Can ChatGPT Construct a Helpful WordPress Plugin That Truly 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 greatest coding practices?

Thankfully, WPMU DEV builds a few of the most sturdy WordPress plugins on this planet, so we have now loads of professional WordPress plugin builders who can put ChatGPT to the check.

In truth, for those who 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 appears to be like 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 publish, we’ll discover tips on how to leverage the ability of ChatGPT to construct a easy customized WordPress plugin shortly and securely, even for those who 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) 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 would like our plugin to supply.

This begins by outlining the particular options, actions, or modifications we’ll need 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 maintain 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 method 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 a whole lot of time writing WordPress tutorials, I typically want dummy content material to check plugins, create screenshots, and so forth.

So, I believed it might 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 totally purposeful 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 tips on how to implement a few of the options I discussed, and even gave me directions on tips on 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 appeared fairly spectacular…

To somebody who is aware of ‘zip’ about coding, the above code snippet positive 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 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 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 web site and activating it contained in the Plugins display screen…

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 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 a whole lot of code to output, so at any time when the method got here to a standstill, I instructed ChatGPT to proceed…

ChatGPT generally simply wants somewhat mild encouragement to maintain going.

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

After ready a complete 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 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 screen with a lot of fancy packing containers 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 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 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 kids’s playground spaceships that’s stuffed 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 one in all 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 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 hundreds 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 in any respect, and no escaping of the output, which is horrible”
“By way of having one thing as start line, 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 incorrect with the plugin, that it might take a whole lot of work to repair it, and so they urged I scrap the venture.

At this level, nevertheless, I used to be too invested in my mission to easily abandon the whole lot 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 helpful insights into ChatGPT’s capacity to carry out advanced coding duties (or, as somebody within the staff put it, “you possibly can’t code utilizing ChatGPT with out having intensive coding information.”)

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 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 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 appears to be like 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 publish sorts with one click on.
Model: 1.0.0
Creator: Your Identify
Creator URI: https://yourwebsite.com
*/

// Add duplicate motion hyperlinks to publish row actions
operate 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
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’ ) ) {
$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 check web site utilizing The Hub’s file supervisor.

There’s a whole lot 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 below 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” – 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 truly work?

Right here’s my check publish 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 publish was created!

A reproduction 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 positive 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 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, 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 instrument 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 below 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 prior 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 truly debug it line by line.”
“Mainly, it does what it says. Nevertheless, it does what it says very actually. As in, it would duplicate a publish and its corresponding postmeta (customized) fields. Nevertheless, it doesn’t look like it would propagate any taxonomies to the duplicated publish (the plugin ought to copy and assign the identical taxonomy phrases, similar to 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 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 drawback area” form of a factor, together with the language used. On the finish of the day, it does do what it says it would, 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 right.

ChatGPT can present solutions, nevertheless it’s as much as the person 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 essential to train warning and never blindly settle for the generated code as right.
ChatGPT’s output needs to be handled as autocomplete, making life simpler however requiring warning and verification.

The power to discern good code from unhealthy or nonsensical code, nevertheless, implies that…

2 – Customers ought to have adequate information and understanding of WordPress plugin growth to guage and modify the generated code as wanted.

ChatGPT will 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 abilities.
Utilizing ChatGPT with out adequate information can result in adverse penalties or unreliable code.
Relying solely on ChatGPT with out vital pondering 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 typically extra generic, whereas ChatGPT can present particular solutions to particular person queries).

3 – Using different sources, similar 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 helpful to have interaction 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 helpful insights and enable you 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 completely assessment 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, increase productiveness, and unlock new prospects (try our current article on ways in which ChatGPT will help you as a WordPress developer).

Whereas there are over 60,000 free WordPress plugins accessible masking each sort of performance you possibly can think about, generally it’s possible you’ll want a customized resolution to satisfy a shopper’s particular necessities.

Past the core performance of your plugin, you too can 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 elements, and interactive parts that may improve the person expertise and permit you to ship a elegant remaining 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, assessment and refine it, and completely check your customized plugins earlier than deploying them to your reside web site.

The generated code might also require changes to align with coding requirements, naming conventions, or particular venture necessities. This requires a specific amount of coding information and abilities, as does optimizing the code and guaranteeing it follows WordPress coding tips for higher maintainability.

The underside line:

Listed below are my findings after attempting 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 information is absolutely difficult – it helps to know what you might be doing 🙂
Whereas ChatGPT is a strong and helpful instrument, it doesn’t look like AI will substitute expert coders any time quickly.

Curious about Growing 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 Manner