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 latest information headlines about whether or not AI will take our jobs away, we wished to know… can ChatGPT really develop a useful and helpful WordPress plugin with out having to put in writing code from scratch? And does the plugin meet greatest coding practices?

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

In reality, in the event 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 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 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 need so as to add “immediate engineer” to my CV.

So, on this submit, we’ll discover tips on how to leverage the ability of ChatGPT to construct a easy customized WordPress plugin rapidly and securely, even in the event you 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) 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 – Take a look at 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. It will then assist us generate correct prompts for ChatGPT and be 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 obtainable interface offered by OpenAI.

Take #1…

Notice: 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 growth tyres.

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

So, I assumed it will be nice to mannequin my AI-generated dummy content material plugin on a plugin I typically use known as FakerPress.

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

Nevertheless, it did provide to offer me with a fundamental template, information me on tips on how to implement a number of the options I discussed, and even gave me directions on tips on 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 appeared 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 expertise, I relied on ChatGPT to information me by means of every step of the plugin growth course of.

With the plugin code output, the following step was to add the plugin to my check web site and check it to verify it really works.

Step 3 – Take a look at The Customized Plugin

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

And now for the second we’ve all been ready for [drumroll]…I acquired 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 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 the whole 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 typically simply wants a little bit light encouragement to maintain going.

After repeating this course of a number of occasions, ChatGPT output the whole 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 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 numerous fancy bins and fields…

Seems 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 bins, 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, similar to a kind of kids’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 house.

So, I reached out to certainly 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 hundreds to a degree, 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 by any means, 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 forwards and backwards discussions , it was deemed that there was rather a lot flawed with the plugin, that it will take quite a lot of work to repair it, they usually advised I scrap the challenge.

At this level, nevertheless, I used to be too invested in my mission to easily abandon every little 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 beneficial insights into ChatGPT’s potential 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 attempt 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 listing of advised 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 useful 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 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
Creator: Your Title
Creator 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 web site 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” – Feels 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 (notice 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 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 fundamental, however it 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 acquired a ping from certainly one of our builders. Listed here are a number of the key factors offered 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 can duplicate a submit and its corresponding postmeta (customized) fields. Nevertheless, 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, 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 drawback 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 could 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 essential to train warning and never blindly settle for ChatGPT-generated code as appropriate.

ChatGPT can present solutions, however it’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 delicate.
It’s essential 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 unhealthy or nonsensical code, nevertheless, implies that…

2 – Customers ought to have ample data and understanding of WordPress plugin growth 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 growth expertise and coding expertise.
Utilizing ChatGPT with out ample data can result in detrimental penalties or unreliable code.
Relying solely on ChatGPT with out vital 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 usually 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 growth.

As you discover the probabilities of utilizing ChatGPT for WordPress plugin growth, it’s beneficial to interact with the WordPress neighborhood. Share your experiences, ask for suggestions, and search steering from skilled builders. Collaborating in boards, attending WordPress meetups, or becoming a member of on-line communities can present beneficial insights and assist you refine your plugin growth course of.
Moreover, think about following WordPress safety greatest 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 take care of a transparent understanding of your required performance and completely evaluate 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 you probably 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 potentialities (try our latest article on ways in which ChatGPT can assist you as a WordPress developer).

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

Past the core performance of your plugin, you may as well leverage ChatGPT to generate code for customized person interfaces. With its potential to know 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 refined ultimate 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 know the generated code, evaluate and refine it, and completely check 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 challenge necessities. This requires a certain quantity of coding data and expertise, as does optimizing the code and guaranteeing 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 finished 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 strong and beneficial instrument, it doesn’t seem to be AI will substitute expert coders any time quickly.

Serious about Creating WordPress plugins?

Try 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 Approach