Can ChatGPT Construct a Helpful WordPress Plugin That Really 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 group 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 wished to know… can ChatGPT really develop a purposeful and helpful WordPress plugin with out having to jot down code from scratch? And does the plugin meet finest coding practices?

Fortuitously, WPMU DEV builds a number of the most sturdy WordPress plugins on the planet, so we have now loads of skilled WordPress plugin builders who can put ChatGPT to the check.

The truth is, in case you 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 have a look at a WordPress plugin and see PHP the way in which Neo sees the Matrix’s digital rain code.

What PHP code seems to be 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 need so as to add “immediate engineer” to my CV.

So, on this submit, we’ll discover the best way to leverage the facility of ChatGPT to construct a easy customized WordPress plugin rapidly and securely, even in case you 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 check, and

2) Working the code generated by ChatGPT previous our group {of professional} plugin builders to allow them to evaluate 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 would like our plugin to offer.

This begins by outlining the particular 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 offered by OpenAI.

Take #1…

Word: My first try at utilizing ChatGPT to create a WordPress plugin from scratch was manner 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 could 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 supply to offer me with a primary template, information me on the best way to implement a number of the options I discussed, and even gave me directions on the best way 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 certain seems to be spectacular!

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

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

With the plugin code output, the following 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…

And now for the second we’ve all been ready for [drumroll]…I received 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 offered appropriately, I went again and requested for all of the code to be offered 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 quite a lot of code to output, so every time the method got here to a standstill, I instructed ChatGPT to proceed…

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

After repeating this course of a number of occasions, ChatGPT output your complete code and even offered 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 location’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 numerous fancy packing containers and fields…

Seems spectacular…however will it work?

However I couldn’t see a subject 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 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, similar to a kind of youngsters’s playground spaceships that’s crammed 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 considered one of our builders through Slack and requested them to have 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 each 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 is no such thing as 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 place to begin, it is a very, very poor one. When it comes to having a working plugin, that is nowhere close to that”

After some backwards and forwards discussions , it was deemed that there was quite a bit flawed with the plugin, that it could take quite a lot of work to repair it, they usually urged I scrap the venture.

At this level, nonetheless, I used to be too invested in my mission to easily abandon every thing 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 to get ChatGPT to construct a WordPress plugin from scratch was a dismal failure. This in itself offered some worthwhile insights into ChatGPT’s capacity to carry out advanced coding duties (or, as somebody within the group 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 an easier 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 preferred 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 seems to be like!

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

<?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 offered 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 quite a lot 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 here 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” – Seems 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 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 replica submit was created!

A reproduction 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 certain that with higher immediate engineering and a few code tweaking, the plugin may have been considerably improved. For instance, I would favor if the plugin set the submit standing of the newly-duplicated submit to ‘draft’ as an alternative 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 software like ChatGPT to code plugins.

Suggestions from Our Knowledgeable Plugin Builders

Shortly after importing the plugin to considered one of our testing channels, I received a ping from considered one of our builders. Listed here are a number of the key factors offered of their suggestions:

“ChatGPT et al are first rate 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 ultimately I manually debug the given code to work, trigger else it’d take ages for it to really debug it line by line.”
“Mainly, 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 look like it can propagate any taxonomies to the duplicated submit (the plugin ought to copy and assign the identical taxonomy phrases, equivalent 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 gained’t be an choice to translate this plugin. However, that’s simply being very nitpicky – I don’t actually assume, nor would I anticipate, 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 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 right.

ChatGPT can present solutions, but it surely’s as much as the person to evaluate whether or not the reply is right or not.
There’s a danger 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 must be handled as autocomplete, making life simpler however requiring warning and verification.

The power to discern good code from dangerous or nonsensical code, nonetheless, implies that…

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

ChatGPT might help simplify and expedite the method of constructing easy customized WordPress plugins, generate code snippets, and supply explanations. Something extra advanced, nonetheless, requires plugin improvement expertise and coding abilities.
Utilizing ChatGPT with out adequate data can result in adverse penalties or unreliable code.
Relying solely on ChatGPT with out crucial considering 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 typically extra generic, whereas ChatGPT can present particular solutions to particular person queries).

3 – Using different sources, equivalent 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 worthwhile to have interaction 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 worthwhile insights and enable you refine your plugin improvement course of.
Moreover, contemplate 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 totally evaluate and check 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 (try our current article on ways in which ChatGPT might help 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, generally you might want a customized answer to fulfill a consumer’s particular necessities.

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

By using the language mannequin’s capabilities, you possibly can generate code snippets, optimize performance, and create user-friendly interfaces. Nonetheless, it’s essential to know the generated code, evaluate and refine it, and totally check your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to your dwell web site.

The generated code can also require changes to align with coding requirements, naming conventions, or particular venture necessities. This requires a specific amount 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 here are my findings after making an attempt to get ChatGPT to code me a plugin from scratch:

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

Desirous 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 Approach