STACKER-plugin-CLI : WordPress Plugin Developer Toolkit

A Zero-Configuration WordPress plugin development toolkit that kickstarts your next WordPress plugin development project with modern tools and workflows.

Out-Of-The-Box Support For: Classes & Functions Autoloading, Gutenberg Blocks, Xdebug, PHPUnit tests, Docker-Compose, LocalWP, WordPress Coding Standards, JavaScript & SCSS lints, Husky hooks to make sure that you always commit error-free code, and VSCode configs to configure your IDE to setup perfectly for your plugin development experience.

A FOSS (Free & Open Source Software) WordPress project. Developed & Maintained by @provineet.

Vineet Verma

Stacker Plugin Boilerplate Supports

Classes & Functions auto-loading for 'inc' folder
Optional GutenBerg Blocks development
Docker Compose or wpLocal development envrionment
Xdebug for VScode
PHPUnit test
Composer dependencies
NPM dependencies
WordPress Coding Standards, WooCommerce Coding Standards & Fixes via PHPCS/PHPCBF
Gulp, SASS, Babel, Webpack, AutoPrefixer, BrowserSync (Reloads your browser while development), assets minification and image optimizations.

🚀 How the CLI works?

Stacker-plugin-cli asks a set of questions required to scaffolds your WordPress plugin.

➡️ Quick Installation

In your terminal window; cd to your plugin development folder 'wp-content/plugins' and run the below given npx command:

$ npx stacker-plugin-cli

You will be asked a few questions to generate & configure your plugin files, answer them correctly and a fresh WordPress plugin boilerplate will be generated inside your current working directory (which usually, should be your wp-content/plugins) folder.

Once the files are generated successfully, cd to your generated plugin's directory and install npm and composer dependencies.

$ cd Your-Plugin-Folder

$ npm install

$ composer install

Now, you can start building your plugin using the npm command below:

$ npm run start

📂 Generated Plugin's Folder Structure with docker compose, xdebug, and phpunit configured

./plugin-name                           
├── Dockerfile                          '(Dockerfile to build images in docker compose)'
├── blocks.webpack.config.js            '(webpack config for wpscript)'
├── composer.json                       '(composer json)'
├── docker-compose.yaml                 '(docker compose yaml file)'
├── docker-configs                      '(config files for docker compose env)'
│   ├── php-file-size.ini
│   └── xdebug.ini
├── inc                                 '(inc folder of our plugin)'
│   ├── admin                           
│   │   ├── class-admin.php             '(contains the admin class of our plugin)'
│   │   ├── class-hooks.php             '(contains admin hooks of our plugin)'
│   │   └── index.php
│   ├── class-autoloader.php            '(Our plugin classes autoloader. Works for files inside 'inc' folder only)'
│   ├── class-loader.php                '(Our plugin loader class to bootstrap the plugin)'
│   ├── helpers                         '(Helper functions of our plugin. Any file with *-functions.php name will be autoloaded)'
│   │   ├── helper-functions.php
│   │   └── index.php
│   ├── index.php
│   ├── public                          '(Frontend functionality classes of our plugin goes here.)'
│   │   ├── class-frontend.php
│   │   └── index.php
│   ├── repositories                    '(Any class deals with creating repositories lies here.)'
│   │   ├── class-user.php
│   │   └── index.php
│   └── services                        '(Any class for different services lies here. e.g. api or db queries)'
│       ├── class-api.php
│       ├── class-db.php
│       └── index.php
├── index.php
├── package.json                        '(npm packages definition file)'
├── phpunit.xml.dist                    '(file to configure options for PHPUnit)'
├── plugin-name.php                     '(Our main plugin file)'
└── src                                 '(contains source files for blocks and plugin assets)'
    ├── assets                          '(plugin common frontend and backend assets)'
    └── blocks                          '(gutenberg blocks files)'

⚡️ Begin Installation

⚡️ Create a fresh plugin in your plugin's folder

In your terminal window; cd to your plugin development folder 'wp-content/plugins/' and run the below given npx command:

$ npx stacker-plugin-cli

$ npm run start

Start your development environment to watch changes in your PHP, Js, and SCSS files.

$ composer run phpcs

To sniff your plugin's php files for WordPress coding standards.

$ composer run phpcbf

To fix WordPress coding standards errors within your plugin's directory.

⚡️ Installation Configuration Options Available

In the CLI questions you will be asked to pick these options to generate the plugin files depending on your development:

Installation with Docker Compose : Choose Docker Compose as your development environment.
Installation to be used with WP Local (https://localwp.com) : Choose WPLocal as your development environment.
Installation with xdebug configured : From the options select 'Yes' for configuring xdebug.
Installation with PHPUnit configured : From the options select 'Yes' for configuring PHPunit.

⚡️ How to run php tests?

$ npx stacker-plugin-cli

Run PHP tests by running below command in your generated plugin's folder:

$ composer run test

⚡️ NPM Commands available

npm run build : To build your plugin files with blocks and other assets.
npm run start : To start watching your development changes in JS, IMG, and SCSS files in src/blocks and src/assets folder. Kicks hot-reloading as well.
npm run dist : To create a distributable version of plugin and zip file.
npm run devdist : To create a distributable version of plugin for other fellow developers who don't have access to your private git repo.
npm run format : To format your plugin's SCSS and Js files.

⚡️ Composer Commands available

composer run test : To run php tests defined in ./tests/ directory of your plugin.
composer run phpcs : To execute PHP Code Sniffer with WordPress coding standards on your plugin files.
composer run phpcbf : To execute PHP Code Beautifier with WordPress coding standards on your plugin files to fix PHPWPCS errors in your plugin files.

Follow me on twitter. I tweet about Dev Tools, latest tech and tuts for the community. 🐦 @MrVineetVerma

If you have any query or suggestions, please feel free to get in touch with me on twitter or just fork the github repo and start contributing.