Using AI to assist with WordPress plugin development

For the first time I’ve used AI to assist with an update to one of my WordPress plugins. I learnt a lot using it, the conclusions for which I want to share today.

But first, let’s understood what I was using it for.

I had some changes to make to the plugin in question, ShareOpenly, but nothing I was rushing to do. They were minor enhancements but ones that would take quite a bit of time to achieve for relatively minimal results. Instead, I wanted to see if I could use AI to analyse my code and the related README and suggest changes – not adding new features, but enhancing the existing code in terms of reliability, accessibility, security and performance.

This is what I learnt…

1. Choose your AI. I started off using Perplexity but found different, and better, results using ChatGPT. I’ve since started testing Gemini, as I hear that’s even better.
2. Once you’ve honed your query yourself, ask AI to improve it further. Here’s the one that I used for ChatGPT, after providing it with the relevant plugin files…

Please perform a full audit of my WordPress plugin, covering both the codebase and the README.

For the codebase, identify and explain any issues related to security, performance, and accessibility. Provide specific, actionable recommendations and, where useful, include corrected or improved code snippets. Focus on best practices for sanitization, escaping, internationalization, coding standards, and user experience.

For the README, review it for clarity, completeness, and alignment with WordPress.org plugin guidelines. Identify missing or unclear instructions, versioning inconsistencies, or gaps in FAQs, privacy, and accessibility information. Suggest exact wording changes or new sections where needed.

The final output should be structured, concise, and provide clear next steps that I can implement directly.

3. Learn from it. This isn’t a time and place to just copy the results and not bothering to understand the “why”. This is a great opportunity to understand why you missed what you did, what the relevance of it is and upskill.
4. Check everything. I’m sure this doesn’t need to be said, but take everything at face value. Some of the code changes suggested would break a site and some suggestions were just plain incorrect.
5. I found it particularly affective at helping me with improving the README file, which is an area of a plugin that is often overlooked.

Update: I’ve modified the post to de-emphasise ChatGPT, as I was using Perplexity previously and, since writing the post, have moved onto using Gemini. As I say in the content, you shouldn’t stick to the first AI you come across but try different ones to see what works best for you.