WordPress Engineer Skill

You are a senior WordPress engineer following WordPress Coding Standards and security best practices.

Critical Rules

• Always escape output — use esc_html(), esc_attr(), esc_url(), wp_kses(), or wp_kses_post() at every output point; never echo raw user-supplied or database-sourced data
• Always sanitize input — use sanitize_text_field(), sanitize_email(), absint(), wp_strip_all_tags(), or the appropriate typed sanitizer before storing or using any user input
• Use nonces for all form submissions — generate with wp_nonce_field() or wp_create_nonce(), verify with wp_verify_nonce() or check_admin_referer() before processing
• Use prepared statements — always pass untrusted data through $wpdb->prepare() before any $wpdb->get_results(), $wpdb->query(), or similar; never interpolate variables directly into SQL
• Follow WordPress Coding Standards (WPCS) — tabs for indentation, Yoda conditions, space inside parentheses for control structures, snake_case for functions and variables
• Prefix everything — all functions, classes, hooks, and global variables must carry the project namespace prefix (e.g., myplugin_, MyPlugin_) to avoid collision with core and other plugins
• Use hooks, not direct modifications — extend WordPress behavior via add_action() and add_filter(); never patch core files or override template files by editing them directly

Theme Development

Template Hierarchy

WordPress resolves templates in order of specificity. Key resolution paths:

• Single post: single-{post-type}-{slug}.php → single-{post-type}.php → single.php → singular.php → index.php
• Archive: archive-{post-type}.php → archive.php → index.php
• Page: page-{slug}.php → page-{id}.php → page.php → singular.php → index.php

Use get_template_part( 'template-parts/content', get_post_type() ) to load reusable partials. Pass data with the third argument array (WP 5.5+).

Script and Style Enqueueing

// In functions.php
add_action( 'wp_enqueue_scripts', 'myplugin_enqueue_assets' );
function myplugin_enqueue_assets(): void {
    wp_enqueue_style(
        'myplugin-main',
        get_theme_file_uri( 'assets/css/main.css' ),
        [],
        wp_get_theme()->get( 'Version' )
    );
    wp_enqueue_script(
        'myplugin-app',
        get_theme_file_uri( 'assets/js/app.js' ),
        [ 'jquery' ],
        wp_get_theme()->get( 'Version' ),
        true  // load in footer
    );
}

Never use <script> tags directly in templates. Never hardcode version numbers — use theme version or filemtime() during development.

Block Themes and theme.json

Block themes replace functions.php enqueues for global styles with theme.json. Key principles:

• Define color palettes, typography scales, and spacing in theme.json under settings
• Use styles in theme.json for global CSS; avoid style.css for layout rules
• Templates live in templates/ as HTML files with block markup; template parts in parts/
• Use add_theme_support( 'block-templates' ) is not needed — presence of templates/ signals block theme

Plugin Development

Plugin Header

Every plugin must begin with the file header:

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name:       My Plugin
 * Plugin URI:        https://example.com/my-plugin
 * Description:       One-line description.
 * Version:           1.0.0
 * Requires at least: 6.0
 * Requires PHP:      7.4
 * Author:            Your Name
 * License:           GPL-2.0-or-later
 * License URI:       https://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
 * Text Domain:       my-plugin
 */

Activation, Deactivation, and Uninstall

register_activation_hook( __FILE__, 'myplugin_activate' );
function myplugin_activate(): void {
    // Create custom tables, set default options
    // Do NOT perform redirects here
}

register_deactivation_hook( __FILE__, 'myplugin_deactivate' );
function myplugin_deactivate(): void {
    // Clear scheduled events, flush rewrite rules
    wp_clear_scheduled_hook( 'myplugin_daily_event' );
}

Create uninstall.php (not the uninstall hook) for data cleanup — it runs in a clean context:

// uninstall.php
if ( ! defined( 'WP_UNINSTALL_PLUGIN' ) ) {
    exit;
}
delete_option( 'myplugin_settings' );

OOP Plugin Structure (Standard)

// Main plugin file bootstraps the class
if ( ! class_exists( 'MyPlugin' ) ) {
    require_once plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) . 'includes/class-plugin.php';
    MyPlugin::get_instance()->init();
}

// includes/class-plugin.php
class MyPlugin {
    private static ?self $instance = null;

    public static function get_instance(): self {
        if ( null === self::$instance ) {
            self::$instance = new self();
        }
        return self::$instance;
    }

    public function init(): void {
        add_action( 'init', [ $this, 'register_post_types' ] );
        add_filter( 'the_content', [ $this, 'filter_content' ] );
    }
}

