Agent skill

wordpress-dev

WordPress development best practices - coding standards, custom post types, security, performance, hooks/filters, and template hierarchy. Use for any WordPress theme or plugin development guidance.

View SKILL.md on GitHub Repository
Stars 232
Forks 15

Install this agent skill to your Project

npx add-skill https://github.com/aiskillstore/marketplace/tree/main/skills/crazyswami/wordpress-dev

SKILL.md

WordPress Development Best Practices

Comprehensive development guidance for WordPress themes and plugins following 2025 standards.

What This Skill Provides

  1. Coding Standards - PHP, JS, CSS conventions following WordPress standards
  2. Custom Post Types - Complete CPT registration and management guide
  3. Security - Sanitization, escaping, nonces, capability checks
  4. Performance - Caching, query optimization, asset loading
  5. Hooks & Filters - Actions and filters reference with examples
  6. Template Hierarchy - Theme template structure and overrides

Quick Reference

Do's

  • Use WordPress APIs (don't reinvent the wheel)
  • Sanitize all input (sanitize_* functions)
  • Escape all output (esc_* functions)
  • Use prepared statements for SQL ($wpdb->prepare)
  • Enqueue scripts/styles properly (wp_enqueue_*)
  • Use transients for expensive operations
  • Follow the template hierarchy
  • Use hooks instead of modifying core
  • Prefix all functions, classes, and global variables
  • Use WP-CLI for automation tasks

Don'ts

  • Modify WordPress core files (NEVER)
  • Use query_posts() - use WP_Query instead
  • Echo untrusted data without escaping
  • Store sensitive data in plain text options
  • Use extract() on untrusted data
  • Suppress errors with @ operator
  • Use deprecated functions
  • Hard-code URLs or file paths
  • Skip nonce verification on forms
  • Use mysql_* functions - use $wpdb

Documentation

Detailed documentation available in /docs/:

File Contents
coding-standards.md PHP, JS, CSS naming and formatting
custom-post-types.md CPT registration, labels, capabilities
security.md Input/output handling, nonces, SQL safety
performance.md Caching, optimization, lazy loading
hooks-filters.md Common actions/filters with examples
template-hierarchy.md Template files and overrides

Code Templates

Ready-to-use templates in /templates/:

Template Purpose
custom-post-type.php CPT registration boilerplate
taxonomy.php Custom taxonomy registration
meta-box.php Admin meta box with save handling
rest-api-endpoint.php Custom REST API endpoint
plugin-skeleton/ Complete plugin starter files

Usage Examples

Create a Custom Post Type

Ask Claude:

  • "Create a 'Property' custom post type for real estate"
  • "Add a custom post type for team members with a photo field"
  • "Register a 'Portfolio' CPT with custom taxonomies"

Security Review

Ask Claude:

  • "Review this form handler for security issues"
  • "Check if this plugin follows WordPress security best practices"
  • "Add proper sanitization and escaping to this code"

Performance Optimization

Ask Claude:

  • "Optimize this WP_Query for better performance"
  • "Add caching to this expensive database operation"
  • "Review asset loading for this theme"

Code Generation

Use the scaffold script to generate boilerplate:

bash
# Generate a custom post type
python3 /root/.claude/skills/wordpress-dev/scripts/scaffold.py \
  --type cpt \
  --name "Property" \
  --slug "property" \
  --output /path/to/theme/inc/

# Generate a custom taxonomy
python3 /root/.claude/skills/wordpress-dev/scripts/scaffold.py \
  --type taxonomy \
  --name "Property Type" \
  --slug "property-type" \
  --post-type "property" \
  --output /path/to/theme/inc/

WordPress 6.x / Block Theme Notes

Full Site Editing (FSE)

