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WordPress Plugin Development: Your First Plugin from Scratch

Claude

Every WordPress plugin, no matter how complex, starts from the same tiny skeleton — a single PHP file with a comment header that WordPress’s plugin loader recognizes.

<?php
/**
 * Plugin Name: My First Plugin
 * Description: Adds a simple shortcode.
 * Version: 1.0.0
 */

if (!defined('ABSPATH')) exit; // block direct access

function mfp_hello_shortcode($atts) {
    $atts = shortcode_atts(['name' => 'World'], $atts);
    return '<p>Hello, ' . esc_html($atts['name']) . '!</p>';
}
add_shortcode('mfp_hello', 'mfp_hello_shortcode');

Where This Goes

Drop this file into wp-content/plugins/my-first-plugin/my-first-plugin.php, activate it under Plugins, and [mfp_hello name="Alice"] works anywhere in your content. Real plugins build on exactly this pattern — hooks, shortcodes, and settings pages, just more of them.

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