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WordPress Skills

Extend CMS Cultivator with 13 specialized WordPress development skills from the official WordPress/agent-skills repository.

Overview

The WordPress agent-skills project provides Claude Code with deep WordPress expertise across:

  • Block Development - Gutenberg blocks, InnerBlocks, block.json
  • Theme Development - Block themes, theme.json, patterns
  • Plugin Architecture - Hooks, actions, filters, security best practices
  • REST API - Custom endpoints, authentication, routes
  • Performance - Optimization strategies, caching, database queries
  • WP-CLI - Command-line automation and operations
  • Tooling - PHPStan, WordPress Playground, Design System

These skills complement CMS Cultivator's existing capabilities by adding WordPress-specific knowledge that activates automatically in WordPress projects.

Installation

Install all 13 WordPress skills with one command:

/wp-add-skills

Time: ~70 seconds

Location: ~/.claude/skills/ (global, works across all projects)

Prerequisites: - Git 2.0+ - Node.js v16+ (v18+ recommended) - 100MB disk space - Internet connection

What Gets Installed

13 WordPress Skills

Core Skills

wordpress-router WordPress project detection and context routing. Auto-activates WordPress skills when working in WordPress projects.

wp-project-triage Auto-detect WordPress tooling, versions, installed plugins, active themes, and project configuration. Helps Claude understand your WordPress setup.

Block Development

wp-block-development Gutenberg block development expertise including: - block.json configuration - InnerBlocks patterns - Block transforms and variations - Block supports and attributes - Client-side and server-side rendering

wp-block-themes Block theme development including: - theme.json configuration - Template parts and templates - Global styles and settings - Block patterns and pattern categories

wp-interactivity-api WordPress Interactivity API (@wordpress/interactivity) for: - Frontend directives - State management - Client-side interactivity - Progressive enhancement

Plugin Development

wp-plugin-development WordPress plugin architecture and best practices: - Plugin headers and metadata - Hooks, actions, and filters - Custom post types and taxonomies - Metaboxes and settings - Security practices (nonces, sanitization, validation) - Internationalization (i18n)

wp-rest-api WordPress REST API development: - Custom endpoints and routes - Authentication and permissions - Request/response handling - Schema validation - Extending core endpoints

wp-abilities-api WordPress capabilities and permissions system: - User roles and capabilities - Custom capabilities - Capability checks - Role management

Operations & Performance

wp-wpcli-and-ops WP-CLI automation and operations: - Custom WP-CLI commands - Automation scripts - Database operations - Deployment workflows - Site management

wp-performance WordPress performance optimization: - Caching strategies (object cache, page cache) - Database query optimization - Asset optimization - Lazy loading - Core Web Vitals

Tooling

wp-phpstan PHPStan configuration for WordPress: - WordPress-specific rules - Static analysis setup - Type safety for WordPress APIs - Common WordPress patterns

wp-playground WordPress Playground integration: - Local WordPress instances - Testing environments - Blueprint configuration - Quick prototyping

wpds WordPress Design System: - Design tokens - Component patterns - Accessibility guidelines - Figma integration

Usage

Once installed, WordPress skills activate automatically when Claude detects you're working in a WordPress project.

Example Questions

Block Development: 

"How do I create a custom Gutenberg block?"
"Show me how to use InnerBlocks"
"What's the best way to add block variations?"

Theme Development: 

"How do I configure theme.json?"
"Create a custom block pattern"
"What theme supports should I add?"

Plugin Development: 

"Show me how to create a custom post type"
"How do I add a settings page to my plugin?"
"What's the proper way to sanitize user input?"

REST API: 

"Create a custom REST endpoint"
"How do I authenticate REST API requests?"
"Show me how to extend a core endpoint"

Performance: 

"How can I optimize database queries?"
"What's the best caching strategy?"
"Help me improve Core Web Vitals"

WP-CLI: 

"Create a custom WP-CLI command"
"Show me how to bulk update posts"
"How do I export/import content with WP-CLI?"

Claude will automatically reference the appropriate WordPress skills to answer your questions with WordPress-specific best practices.

Managing Skills

List Installed Skills

/wp-add-skills --list

Shows all installed WordPress skills with verification status.

Update Skills

/wp-add-skills --update

Updates skills to the latest version from the WordPress/agent-skills repository.

Remove Skills

To remove WordPress skills, delete them from ~/.claude/skills/:

rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/wp-*
rm -rf ~/.claude/skills/wordpress-*

Then restart Claude Code.

Relationship to CMS Cultivator

WordPress skills and CMS Cultivator skills work together seamlessly:

CMS Cultivator Skills (14)

Provide cross-platform development guidance: - accessibility-checker - WCAG compliance checks - browser-validator - Cross-browser testing - code-standards-checker - PHPCS/ESLint integration - security-scanner - Security vulnerability scanning - performance-analyzer - Performance analysis - And more...

WordPress Skills (13)

Provide WordPress-specific expertise: - wp-block-development - Gutenberg blocks - wp-plugin-development - Plugin architecture - wp-rest-api - REST API endpoints - wp-performance - WordPress optimization - And more...

No Conflicts

  • Different prefixes: CMS Cultivator skills use descriptive names, WordPress skills use wp-* prefix
  • Complementary: Skills work together, not in competition
  • Auto-activation: wordpress-router detects context and activates WordPress skills when appropriate

Example Workflow

When working on a WordPress plugin:

  1. CMS Cultivator checks code quality and security
  2. WordPress skills provide WordPress-specific guidance
  3. CMS Cultivator validates accessibility and performance
  4. WordPress skills ensure WordPress best practices

Both skill sets enhance Claude's ability to help with WordPress development.

Technical Details

Installation Location

Global skills directory: 

~/.claude/skills/
├── wordpress-router/
├── wp-abilities-api/
├── wp-block-development/
├── wp-block-themes/
├── wp-interactivity-api/
├── wp-performance/
├── wp-phpstan/
├── wp-playground/
├── wp-plugin-development/
├── wp-project-triage/
├── wp-rest-api/
├── wp-wpcli-and-ops/
└── wpds/

Each skill contains: - SKILL.md - Skill documentation and examples - Supporting files specific to that skill

Skill Activation

Skills activate automatically based on: - Project detection: wordpress-router identifies WordPress projects - File context: Working in WordPress-specific files - Question keywords: WordPress-specific terminology - Conversation context: Discussing WordPress topics

No manual configuration required.

Updates

The /wp-add-skills --update command: 1. Clones latest repository 2. Rebuilds skills from source 3. Replaces existing skills 4. Preserves any local customizations you've made

Troubleshooting

Skills not activating

Check installation: 

/wp-add-skills --list

Verify files: 

ls -la ~/.claude/skills/ | grep wp-

Solution: Restart Claude Code session

Installation fails

Check prerequisites: 

git --version
node --version
df -h ~

Solution: Install missing prerequisites, ensure 100MB disk space

Git clone fails

Problem: Network issues or GitHub unavailable

Solution: - Check internet connection - Verify GitHub is accessible - Try again later - Check firewall/proxy settings

Build fails

Problem: Node.js version incompatibility

Solution: - Update Node.js to v18+ (LTS) - Verify npm is installed: npm --version - Check build error messages

Resources

Official Documentation

CMS Cultivator

License

WordPress agent-skills is licensed under GPL-2.0-or-later, compatible with CMS Cultivator's GPL-2.0-or-later license.

Contributing

To contribute to WordPress skills:

  1. Visit WordPress/agent-skills
  2. Follow their contribution guidelines
  3. Submit issues or pull requests to the WordPress repository

For CMS Cultivator contributions, see contributing.md.