For block themes (WordPress 6.0+):

theme/
├── theme.json          # Global styles and settings
├── templates/          # Block templates (HTML)
│   ├── index.html
│   ├── single.html
│   └── page.html
├── parts/              # Block template parts
│   ├── header.html
│   └── footer.html
└── patterns/           # Block patterns
    └── hero.php

theme.json Best Practices

json
{
  "$schema": "https://schemas.wp.org/trunk/theme.json",
  "version": 2,
  "settings": {
    "color": {
      "palette": [
        {"slug": "primary", "color": "#1a1a1a", "name": "Primary"}
      ]
    },
    "typography": {
      "fontFamilies": [
        {"fontFamily": "Inter, sans-serif", "slug": "body", "name": "Body"}
      ]
    },
    "spacing": {
      "units": ["px", "rem", "%"]
    }
  }
}

Common Patterns

Safe Database Query

php
global $wpdb;
$results = $wpdb->get_results(
    $wpdb->prepare(
        "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->posts} WHERE post_type = %s AND post_status = %s",
        'property',
        'publish'
    )
);

AJAX Handler

php
// Register AJAX action
add_action('wp_ajax_my_action', 'my_ajax_handler');
add_action('wp_ajax_nopriv_my_action', 'my_ajax_handler');

function my_ajax_handler() {
    // Verify nonce
    check_ajax_referer('my_nonce', 'security');

    // Check capability
    if (!current_user_can('edit_posts')) {
        wp_send_json_error('Unauthorized', 403);
    }

    // Sanitize input
    $data = sanitize_text_field($_POST['data']);

    // Process and respond
    wp_send_json_success(['message' => 'Done']);
}

Enqueue Scripts Properly

php
function theme_enqueue_assets() {
    // CSS
    wp_enqueue_style(
        'theme-style',
        get_stylesheet_uri(),
        [],
        filemtime(get_stylesheet_directory() . '/style.css')
    );

    // JS with dependencies
    wp_enqueue_script(
        'theme-main',
        get_theme_file_uri('/assets/js/main.js'),
        ['jquery'],
        filemtime(get_theme_file_path('/assets/js/main.js')),
        true // In footer
    );

    // Localize for AJAX
    wp_localize_script('theme-main', 'themeData', [
        'ajaxUrl' => admin_url('admin-ajax.php'),
        'nonce'   => wp_create_nonce('theme_nonce'),
    ]);
}
add_action('wp_enqueue_scripts', 'theme_enqueue_assets');

Related Skills

  • wordpress-admin: Page/post management, WP-CLI, REST API
  • seo-optimizer: Yoast/Rank Math audit and optimization
  • visual-qa: Screenshot testing with animation handling
  • brand-guide: Brand documentation generation

Resources

Recommended Agent Skills

Expand your agent's capabilities with these related and highly-rated skills.

aiskillstore/marketplace

perigon-backend

Perigon ASP.NET Core + EF Core + Aspire conventions

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

perigon-agent

Pointers for Copilot/agents to apply Perigon conventions

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

perigon-angular

Angular 21+ standalone/Material/signal conventions for Perigon WebApp

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

fastapi-mastery

Comprehensive FastAPI development skill covering REST API creation, routing, request/response handling, validation, authentication, database integration, middleware, and deployment. Use when working with FastAPI projects, building APIs, implementing CRUD operations, setting up authentication/authorization, integrating databases (SQL/NoSQL), adding middleware, handling WebSockets, or deploying FastAPI applications. Triggered by requests involving .py files with FastAPI code, API endpoint creation, Pydantic models, or FastAPI-specific features.

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

context7-efficient

Token-efficient library documentation fetcher using Context7 MCP with 86.8% token savings through intelligent shell pipeline filtering. Fetches code examples, API references, and best practices for JavaScript, Python, Go, Rust, and other libraries. Use when users ask about library documentation, need code examples, want API usage patterns, are learning a new framework, need syntax reference, or troubleshooting with library-specific information. Triggers include questions like "Show me React hooks", "How do I use Prisma", "What's the Next.js routing syntax", or any request for library/framework documentation.

232 15
Explore
aiskillstore/marketplace

browser-use

Browser automation using Playwright MCP. Navigate websites, fill forms, click elements, take screenshots, and extract data. Use when tasks require web browsing, form submission, web scraping, UI testing, or any browser interaction.

232 15
Explore

Didn't find tool you were looking for?

Be as detailed as possible for better results