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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

Provide cross-platform development guidance: - browser-validator - Real-browser responsive and accessibility validation - code-standards-checker - PHPCS/ESLint integration - design-to-wp-block - WordPress block patterns from designs - test-scaffolding - Test generation - And more...

WordPress Skills

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 coding standards and scaffolds tests
  2. WordPress skills provide WordPress-specific guidance
  3. CMS Cultivator validates the result in a real browser
  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.