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 crew of builders look at 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 truly develop a purposeful and helpful WordPress plugin with out having to put in writing code from scratch? And does the plugin meet greatest coding practices?

Luckily, WPMU DEV builds a few of the most strong WordPress plugins on the earth, so we now have loads of skilled WordPress plugin builders who can put ChatGPT to the take a look at.

In reality, when 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 prefer 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 learn how to leverage the facility of ChatGPT to construct a easy customized WordPress plugin shortly and securely, even when you lack intensive coding expertise.

We’ll do that by:

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

2) Working the code generated by ChatGPT previous our crew {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 offer.

This begins by outlining the precise options, actions, or modifications we’ll need to obtain with our plugin. This can then assist us generate correct prompts for ChatGPT and be certain 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 hold issues easy (and free) and use the freely accessible interface offered by OpenAI.

Take #1…

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

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

As somebody who spends plenty of time writing WordPress tutorials, I typically want dummy content material to check plugins, create screenshots, and many others.

So, I assumed it will be nice to mannequin my AI-generated dummy content material plugin on a plugin I typically 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 supply to offer me with a primary template, information me on learn how to implement a few of the options I discussed, and even gave me directions on learn how to create a plugin listing and file…

Mmm…perhaps my first try at making a WordPress plugin was too bold!

At first, ChatGPT output code that regarded fairly spectacular…

To somebody who is aware of ‘zip’ about coding, the above code snippet certain seems 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 way of every step of the plugin growth course of.

With the plugin code output, the subsequent step was to add the plugin to my take a look at website 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 website 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 perhaps I didn’t add the extra snippets that ChatGPT offered accurately, I went again and requested for all of the code to be offered as a single file that I might merely copy and paste to overwrite and replace the uploaded plugin file…

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

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

ChatGPT typically simply wants slightly light encouragement to maintain going.

After repeating this course of a number of instances, ChatGPT output all the code and even offered some useful data.

After ready an entire 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 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 with a number of fancy bins and fields…

Appears spectacular…however will it work?

However I couldn’t see a area to specify what number of posts or pages to create, so I merely ticked some bins, entered some values, and clicked on the “Save Adjustments” 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 full of 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 one in all 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 each admin web page load”
“It calls a operate 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 operate.
“The web page masses to a degree, 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 by any means, and no escaping of the output, which is horrible”
“By way of having one thing as place to begin, it is a very, very poor one. By way of having a working plugin, that is nowhere close to that”

After some backwards and forwards discussions , it was deemed that there was rather a lot improper with the plugin, that it will take plenty of work to repair it, and so they instructed I scrap the mission.

At this level, nevertheless, 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 and get ChatGPT to construct a WordPress plugin from scratch was a dismal failure. This in itself offered some invaluable insights into ChatGPT’s means to carry out complicated coding duties (or, as somebody within the crew 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 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 might 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 instructed 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 seems 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 submit sorts with one click on.
Model: 1.0.0
Writer: Your Identify
Writer URI: https://yourwebsite.com
*/

// Add duplicate motion hyperlinks to submit row actions
operate 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
operate 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 take a look at website utilizing The Hub’s file supervisor.

There’s plenty 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” – 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 take a look at submit once more (observe 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 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 certain that with higher immediate engineering and a few code tweaking, the plugin might have been considerably improved. For instance, I would favor 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, nevertheless 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 device like ChatGPT to code plugins.

Suggestions from Our Knowledgeable Plugin Builders

Shortly after importing the plugin to one in all our testing channels, I acquired a ping from one in all our builders. Listed here are a few 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 complicated 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 truly debug it line by line.”
“Principally, it does what it says. Nevertheless, it does what it says very actually. As in, it should duplicate a submit and its corresponding postmeta (customized) fields. Nevertheless, it doesn’t seem to be it should propagate any taxonomies to the duplicated submit (the plugin ought to copy and assign the identical taxonomy phrases, resembling 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 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 should, 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 vital to train warning and never blindly settle for ChatGPT-generated code as appropriate.

ChatGPT can present solutions, nevertheless it’s as much as the consumer 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 vital 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 might help simplify and expedite the method of constructing easy customized WordPress plugins, generate code snippets, and supply explanations. Something extra complicated, nevertheless, requires plugin growth expertise and coding expertise.
Utilizing ChatGPT with out ample data can result in unfavorable penalties or unreliable code.
Relying solely on ChatGPT with out vital 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 usually extra generic, whereas ChatGPT can present particular solutions to particular person queries).

3 – Using different sources, resembling 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 invaluable 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 invaluable insights and enable you to refine your plugin growth course of.
Moreover, contemplate 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 keep up a transparent understanding of your required performance and totally assessment and take a look at the generated code and safe your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to a manufacturing surroundings.

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 prospects (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 overlaying each sort of performance you possibly can think about, typically it’s possible you’ll 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 consumer interfaces. With its means to grasp prompts and generate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript snippets, you possibly can create intuitive admin interfaces, front-end elements, and interactive components that may improve the consumer expertise and mean you can ship a cultured closing 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, assessment and refine it, and totally take a look at your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to your dwell 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 expertise, as does optimizing the code and making certain it follows WordPress coding pointers 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 de facto difficult – it helps to know what you might be doing 🙂
Whereas ChatGPT is a robust and invaluable device, it doesn’t seem to be AI will change expert coders any time quickly.

Keen on Growing 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 Method