create-wp-plugin

Interactive scaffold generator for modern, production-ready WordPress plugins — a SOLID/DI architecture (Container + Service Providers), PSR-4 autoloading, selectable WPCS/VIP coding standards, a Brain Monkey unit suite, a wp-scripts plugin-zip distribution pipeline, and a set of opt-in modules (REST, CPT, Cron, Caching, custom DB table, native Gutenberg blocks, Elementor, WooCommerce, the Interactivity API, WP-CLI commands, a real-WordPress integration suite, …) that stay freely combinable.

Usage

Run it without installing — pick whichever you prefer:

npm create wp-plugin-cli                      # npm's create-* shorthand
npx create-wp-plugin-cli                      # same thing via npx
npx github:akshat009/create-wp-plugin-cli     # latest main, straight from GitHub

Published on npm as create-wp-plugin-cli — the shorter create-wp-plugin name was already taken.

From a clone

node index.js

Non-interactive

npx create-wp-plugin-cli --yes --name "My Plugin" --prefix myp --namespace MyPlugin \
  --modules "admin_settings,rest_api,block:dynamic" --out ./my-plugin

Piping in without --yes (no TTY) exits with an error instead of hanging on a prompt. Emoji output falls back to ASCII when NO_COLOR is set or the terminal can't render it. A failure partway through generation rolls back the directory it created.

Flags

--help, --version, --yes, --name, --slug, --namespace, --prefix, --author, --email, --author-uri, --description, --out, --modules, --react, --no-react, --lint-target.

Generated plugins target PHP 8.2 — this is fixed, not configurable. The output uses constructor property promotion, readonly properties, and first-class callable syntax throughout.

--lint-target picks the WPCS ruleset(s) composer lint enforces: wp-org (default — WordPress-Extra + WordPress-Docs), vip (WordPress-VIP-Go only), or both.

Modules

Pass any combination to --modules (comma-separated), or pick them in the interactive multiselect. Nothing here depends on anything else.

Module	What you get
admin_settings	Settings API page split into Settings_Registrar / Settings_Repository / a view
shortcode	A Shortcode provider
rest_api	A WP_REST_Controller subclass with a permission callback
ajax_handler	Nonce + capability-guarded admin-ajax handler, plus the assets/js/main.js it enqueues
cpt_taxonomy	Post_Types (CPT + taxonomy), wired into activation
cron	Cron\Scheduler with a scheduled event and a worked example body
caching	Cache_Service — a persistent object cache or transient, chosen at call time (never both)
custom_table	dbDelta() schema + Item_Repository, version-checked migrations
elementor_widget	Widget_Registrar auto-discovery of src/Widgets/*, convention-based CSS/JS
block	Native Gutenberg block(s). Opens a sub-choice — block:dynamic (server-rendered via render.php) and/or block:static (save()-serialized). block / block:all = both. Block_Registrar globs assets/build/blocks/*, so adding more blocks later needs no PHP change
interactivity	WordPress Interactivity API store (view.js + Script Module, WP 6.5+)
woocommerce_hooks	Opens a sub-choice of woo: components: woo:gateway, woo:shipping, woo:email, woo:order-status, woo:product-type, woo:blocks, woo:action-scheduler, woo:store-api, woo:my-account. woocommerce / woo:all = all. Each is its own Service_Provider that self-excludes when WooCommerce isn't active
cli	wp <prefix> status / wp <prefix> cache clear (the latter iterates a <prefix>_cache_keys filter — no module names another's cache keys)
editor_config	.vscode/ snippets, settings, recommended extensions
integration_tests	wp-phpunit suite (composer test:integration), phpunit-integration.xml.dist, a boot test, the .wp-env.json, and the CI integration job

uninstall.php + Core\Uninstaller are derived, not a toggle — they ship only when a selected module persists something worth cleaning (an option, a table, a scheduled event, a transient).

A JS build pipeline (package.json build/start, webpack.config.js when needed, Playwright, Jest) is added automatically when you pick --react, interactivity, block, or a WooCommerce component with a JS side (woo:gateway / woo:blocks).

After generating

cd <slug>
composer install         # PHPCS/WPCS(/VIP) rulesets, PHPUnit, Brain Monkey
composer lint
composer test             # unit suite (Brain Monkey — no WordPress install needed)
git init && git add -A && git commit -m "scaffold"

With a JS pipeline (--react / interactivity / block / woo:gateway / woo:blocks):

npm install
npm run build
npm run lint:js && npm run lint:style
npm run test:e2e          # Playwright — needs a running WP site (WP_BASE_URL, default http://localhost:8889)
npm run test:js           # Jest — present with --react / interactivity / block

With the integration_tests module:

npx @wordpress/env start
composer test:integration

Releasing

Every scaffold gets a package.json whose files field is the single source of truth for what ships (there is no .distignore). Order matters:

npm install && npm run build          # only if there's a JS pipeline
composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader
npm run plugin-zip                     # -> <slug>.zip, via @wordpress/scripts

Adding another block

Block_Registrar registers every assets/build/blocks/* directory that has a block.json, so no PHP changes are needed:

npx @wordpress/create-block my-block --no-plugin --target-dir assets/src/blocks/my-block
# --variant dynamic for a render.php block
npm run build

composer install may ask to allow dealerdirect/phpcodesniffer-composer-installer — answer yes. "No composer.lock file present" on the first run is normal.

Architecture (generated plugin)

• Plugin::create() builds a Core\Container and a list of providers; Plugin::boot() runs each one. Not a singleton — construct one directly with fakes in a test.
• Providers implement Contracts\Service_Provider: register() for container bindings only, boot() for WordPress hooks.
• Contracts\Conditional::is_needed() lets a provider self-exclude (every WooCommerce provider skips itself when WooCommerce isn't installed).
• Core\Activator / Deactivator implement Contracts\Activatable / Deactivatable and resolve dependencies from the container.
• Extend without touching core files via the <prefix>_providers filter.
• Cross-cutting cleanup goes through filters, not hard references: cli and the uninstaller iterate <prefix>_cache_keys; modules that cache register their own keys.

Coding standards & CI

• composer lint runs WordPress-Extra + WordPress-Docs (wp-org), WordPress-VIP-Go (vip), or both, plus PHPCompatibilityWP against testVersion 8.2-. Generated code passes with no blanket phpcs:ignores.
• The generated .github/workflows/ci.yml: PHPCS, a PHPUnit matrix (8.2, 8.3, 8.4), a node-build job (build + Jest + Playwright) when there's a pipeline, JS/CSS lint, and an integration job with the integration_tests module.

Developing this CLI

npm test        # the generator's own test suite (node:test)
npm run verify  # scaffold fixtures, then php -l + composer lint + composer test each (cross-platform)

Requires Node >= 20.

License

GPL-2.0-or-later (a LICENSE file is included in every generated plugin).