WordPress Plugin Development (Core)

Status: Production Ready Last Updated: 2026-08-03 Dependencies: None (WordPress 6.0+, PHP 8.0+) Latest Versions: WordPress 7.0+, PHP 8.3+ recommended

Quick Start (10 Minutes)

1. Choose Plugin Structure

Three architecture patterns available (see references/plugin-architectures.md for detailed examples):

• Simple (functions only) - Small plugins <5 functions
• OOP - Medium plugins with related functionality
• PSR-4 (Namespaced + Composer) - Modern standard (2025), most maintainable

2. Create Plugin Header