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

Thankfully, WPMU DEV builds among the most strong WordPress plugins on the earth, so we’ve got loads of professional WordPress plugin builders who can put ChatGPT to the take a look at.

In truth, when you 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 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 abilities and a burning want so as to add “immediate engineer” to my CV.

So, on this publish, we’ll discover how one can leverage the facility of ChatGPT to construct a easy customized WordPress plugin shortly and securely, even when you lack in depth coding abilities.

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) Operating the code generated by ChatGPT previous our crew {of professional} plugin builders to allow them to evaluation 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 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 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 preserve 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 method 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 plenty of time writing WordPress tutorials, I usually want dummy content material to check plugins, create screenshots, and so forth.

So, I assumed it could 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 practical WordPress plugin with all of the options I requested was past the scope of a single response.

Nevertheless, it did supply to supply me with a fundamental template, information me on how one can implement among the options I discussed, and even gave me directions on how one can 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 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 every step of the plugin growth 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 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 plenty of code to output, so every time the method got here to a standstill, I instructed ChatGPT to proceed…

ChatGPT typically simply wants somewhat mild encouragement to maintain going.

After repeating this course of a number of instances, ChatGPT output the whole code and even offered 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 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 a number of fancy bins and fields…

Appears to be like 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 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 growth profession…a plugin that does nothing!

My fancy-ass plugin was all make-believe, similar 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 one in every of our builders by way of 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 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 hundreds 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 anyway, 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 forwards and backwards discussions , it was deemed that there was quite a bit incorrect with the plugin, that it could take plenty of work to repair it, and so they recommended I scrap the venture.

At this level, nonetheless, 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 offered some useful insights into ChatGPT’s capacity to carry out complicated coding duties (or, as somebody within the crew put it, “you’ll be able to’t code utilizing ChatGPT with out having in depth 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 counsel 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 recommended 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 practical 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 Identify: Content material Duplicator
Description: Permits customers to duplicate posts, pages, or customized publish sorts with one click on.
Model: 1.0.0
Writer: Your Identify
Writer URI: https://yourwebsite.com
*/

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

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

And created a dummy publish to check the plugin with…

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

Listed here are the publish’s menu choices earlier than activating the plugin…

A default publish 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 truly work?

Right here’s my take a look at publish 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 reproduction publish was created!

A replica of the unique publish.

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

The unique publish 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 publish standing of the newly-duplicated publish 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 device like ChatGPT to code plugins.

Suggestions from Our Knowledgeable 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 here are among 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 prior 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 finally 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. Nevertheless, it does what it says very actually. As in, it’ll duplicate a publish and its corresponding postmeta (customized) fields. Nevertheless, it doesn’t look like it’ll propagate any taxonomies to the duplicated publish (the plugin ought to copy and assign the identical taxonomy phrases, reminiscent of classes or tags, from the unique publish to the duplicated publish).”
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’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 vital to train warning and never blindly settle for ChatGPT-generated code as appropriate.

ChatGPT can present solutions, however it’s as much as the consumer to evaluate whether or not the reply is appropriate or not.
There’s a threat 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 needs to be handled as autocomplete, making life simpler however requiring warning and verification.

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

2 – Customers ought to have enough 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, nonetheless, requires plugin growth expertise and coding abilities.
Utilizing ChatGPT with out enough data can result in destructive penalties or unreliable code.
Relying solely on ChatGPT with out essential 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 typically extra generic, whereas ChatGPT can present particular solutions to particular person queries).

3 – Using different sources, reminiscent of 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 steering from skilled builders. Taking part in boards, attending WordPress meetups, or becoming a member of on-line communities can present useful insights and provide help to refine your plugin growth 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’ll be able to implement to guard your plugin.
It’s additionally important to keep up a transparent understanding of your required performance and totally evaluation 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 in case you have restricted coding expertise.

In different articles, we’ve seen that AI-powered instruments like ChatGP can streamline your workflow, increase productiveness, and unlock new prospects (try our latest 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 kind of performance you’ll be able to think about, typically you might want a customized answer to fulfill a consumer’s particular necessities.

Past the core performance of your plugin, you can even leverage ChatGPT to generate code for customized consumer interfaces. With its capacity to know prompts and generate HTML, CSS, and JavaScript snippets, you’ll be able to create intuitive admin interfaces, front-end parts, and interactive parts that can improve the consumer expertise and can help you ship a refined last product.

By using the language mannequin’s capabilities, you’ll be able to generate code snippets, optimize performance, and create user-friendly interfaces. Nevertheless, it’s essential to know the generated code, evaluation and refine it, and totally take a look at your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to your reside web site.

The generated code can also require changes to align with coding requirements, naming conventions, or particular venture necessities. This requires a certain quantity of coding data and abilities, 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 attempting 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 de facto difficult – it helps to know what you might be doing 🙂
Whereas ChatGPT is a strong and useful device, it doesn’t look like AI will substitute expert coders any time quickly.

Fascinated about Growing WordPress plugins?

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

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