A centralized knowledge base and procedural guide for writing production-grade WordPress and Elementor Pro code. Whether you are scaffolding a new plugin, building advanced Elementor widgets, creating secure REST endpoints, or optimizing frontend performance — these documents give you the modern practices, strict standards, and compatibility rules to keep your codebase clean, secure, and maintainable.
The goal is not just to make things work, but to build robust, accessible, and performant projects that scale.
This repository is designed to be loaded as a custom Skill in Claude, so it can generate perfectly standardized, production-ready code for you on demand.
- Download — Clone or download this repository as a
.zipfile. - Upload — In your Claude dashboard, go to Customize → Skills → Upload a skill, then drag and drop the
.zipfile. - Done — Claude will now automatically consult these docs whenever you ask a WordPress or Elementor question.
The documentation is split into focused, single-topic files. SKILL.md is the router — Claude reads it first, then loads only the sub-files relevant to your task. This keeps context lean and responses fast.
| File | What it covers |
|---|---|
SKILL.md |
Router & Golden Rules. Default assumptions, architecture decision tree, output format, widget boilerplate map, current stack (WP 7.0.2 / Elementor 4.x / WC 10.9). Start here. |
scaffolding.md |
Plugin & Theme Structure. Plugin bootstrap pattern, singleton class, child theme setup, Custom Post Types, taxonomy registration, AJAX handlers, V4 widget registration reminder. |
php-standards.md |
PHP Best Practices. Sanitization, escaping, nonce verification, WP_Error, transient caching, declare(strict_types=1), WP 6.8+ bcrypt/BLAKE2b password hashing. |
js-css-standards.md |
Frontend Standards. ES6+ IIFE pattern, elementor/frontend/init event, WP 6.3+ defer/async enqueue API, wp_add_inline_script, BEM CSS, scoped design tokens, Elementor 4.x selector rules. |
elementor-patterns.md |
Elementor 4.x Integration. V4 stable rules, full custom widget pattern (has_widget_inner_wrapper, is_dynamic_content, content_template), mandatory no-hardcoded-visuals rule, Dynamic Tags, Loop Grid query filter, Pro Form custom actions, Theme Builder custom conditions. |
elementor-extending.md |
Elementor extension points beyond widgets. Custom form fields (Field_Base), theme locations (register_location + elementor_theme_do_location), injecting controls into / filtering native widgets, Finder & context-menu items, a consolidated PHP + JS hooks quick-reference, and a deprecations table (get_id_int, _register_controls, $depended_scripts, schemes→globals, etc.). |
woocommerce.md |
WooCommerce Integration. HPOS compatibility declaration, Order API rules (wc_get_order, get_meta, update_meta_data), Loop Grid for products, hook-based additions, template overrides. WC 10.7 sync-on-read change with source citation. |
rest-api.md |
Custom REST Endpoints. register_rest_route, JSON Schema draft-04, rest_validate_request_arg, WP_Error permission callbacks, REST nonce pattern + refresh, global post context setup. |
offcanvas-ui.md |
Accessible Off-Canvas UI. Full PHP/CSS/JS pattern — inert attribute set in HTML markup, CSS class toggle, myplugin-offcanvas__backdrop--hidden in HTML, ARIA dialog + aria-modal, focus trap, iOS Safari scroll lock, prefers-reduced-motion support. |
performance.md |
Performance & Accessibility Checklists. Frontend (LCP, lazy loading, WP 6.7+ auto-sizes, WP 6.9+ IE conditional comments, WP 6.8+ Speculative Loading), backend (WP_Query optimizations, WP 6.9+ salted cache keys, WP 7.0 RTC query scoping), WCAG 2.2 AA. |
field-notes.md |
Hard-won production gotchas distilled from shipping real plugins. Widget-lifecycle fatals (untyped overrides, render() re-runs, sticky get_name()), content_template() escaping & the wp.org editor-XSS rejection, CSS-in-Elementor footguns (custom-prop cascade, flex min-width, body-mounted UI), wp_mail inline-styles, $_COOKIE vs $_REQUEST, secrets at rest, embedding standalone apps inline, and wp.org review/packaging. |
wp-org-guidelines.md |
wordpress.org submission reference. The 18 official Detailed Plugin Guidelines (paraphrased, actionable), Plugin Check 2.0.0 check-categories + how to run it (admin UI / WP-CLI, static vs runtime, auto-scan on updates), the AI-assisted-but-human-decided review process, required headers/readme.txt fields — plus "Hard lines from real 2026 reviews" learned in a live review cycle (no user-authored SQL, AUTH_KEY rule, external-services disclosure, protocol-endpoint nonce exceptions). |
debugging.md |
Debugging & static-analysis workflow. PHPCS+WPCS (install, phpcs.xml.dist ruleset, security sniffs), PHPStan (WordPress, typed-override fatals), Plugin Check, $wpdb sniff-suppression mechanics from real review rounds; WP_DEBUG/WP_DEBUG_LOG/SCRIPT_DEBUG + Query Monitor + WSOD diagnosis; Elementor Safe Mode / Regenerate Files & Data / element-cache freezes / editor-preview crashes; browser console + computed-styles; a symptom→cause→where-to-look table; and a security-scanner (ZAP) triage guide. |
wordpress-apis.md |
Common WordPress APIs the rest of the skill doesn't cover. Options API (WP 6.6+ boolean autoload), the review-safe Settings API admin-page pattern (nonce + single sanitize callback + escaped fields), Metadata API (register_post_meta + show_in_rest), Roles & Capabilities (gate by cap, not role), WP-Cron (+ the "not real cron" caveat, DISABLE_WP_CRON + system cron, Action Scheduler), and Internationalization (text-domain = slug, the WP 6.7 init-timing rule, JS i18n, make-pot). |
svn/ |
Subversion (SVN) sub-bundle (svn/svn.md + svn/references/) — a self-contained SVN reference distilled from the official SVN Book (1.7). Covers the daily work cycle, branching/tagging/merging, properties (svn:ignore/svn:externals/locking), and repository administration — plus a WordPress.org plugin/theme SVN worked example (trunk/tags/assets, tag a release, Stable tag match). This is how you deploy to the directory that wp-org-guidelines.md documents the rules for. |
Six principles that override everything else:
- Native APIs first — WordPress core hook before plugin logic; Elementor API before template override. Don't reinvent the wheel.
