Can ChatGPT Construct a Helpful WordPress Plugin That Really Works?

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

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

Luckily, WPMU DEV builds a few of the most strong WordPress plugins on the planet, so we have now loads of knowledgeable WordPress plugin builders who can put ChatGPT to the check.

In actual fact, for those who take a stroll round our firm’s digital corridors, you’ll be able to’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 best way Neo sees the Matrix’s digital rain code.

What PHP code appears wish to skilled WordPress plugin builders. Supply: Giphy.com

Everybody, that’s …besides me!

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

So, on this submit, we’ll discover find out how to leverage the facility of ChatGPT to construct a easy customized WordPress plugin shortly and securely, even for those who lack intensive coding expertise.

We’ll do that by:

1) Asking ChatGPT to generate the code for a helpful plugin that we will check, and

2) Operating the code generated by ChatGPT previous our staff {of professional} plugin builders to allow them to assessment it and supply their sincere 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 Knowledgeable 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 precise options, actions, or modifications we’ll wish 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 maintain issues easy (and free) and use the freely accessible interface supplied by OpenAI.

Take #1…

Observe: 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 growth tyres.

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

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

Nonetheless, it did provide to supply me with a primary template, information me on find out how to implement a few of the options I discussed, and even gave me directions on find out 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 regarded fairly spectacular…

To somebody who is aware of ‘zip’ about coding, the above code snippet positive appears spectacular!

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

Missing coding expertise, I relied on ChatGPT to information me by every step of the plugin growth course of.

With the plugin code output, the subsequent step was to add the plugin to my check website and check 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 check website and activating it contained in the Plugins display screen…

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

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

Assuming that possibly I didn’t add the extra snippets that ChatGPT supplied accurately, 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 complete copy and paste code the primary time?

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

ChatGPT generally simply wants slightly light encouragement to maintain going.

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

After ready an entire 2 minutes…ChatGPT lastly output the entire plugin code!

I uploaded the plugin file with the brand new code to my check website, 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 screen with numerous fancy packing 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 packing containers, entered some values, and clicked on the “Save Modifications” button to see what occurs.

And now, for the second of fact…

And…completely nothing occurred!

The latest lowest level of my WordPress plugin growth profession…a plugin that does nothing!

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

So, I reached out to certainly one of our builders through Slack and requested them to take a look at the plugin file.

A few of 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 a 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”
“Aside from all of the talked about points, there’s no validation in any respect, and no escaping of the output, which is horrible”
“When it comes to having one thing as start line, this can be a very, very poor one. When it comes to having a working plugin, that is nowhere close to that”

After some forwards and backwards discussions , it was deemed that there was quite a bit flawed with the plugin, that it might take loads of work to repair it, and so they urged I scrap the challenge.

At this level, nevertheless, I used to be too invested in my mission to easily abandon all the pieces 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 useful insights into ChatGPT’s potential to carry out advanced coding duties (or, as somebody within the staff put it, “you’ll be able to’t code utilizing ChatGPT with out having intensive coding information.”)

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 record of urged plugins ChatGPT replied with…

The blueprint of my WordPress plugin empire.

I favored 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 like!

ChatGPT generated the next code for the plugin within the blink of a watch:

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

// Add duplicate motion hyperlinks to submit row actions
perform content_duplicator_add_duplicate_link( $actions, $submit ) {
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 submit
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’ ) ) {
$submit = 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 submit
wp_redirect( admin_url( ‘submit.php?motion=edit&submit=’ . $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 check website utilizing The Hub’s file supervisor.

There’s loads of motion to unpack on this screenshot.

And created a dummy submit to check the plugin with…

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

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

A default submit 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 truly work?

Right here’s my check submit 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 submit was created!

A replica of the unique submit.

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

The unique submit and its cloned model.

I’m positive 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 submit standing of the newly-duplicated submit to ‘draft’ as a substitute of publishing it, however ChatGPT delivered a easy WordPress plugin that labored. It was primary, but it surely did the job.

