if the plugin set the put up standing of the newly-duplicated put up to ‘draft’ as an alternative of publishing it, however ChatGPT delivered a easy WordPress plugin that labored. It was fundamental, but it surely did the job.

The final step was to ask somebody who codes WordPress plugins for a dwelling to scrutinize the code and get their opinion about utilizing a software like ChatGPT to code plugins.

Suggestions from Our Professional Plugin Builders

Shortly after importing the plugin to one in every of our testing channels, I bought a ping from one in every of our builders. Listed below are a number of the key factors supplied of their suggestions:

“ChatGPT et al are respectable at answering questions you already know the reply to.”
“I additionally used it up to now to construct a easy plugin for me, however so long as I used to be giving extra advanced prompts, it began to mess issues round, so finally I manually debug the given code to work, trigger else it’d take ages for it to truly debug it line by line.”
“Principally, it does what it says. Nevertheless, it does what it says very actually. As in, it’ll duplicate a put up and its corresponding postmeta (customized) fields. Nevertheless, it doesn’t look like it’ll propagate any taxonomies to the duplicated put up (the plugin ought to copy and assign the identical taxonomy phrases, similar to classes or tags, from the unique put up to the duplicated put up).”
If I used to be to be super-nitpicky about this, I’d additionally point out that it’s not L10n-ready – there gained’t be an choice to translate this plugin. However, that’s simply being very nitpicky – I don’t actually assume, nor would I count on, a prompt-generated plugin to be generic sufficient to be needing one thing like that in any respect. To me, it’s extra of a “very particular drawback area” sort of a factor, together with the language used. On the finish of the day, it does do what it says it’ll, which may be very good.”

Along with inspecting the WordPress plugin code generated by ChatGPT and offering suggestions as proven above, our builders additionally agreed with the next key factors after assessing ChatGPT’s present capabilities to generate code:

1 – It’s necessary to train warning and never blindly settle for ChatGPT-generated code as appropriate.

ChatGPT can present solutions, but it surely’s as much as the person to evaluate whether or not the reply is appropriate or not.
There’s a danger of receiving incorrect or nonsensical solutions from ChatGPT, each apparent and refined.
It’s necessary to train warning and never blindly settle for the generated code as appropriate.
ChatGPT’s output ought to be handled as autocomplete, making life simpler however requiring warning and verification.

The flexibility to discern good code from dangerous or nonsensical code, nevertheless, implies that…

2 – Customers ought to have ample data and understanding of WordPress plugin improvement to guage and modify the generated code as wanted.

ChatGPT can assist simplify and expedite the method of constructing easy customized WordPress plugins, generate code snippets, and supply explanations. Something extra advanced, nevertheless, requires plugin improvement expertise and coding abilities.
Utilizing ChatGPT with out ample data can result in detrimental penalties or unreliable code.
Relying solely on ChatGPT with out crucial considering is just like blindly copying the primary reply from Stack Overflow (Stack Overflow threads present extra context, a number of solutions, and suggestions from different customers, making it a extra dependable useful resource, however Stack Overflow threads are typically extra generic, whereas ChatGPT can present particular solutions to particular person queries).

3 – Using different sources, similar to WordPress documentation, tutorials, and neighborhood boards, alongside ChatGPT can present a extra complete understanding of WordPress plugin improvement.

As you discover the probabilities of utilizing ChatGPT for WordPress plugin improvement, it’s priceless to interact with the WordPress neighborhood. Share your experiences, ask for suggestions, and search steerage from skilled builders. Taking part in boards, attending WordPress meetups, or becoming a member of on-line communities can present priceless insights and assist you refine your plugin improvement course of.
Moreover, think about following WordPress safety finest practices to safeguard your web site from potential vulnerabilities. ChatGPT can present suggestions on safety measures you possibly can implement to guard your plugin.
It’s additionally important to keep up a transparent understanding of your required performance and completely overview and take a look at the generated code and safe your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to a manufacturing atmosphere.

Can ChatGPT Flip You Right into a WordPress Plugin Developer?

On this article, we’ve explored how one can make the most of ChatGPT to construct easy customized WordPress plugins, even when you’ve got restricted coding expertise.

In different articles, we’ve seen that AI-powered instruments like ChatGP can streamline your workflow, enhance productiveness, and unlock new potentialities (take a look at our latest article on ways in which ChatGPT can assist you as a WordPress developer).

Whereas there are over 60,000 free WordPress plugins accessible protecting each sort of performance you possibly can think about, typically it’s possible you’ll want a customized answer to fulfill a shopper’s particular necessities.

Past the core performance of your plugin, you too can leverage ChatGPT to generate code for customized person interfaces. With its capacity to grasp prompts and generate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript snippets, you possibly can create intuitive admin interfaces, front-end elements, and interactive parts that can improve the person expertise and help you ship a sophisticated remaining product.

By using the language mannequin’s capabilities, you possibly can generate code snippets, optimize performance, and create user-friendly interfaces. Nevertheless, it’s essential to grasp the generated code, overview and refine it, and completely take a look at your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to your reside web site.

The generated code may require changes to align with coding requirements, naming conventions, or particular mission necessities. This requires a certain quantity of coding data and abilities, as does optimizing the code and making certain it follows WordPress coding tips for higher maintainability.

The underside line:

Listed below are my findings after making an attempt to get ChatGPT to code me a plugin from scratch:

I couldn’t have gotten this completed with out the assistance of our skilled builders.
Utilizing ChatGPT to generate code with out coding data is basically difficult – it helps to know what you might be doing 🙂
Whereas ChatGPT is a strong and priceless software, it doesn’t look like AI will exchange expert coders any time quickly.

Curious about Growing WordPress plugins?

Try a few of our tutorials and articles on WordPress plugin improvement:

Getting Began with WordPress Plugin Improvement
A Fast and In-Depth Information to WordPress Hooks
Creating WordPress Plugins in An Object Oriented Manner