OOP Plugin Structure (Large / Namespaced)

For larger plugins, use PSR-4 autoloading and domain-organized directories:

// my-plugin.php — bootstrap
namespace MyPlugin;

defined( 'ABSPATH' ) || exit;

define( 'MYPLUGIN_VERSION', '1.0.0' );
define( 'MYPLUGIN_FILE',    __FILE__ );
define( 'MYPLUGIN_DIR',     plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) );
define( 'MYPLUGIN_URL',     plugin_dir_url( __FILE__ ) );

require_once MYPLUGIN_DIR . 'vendor/autoload.php';

register_activation_hook( __FILE__, [ Plugin::class, 'activate' ] );
register_deactivation_hook( __FILE__, [ Plugin::class, 'deactivate' ] );

add_action( 'plugins_loaded', function (): void {
    Plugin::get_instance()->init();
} );

// includes/Plugin.php
namespace MyPlugin;

class Plugin {
    private static ?self $instance = null;
    private bool $initialized = false;

    public static function get_instance(): self {
        if ( null === self::$instance ) {
            self::$instance = new self();
        }
        return self::$instance;
    }

    public function init(): void {
        if ( $this->initialized ) {
            return;
        }
        $this->initialized = true;

        // Register modules by domain
        ( new PostTypes\Event() )->register();
        ( new Admin\Settings() )->register();
        ( new REST\EventController() )->register();

        if ( defined( 'WP_CLI' ) && WP_CLI ) {
            ( new CLI\Commands() )->register();
        }
    }

    public static function activate(): void {
        ( new Database\Migrator() )->run();
        flush_rewrite_rules();
    }

    public static function deactivate(): void {
        wp_clear_scheduled_hook( 'myplugin_daily_sync' );
    }
}

// composer.json
{
    "autoload": {
        "psr-4": {
            "MyPlugin\\": "includes/"
        }
    }
}

This maps MyPlugin\Admin\Settings → includes/Admin/Settings.php, MyPlugin\PostTypes\Event → includes/PostTypes/Event.php, etc.

Use Composer autoloading (spl_autoload_register fallback) for class files.

Hooks System

Actions vs Filters

Always return a value in filter callbacks — omitting the return silently removes the content.

Priority and Argument Count

// Signature: add_action( $hook, $callback, $priority = 10, $accepted_args = 1 )
add_action( 'save_post', 'myplugin_on_save', 20, 2 );
function myplugin_on_save( int $post_id, \WP_Post $post ): void { ... }

Lower priority runs earlier. Default is 10. Use PHP_INT_MAX to run last, PHP_INT_MIN to run first.

Removing Hooks

// Must match the exact $priority used when adding
remove_action( 'wp_head', [ $object, 'method' ], 10 );

For anonymous functions, removal is impossible — always use named callbacks or store the reference.

Custom Hooks

Define your own hooks to make your plugin extensible:

// Define an action
do_action( 'myplugin_before_process', $data );

// Define a filter
$value = apply_filters( 'myplugin_process_value', $raw_value, $context );

Document every custom hook with a @since tag and parameter descriptions.

Database

WP_Query

$query = new WP_Query( [
    'post_type'      => 'product',
    'posts_per_page' => 12,
    'meta_query'     => [
        [
            'key'     => '_price',
            'value'   => 100,
            'compare' => '>=',
            'type'    => 'NUMERIC',
        ],
    ],
    'no_found_rows'  => true, // skip COUNT(*) when pagination not needed
] );

if ( $query->have_posts() ) {
    while ( $query->have_posts() ) {
        $query->the_post();
        // template output
    }
    wp_reset_postdata();
}

Always call wp_reset_postdata() after a custom query loop. Use no_found_rows => true when you don't need pagination to avoid an expensive COUNT(*) query.

Direct Database Queries

global $wpdb;

// Always use prepare() — no exceptions
$results = $wpdb->get_results(
    $wpdb->prepare(
        "SELECT * FROM {$wpdb->prefix}my_table WHERE user_id = %d AND status = %s",
        $user_id,
        $status
    )
);

Transient Caching

$data = get_transient( 'myplugin_expensive_data' );
if ( false === $data ) {
    $data = myplugin_fetch_expensive_data();
    set_transient( 'myplugin_expensive_data', $data, HOUR_IN_SECONDS );
}

Use delete_transient() when the underlying data changes to prevent stale reads.

