Boilerplate for professional WordPress plugin development.
Create (multiple) WordPress plugins that use React, TypeScript, and object-oriented PHP in a fully customizable Docker development environment, commited in a monorepo.
WordPress plugin development can be fun
Everyone tells us: WordPress plugins are a mess. Our answer is always: Let’s take this opportunity to make the system that powers every third website on the Internet better.
With WP React Starter we have created a modern WordPress development boilerplate which contains everything you are used to from modern web development projects.
React
Modern React frontend for reactive user interfaces (with PHP fallback for server-side rendering). Did you know that React has been a part of WordPress since the Gutenberg release?
TypeScript
We like JavaScript, but we love type-safe languages even more. TypeScript offers both for frontend development. Write more error-resistant frontend code, catch errors at build time and have less support effort.
PHP
By default, your PHP backend code will be written in an object-oriented style with namespaces for better structure. Stop writing pure procedural code that is messy, less testable and hard to maintain.
Docker
Use a modern development environment to develop all your plug-ins without manual setup steps. Free yourself from time-consuming steps when you’ve messed up your local WordPress instance and reinstall it over and over.
CI/CD with GitLab
Automated code quality checks and release management out of the box. Everything you’ve always done manually – linting, test execution, builds, version management and deployment – is already set up for you.
Does that sound like crappy WordPress plugin development or what you really have been looking for your plugins for a long time? Let’s start today with your first WordPress plugin! Create it within 5 minutes, thanks to our CLI create-wp-react-app
Features
A modern WordPress plugin Boilerplate needs a lot. We provide them for you, without the set-up hassle!
Client-Side Features
Nowadays client-side development no longer means jQuery, but reactive software development. In the case of WordPress you should use React. In addition, you need and proper set up a whole ecosystem, such as a bundler, state management, multi-language support, style preprocessor, automated tasks, liniting and documentation generators. WP React Starter brings these capabilities and more to each plugin.
Server-Side Features
PHP for WordPress is easy to learn, but difficult to master in the long run. At least if you try to write clean code. WP React Starter is written entirely in OOP style and provides a basic structure for each plugin. It also provides namespace support, autoloading, a package manager and cache, a preconfigured code prettifying, debugging capabilities and automated documentation tools. What else do you need to write beautiful PHP code?
Testing Features
You can write a lot of features today, but if they are not covered by automated testing, they may be crap tomorrow. Automated tests such as unit tests, integration tests, snapshot tests and end-to-end tests are essential tools in modern software development to ensure the quality of your software. That’s why we have integrated test framework with best-practice patterns for the most common types of tests and a reliable process for performing tests in continuous integration.
Automation Features
We hate repetitive work! You too? Then we have for you an automated end-to-end workspace setup, automatic creation of new plugins in a monorepo and reusable frontend and backend code as private packages for you. In addition, a proper CI/CD process within GitLab CI can automatically perform everything you’ve done manually so far, such as liniting, testing, licence checking, bundling, release management and publishing on wordpress.org.
Developer Experience Features
Everyday coding means that this is your second home and you should feel comfortable in this environment. That’s why we’ve included code formatting on save, a pre-installed debugging tool, automatic scripts via Git hooks, commit-linting, semantic versioning, changelog generation, and more. All integrated with Visual Studio Code, a dockerized runtime and review apps for testing before merging. This is how comfortable every second home should feel!
Use Cases
WP React Starter sounds like a great boilerplate, but you are not sure if it is suitable for your purpose? We already have over 20,000 customers using plugins created with WP React Starter. You can create free, paid and freemium WordPress plugins as well as reusable JavaScript packages and reusable PHP packages.
Documentation
You know it, documentation is the key to the proper use of a software development tool. We have done our best to provide proper guidance on the core structure of WP React Starter. You can start your first WordPress plugin in just five minutes.
If you have reached an advanced level, you will find useful links to the documentation of tools used in WP React Starter. We try to write more articles over time and are happy to get assistance from the community.
Support
We use WP React Starter in our daily business and have an overview of all corners of the boilerplate. If you are a developer and have questions about it, feel free to open a GitHub issue. We try to help everyone and improve the public boilerplate.
If a question is specific to your product and should not be public, please open a support ticket. We provide consulting services to your company to take your WordPress plugin development to the next level.
Licensing
WP React Starter was developed organically over years, and we at devowl.io bring all our experience from best-selling WordPress plugins like Real Media Library as well as customer web development orders to this project. With WP React Starter you get dozens of hundred working hours compressed into one easy-to-use solution for free.
WP React Starter is licensed partly under General Public License v3.0 or later and partly under ISC License. In practice, this means that the build of the WordPress plugins that you create with WP React Starter is only licensed under GNU General Public License v3.0 or later. Most or all devtools are licensed under the ISC license.
Focus on what really matters
Deliver features in your WordPress plugins fast, with reliable code and automated processes. You don’t have to worry about the “rocket science” behind this boilerplate. We promise to take care of it for you! Simply because our own products depend on it as well.