Better WordPress Plugin Boilerplate

The WordPress Plugin Boilerplate, started by Tom McFarlin in 2011, was for years the usual starting point for an object-oriented WordPress plugin. By 2021 its development had stalled. In July 2021 TukuToi hard-forked it to keep it going, open to pull requests and compatible with both WordPress and ClassicPress. The credits to the original authors stay in the README.

It is a starting point for developers who want a plugin that is structured and checked from the first commit.

Version 4 is the product. It follows the WordPress Coding Standards, documents every class, function and variable, is scanned by SonarCloud, and includes a complete shortcode example. Its global prefixes and headers are laid out so the TukuToi Plugin Generator can produce a ready-named copy from a form.

Version 5 is a full rewrite and not backwards compatible:

• object-oriented PHP 8.0 with namespaces and a Composer autoloader,
• the PHP package skeleton layout and phpDocumentor doc blocks,
• GitHub Actions that run PHPUnit and the WordPress Coding Standards (WPCS 3) on every push to develop,
• a release script and workflow that tag a release and attach the built, zipped plugin, autoloader included,
• helper scripts to build a local copy and generate documentation.

Current state

Version 4 is stable and maintained. 4.0.1 (August 2023) is the latest release and receives security fixes. The build and scanning workflows were updated in 2025.

Version 5 is on hold, not dropped. It sits in alpha on the develop branch; its last code change is from May 2024. With AI coding tools now part of everyday work, it is an open question whether a plugin boilerplate still makes sense, so v5 waits until that is clearer.