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

Suggestions from Our Knowledgeable Plugin Builders

Shortly after importing the plugin to certainly one of our testing channels, I obtained a ping from certainly one of our builders. Listed below are a few of the key factors supplied of their suggestions:

“ChatGPT et al are first rate at answering questions you already know the reply to.”
“I additionally used it previously 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. Nonetheless, it does what it says very actually. As in, it can duplicate a submit and its corresponding postmeta (customized) fields. Nonetheless, it doesn’t seem to be it can propagate any taxonomies to the duplicated submit (the plugin ought to copy and assign the identical taxonomy phrases, comparable to classes or tags, from the unique submit to the duplicated submit).”
If I used to be to be super-nitpicky about this, I’d additionally point out that it’s not L10n-ready – there received’t be an choice to translate this plugin. However, that’s simply being very nitpicky – I don’t actually suppose, 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 downside area” form of a factor, together with the language used. On the finish of the day, it does do what it says it can, which may be very good.”

Along with analyzing 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 right.

ChatGPT can present solutions, but it surely’s as much as the consumer to evaluate whether or not the reply is right or not.
There’s a threat of receiving incorrect or nonsensical solutions from ChatGPT, each apparent and delicate.
It’s necessary to train warning and never blindly settle for the generated code as right.
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 adequate information and understanding of WordPress plugin growth to judge and modify the generated code as wanted.

ChatGPT may help simplify and expedite the method of constructing easy customized WordPress plugins, generate code snippets, and supply explanations. Something extra advanced, nevertheless, requires plugin growth expertise and coding expertise.
Utilizing ChatGPT with out adequate information can result in unfavourable penalties or unreliable code.
Relying solely on ChatGPT with out crucial pondering is much 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 usually extra generic, whereas ChatGPT can present particular solutions to particular person queries).

3 – Using different assets, comparable to WordPress documentation, tutorials, and neighborhood boards, alongside ChatGPT can present a extra complete understanding of WordPress plugin growth.

As you discover the chances of utilizing ChatGPT for WordPress plugin growth, it’s useful to interact with the WordPress neighborhood. Share your experiences, ask for suggestions, and search steerage from skilled builders. Collaborating in boards, attending WordPress meetups, or becoming a member of on-line communities can present useful insights and allow you to refine your plugin growth course of.
Moreover, take into account following WordPress safety finest practices to safeguard your web site from potential vulnerabilities. ChatGPT can present suggestions on safety measures you’ll be able to implement to guard your plugin.
It’s additionally important to take care of a transparent understanding of your required performance and totally assessment and check the generated code and safe your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to a manufacturing setting.

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 have restricted coding expertise.

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

Whereas there are over 60,000 free WordPress plugins accessible protecting each kind of performance you’ll be able to think about, generally it’s possible you’ll want a customized resolution to satisfy a consumer’s particular necessities.

Past the core performance of your plugin, it’s also possible to leverage ChatGPT to generate code for customized consumer interfaces. With its potential to grasp prompts and generate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript snippets, you’ll be able to create intuitive admin interfaces, front-end parts, and interactive components that may improve the consumer expertise and let you ship a sophisticated closing product.

By using the language mannequin’s capabilities, you’ll be able to generate code snippets, optimize performance, and create user-friendly interfaces. Nonetheless, it’s essential to grasp the generated code, assessment and refine it, and totally check your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to your stay web site.

The generated code may require changes to align with coding requirements, naming conventions, or particular challenge necessities. This requires a certain quantity of coding information and expertise, 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 executed with out the assistance of our skilled builders.
Utilizing ChatGPT to generate code with out coding information is de facto difficult – it helps to know what you’re doing 🙂
Whereas ChatGPT is a strong and useful instrument, it doesn’t seem to be AI will substitute expert coders any time quickly.

Desirous about Creating WordPress plugins?

Take a look at a few of our tutorials and articles on WordPress plugin growth:

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