- Sanitize in, escape out — Every input sanitized on receipt. Every output escaped at the point of rendering. No exceptions, ever.
- Prefix everything — All functions, classes, constants, hooks, and CSS classes get a project-specific prefix. The WordPress ecosystem is crowded.
- State your placement — Every code response declares exactly which file it belongs in and why. Plan before you code.
- Never hardcode visual settings in widgets — Every visual property (colors, fonts, sizes, spacing, backgrounds, borders, shadows) must be an Elementor control. See
SKILL.md §5. - Name for the directory from day one — Slug must not start with a trademark you don't own (
"X for WooCommerce", not"WooCommerce X"); text domain equals the slug; the wp.org slug and a widget'sget_name()are permanent. Decide the public name, slug, text domain, and code prefix together, once. Seewp-org-guidelines.md.
All patterns in this repository target a modern production stack. Unless a specific guide notes otherwise:
| Component | Version | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 7.0+ | "Armstrong", released May 20, 2026; current point release 7.0.2 (security, July 17, 2026). Minimum PHP raised to 7.4 (7.2/7.3 dropped). RTC stored in a dedicated core table. WP 7.1 lands August 19, 2026. |
| PHP | 8.3+ recommended | 7.4 is the WP 7.0 minimum. PHP 8.4 and 8.5 carry a "beta support" label — possible deprecation notices. |
| Elementor (free + Pro) | 4.2.0 | Both hit 4.2.0 on July 20, 2026 (version numbers are independent). Free 4.2.0 adds Atomic Grid; Pro 4.2.0 adds Atomic Loop. 4.0.0 (Mar 30, 2026) made the Atomic Editor stable and default for new installs. V3 Widget_Base remains fully supported — all skill code targets V3. |
| WooCommerce | 10.9+ | HPOS enabled by default for new stores since 8.2. WC 10.7 (April 14, 2026) disabled HPOS "sync on read" by default; WC 10.9 (June 23, 2026) defers Store API draft-order creation — see woocommerce.md. |
Once installed as a skill in Claude:
- Ask naturally — "Build me a custom Elementor widget that displays WooCommerce products with a custom query" or "What's the correct hook to sanitize a URL input in WordPress 6.9?"
- Claude reads the docs — The router in
SKILL.mdpoints to the relevant sub-file. Claude reads only what it needs for your task. - Get production-ready code — Every response follows the mandatory output format: placement declared, dependencies listed, approach explained, complete code block, integration notes included.
This skill is audited against official live sources after every significant release.
The full round-by-round history lives in CHANGELOG.md.
Latest — Round 30 (July 22, 2026): Live-source currency sweep. WordPress 7.0.2 (security,
July 17), Elementor free + Pro both at 4.2.0 (July 20 — free adds Atomic Grid, Pro adds Atomic
Loop; this also corrected a Round 21 error that had dated 4.2.0 to June 5), and WooCommerce
10.9.4 — with new woocommerce.md notes on the Store API's deferred draft-order creation and
the product editor beta's final deprecation window. Re-verified that developers.elementor.com
still documents only V3 Widget_Base — the skill's V3 stance stands. Round 29 (same day) folded
the lessons of a real wordpress.org review cycle into debugging.md ($wpdb
sniff-suppression mechanics, ZAP triage), wp-org-guidelines.md ("Hard lines from real 2026
reviews"), wordpress-apis.md (sanitize-callback purity), php-standards.md (transients under a
persistent object cache), and field-notes.md (security headers, CSP scope, cache-deception
defense, packaging).
Next scheduled audit: WordPress 7.1 — August 19, 2026 (Beta 1 shipped July 15), or a major Elementor release if one lands first.
All facts in this skill are verified against official documentation only:
- wordpress.org/news — Release announcements
- make.wordpress.org/core — Core developer notes
- developer.wordpress.org — WordPress developer reference
- developers.elementor.com — Elementor developer docs
- elementor.com/pro/changelog — Elementor Pro changelog
- github.com/elementor/elementor — Elementor free changelog
- wordpress.org/plugins/elementor — Elementor on WordPress.org
- developer.woocommerce.com — WooCommerce developer blog
GPL-2.0-or-later — consistent with the WordPress ecosystem.