{"id":11300,"date":"2024-02-05T07:00:46","date_gmt":"2024-02-05T15:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/dhwordpress.dreamhost.com\/dreamscape\/?p=11300"},"modified":"2026-07-07T16:13:52","modified_gmt":"2026-07-07T23:13:52","slug":"how-to-create-your-first-wordpress-plugin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dreamhost.com\/blog\/how-to-create-your-first-wordpress-plugin\/","title":{"rendered":"WordPress Plugin Development: Build Your First Plugin By Hand Or With AI"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One of the main reasons that WordPress is so popular<\/a> is its open-source nature.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because of that, there are more than 60,000 free plugins in the official directory alone \u2014 all built for the internet\u2019s favorite content management system<\/a> (CMS).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And you can join in on the fun by creating your own<\/i> WordPress plugin<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There have never been more ways to do it, either. You can write every line yourself \u2014 still the best way to actually learn WordPress development \u2014 or you can describe the plugin you want in plain English to an AI coding assistant like Claude Code and review what it builds. This guide covers both paths: the classic six-step manual build, then an AI-assisted walkthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Either way, if it goes really well, you may even be able to sell your plugin and turn the project into a side hustle<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Quick Intro To WordPress Plugins<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A WordPress plugin is a package of code that adds features to a WordPress site without changing the core software. Plugins hook into WordPress at defined points to change how the site works or looks. You install and activate them from the dashboard, and you can build one yourself with a single PHP file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress has a market share of 59.2%<\/a> among all sites with an identifiable CMS (per W3Techs, July 2026), making it the most popular option by a landslide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n

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WordPress<\/h3>\n

WordPress is an open-source Content Management System (CMS). Since it is free and accessible, WordPress is used to power almost any type of website, from blogs to e-commerce businesses.<\/p>\n \n Read More <\/a>\n\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

As mentioned earlier, WordPress is an open-source software platform. That means its source code, plugins, and themes<\/a> are available for anyone to work with and modify as they see fit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Note:<\/b> There’s a difference between WordPress.com and WordPress.org<\/a>. The .org version is the open-source option that\u2019s free to download and use to create a custom site. It’s the version we’ll cover in this post. The .com version is a hosted site builder with which you can create a limited site for free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

WordPress plugins<\/a> are created by different developers all around the world and are designed for a variety of purposes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For instance, in the existing plugin library<\/a> you\u2019ll find options for adding social media share buttons, adding newsletter signup forms to your sidebar, improving website search engine optimization<\/a> (SEO), turning WordPress into a full-blown ecommerce site, and much more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The WordPress plugin ecosystem lets people without coding knowledge build and customize powerful websites \u2014 and gives developers a huge audience to build for.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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