WP Plugin Dev Toolkit
A collection of scripts, templates, checklists, and prompt files for WordPress plugin development. Drop it into any plugin project, brand new or inherited, to bring immediate structure to the work. It covers scaffolding a new plugin with consistent naming and structure, diagnosing and repairing a drifted plugin, enforcing a security baseline before shipping, and debugging a local development environment.
Open source, currently in beta.
Structure for Every Stage of Plugin Work.
The toolkit covers four areas of WordPress plugin development. Each area has dedicated scripts, documentation, and prompt files so the workflow is consistent and repeatable, whether you are starting from scratch or cleaning up an inherited mess.
Scaffold From Day One
Generate a consistent display name, slug, PHP namespace, and file structure inventory before writing a line of code. Fill out the plugin brief template to capture purpose, data model, and scope, then feed it to the scaffold prompt.
Fix What’s Already Broken
Inherited plugins fail in predictable ways: missing files, broken include paths, duplicated helpers, bloated activation hooks. The structure inspector inventories what is present and flags obvious problems. The repair checklist and prompt files give you a structured path through the fix.
Baseline Before You Ship
A security checklist covering capability checks, nonce validation, sanitized input, escaped output, explicit REST permission callbacks, and prepared database queries. A dedicated security review prompt walks your AI coding assistant through the same baseline before you keep any generated code.
Answer Runtime Questions Fast
Three scripts for answering basic runtime questions without digging through WordPress source or Docker logs manually: a REST route tester, a container log tailer, and a diagnostics collector. A local must-use plugin exposes a status endpoint and logs shutdown and activation events.
Controlled AI Workflows
Prompt files for scaffold, repair, and security review workflows. Designed for working with an AI coding assistant in a controlled, repeatable way rather than open-ended chat. Each prompt is scoped to a specific job and expects structured input from the preceding step.
Capture Before You Code
A plugin brief template for capturing purpose, data model, and key behaviors before generating code. Supporting documentation covering the security baseline, repair checklist, debug checklist, and LLM workflow guidance.
The WP Plugin Dev Toolkit User Manual covers every script, template, and prompt file in detail, including the fresh-project flow, repair flow, security baseline, and debugging tools.
Built for WordPress Plugin Developers.
The toolkit is useful whether you are starting a new plugin from scratch or inheriting one that has accumulated problems. It is especially valuable when working with an AI coding assistant and want a structured, auditable workflow rather than ad-hoc prompting.
Solo Plugin Developers
Get consistent naming, structure, and a security baseline from the start. The brief template and scaffold prompt reduce the overhead of starting a new plugin correctly.
Agencies Taking Over Plugins
The inspection and repair flow is designed for exactly this scenario. Run the structure inspector, work through the repair checklist, and have a documented baseline before touching a line of code.
Teams Using AI Coding Assistants
The prompt files replace ad-hoc prompting with a controlled, repeatable workflow. Each prompt expects structured input from the step before it, so the AI’s output is grounded in real project context.
Developers Running Local WordPress Environments
The diagnostic mu-plugin and debugging scripts answer basic runtime questions quickly. Log fatal shutdowns, confirm your REST routes are registered, and tail container logs without leaving the terminal.
What’s in the Toolkit.
Install the toolkit into your plugin project and it copies its files alongside your plugin code. Everything is available from your plugin root once installed.
scripts/project/
Build a plugin profile with consistent naming (display name, slug, PHP namespace) and inspect an existing plugin’s file structure for inventory and structural flags.
scripts/debug/
Test REST routes against a running WordPress site, tail container logs with configurable line count, and collect a full environment diagnostics snapshot including Docker context.
prompts/
Scaffold, repair, and security review prompt files. Each is a structured document you pass to your AI coding assistant with the output from the preceding step as context.
templates/ & docs/
Plugin brief template, security baseline, repair checklist, debug checklist, and LLM workflow guidance. The brief is the input to the scaffold prompt. The checklists are the criteria for calling a phase complete.
Drop It Into Your Next Plugin Project.
Run the install script, point it at your plugin directory, and start with the profile builder. The full flow takes minutes to set up and pays off every time you start or inherit a plugin.