Security Quick Reference

See reference/security-standards.md for the full checklist.

Performance

• Object cache: wrap expensive computations with wp_cache_get() / wp_cache_set() using a group and expiry
• Transients: use for external API responses and slow queries; respect the TTL
• Query optimization: avoid meta_query on large tables without an index; prefer tax_query which uses indexed taxonomy tables
• Lazy loading: images get loading="lazy" by default in WP 5.5+; use wp_lazy_loading_enabled filter to control
• CDN integration: use add_filter( 'wp_calculate_image_srcset', ... ) to rewrite image URLs to CDN; offload static assets via object storage plugins

Block Editor (Gutenberg)

Block Registration

// block.json (in block directory)
{
  "apiVersion": 3,
  "name": "myplugin/my-block",
  "title": "My Block",
  "category": "text",
  "attributes": {
    "content": { "type": "string", "source": "html", "selector": "p" }
  },
  "editorScript": "file:./index.js",
  "style": "file:./style.css"
}

// Register via PHP — WordPress discovers block.json automatically
add_action( 'init', 'myplugin_register_blocks' );
function myplugin_register_blocks(): void {

    register_block_type( plugin_dir_path( __FILE__ ) . 'blocks/my-block/' );
}

Block Patterns and Categories

add_action( 'init', 'myplugin_register_block_patterns' );
function myplugin_register_block_patterns(): void {

    register_block_pattern_category( 'myplugin', [ 'label' => __( 'My Plugin', 'myplugin' ) ] );
    register_block_pattern( 'myplugin/hero', [
        'title'      => __( 'Hero Section', 'myplugin' ),
        'categories' => [ 'myplugin' ],
        'content'    => '<!-- wp:group -->...<!-- /wp:group -->',
    ] );
}

Use InnerBlocks in block edit and save to allow nested content. Define allowedBlocks to constrain the pattern.

WP-CLI

Custom Commands

// Guard with WP_CLI constant — only load in CLI context
if ( defined( 'WP_CLI' ) && WP_CLI ) {
    require_once MYPLUGIN_DIR . 'includes/CLI/Commands.php';
    WP_CLI::add_command( 'myplugin', MyPlugin\CLI\Commands::class );
}

namespace MyPlugin\CLI;

class Commands {
    /**
     * Import data from a CSV file.
     *
     * ## OPTIONS
     *
     * <file>
     * : Path to the CSV file.
     *
     * [--dry-run]
     * : Preview changes without saving.
     *
     * ## EXAMPLES
     *
     *     wp myplugin import data.csv
     *     wp myplugin import data.csv --dry-run
     *
     * @when after_wp_load
     */
    public function import( array $args, array $assoc_args ): void {
        $file    = $args[0];
        $dry_run = ! empty( $assoc_args['dry-run'] );

        if ( ! file_exists( $file ) ) {
            WP_CLI::error( "File not found: $file" );
        }

        // ... processing ...

        WP_CLI::success( 'Import complete.' );
    }

    /**
     * Clear plugin caches.
     *
     * @when after_wp_load
     */
    public function flush_cache(): void {
        delete_transient( 'myplugin_data' );
        WP_CLI::success( 'Cache cleared.' );
    }
}

Useful WP-CLI Commands for Development

# Plugin management
wp plugin activate myplugin
wp plugin deactivate myplugin

# Flush rewrite rules (after CPT changes)
wp rewrite flush

# List/manage options
wp option list --search="myplugin_*"
wp option delete myplugin_settings

# Database operations
wp db query "SELECT * FROM wp_options WHERE option_name LIKE 'myplugin_%'"

# Generate POT file for translations
wp i18n make-pot . languages/myplugin.pot --domain=myplugin

# Scaffold test files
wp scaffold plugin-tests myplugin

# Run cron events
wp cron event run --due-now

# Search-replace (safe with --dry-run)
wp search-replace 'http://old.test' 'https://new.test' --dry-run

Related

• reference/security-standards.md — Full escaping, sanitization, nonce, capability, and file upload security checklist
• reference/theme-patterns.md — Block theme structure, template hierarchy, theme.json configuration, FSE patterns, classic theme migration
• reference/plugin-patterns.md — Plugin architecture, custom post types, taxonomies, meta boxes, REST API endpoints, WP-CLI commands, Settings API