How to Build WordPress Plugins with AI: Claude Code + WordPress Studio Setup Guide
Want to build WordPress plugins using AI? This guide shows you how to set up Claude Code and WordPress Studio to create working plugins with text prompts. Claude Code is…
This guide shows you how to set up Claude Code and WordPress Studio to create working plugins with text prompts.
Claude Code is Anthropic's AI coding assistant. WordPress Studio is a free local WordPress environment. Together, they let you go from idea to a working plugin in minutes — no deep coding knowledge required.
This walkthrough covers the complete setup and shows you how to build your first plugin.
1. Install Claude Code
Head to Claude Code and sign up for an account — you can choose any paid plan available.
Run the native installer from the setup page and follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.
The installation runs for a minute or two. When it finishes, Claude Code is ready to use.
2. Install WordPress Studio
Download WordPress Studio — it's completely free and works on both Mac and Windows.
Install it, then create a new site. Give it any name you want — e.g., "My WordPress Website" works fine.
Because Studio runs locally on your computer, everything you build stays safely contained on your machine — so you can experiment with AI-generated plugins without risking a live website.
3. Start Claude Code
Using the Open in… options on the Overview tab in Studio, click Terminal. This will open a terminal window at your project file's location.
Then, type claude. If it's your first time, you'll be prompted to log in to your Claude account and confirm that you trust the files in this folder.
Click Enter/Return on your keyboard to trust the folder, and you'll see the welcome message.
5. Build your first plugin
In the Claude terminal, describe what you want. Give it some context about where you are and what you need. For example:
"We are in the root of the WordPress site folder. I want a simple plugin that prints out 'Hello [Your Name]' in the admin of the site."
From here, Claude will ask some follow-up questions, create a plugin folder, and generate the complete plugin file with proper WordPress structure.
6. Activate and test
Go back to WordPress Studio and open your WordPress admin. Navigate to Plugins, find your new plugin, and activate it.
If the plugin works correctly, your custom message will appear at the top of the admin area — in our case, "Hello Nick" shows up as an admin notice.
If you haven't changed your name, you may see it say "Hello admin." Simply go to your Users list and change the name of your default user.
This is the simplest plugin possible, but it shows how fast you can build with Claude and WordPress.
7. Keep building
From here, you can add more features.
Go back to the Terminal in your editor and ask Claude to add new functionality — settings pages, custom blocks, whatever you need.
As with any AI tool, experimenting with prompting will help you achieve better results:
Give Claude context about where you are in the file structure
Be specific about what you want the feature to do
Break complex features into smaller steps
Ask Claude to explain the generated code if something doesn't make sense
Bonus tip: Telex — an alternative for WordPress blocks
Telex is another unique tool that helps you generate WordPress blocks with AI — and it's completely free to use.
Just describe what WordPress block you want, and Telex builds it with a live preview in WordPress Playground.
Test it, refine it with follow-up prompts, then download it as a plugin and install it on your WordPress site.
You're ready to build with AI
You now have an AI-powered setup for building plugins for your WordPress site.
Describe the plugin you want to build, and watch Claude generate working code inside your WordPress Studio site.
Experiment with Telex to create entire WordPress blocks.
Keep experimenting and trying new things.
Start simple, then tackle more complex projects as you get comfortable.
And if you build something fun, share it in the comments — we'd love to see what you make.
