I Built a WordPress Plugin with Claude Code – Here’s What Actually Happened

Copying a post ID in WordPress means opening the editor, looking at the URL, and picking the number out of ?post=. It works. It’s also mildly annoying every single time you do it.

So I built a plugin that puts a Copy ID button directly in the Posts and Pages list. One click — ID is in your clipboard. And I built the whole thing using Claude Code, start to finish.

Here’s exactly how it went, including the prompts I used.

Why Claude Code?

I’ve used AI tools for coding before. Usually that means copy-pasting code into a chat window and tweaking what comes back. Claude Code is different — it runs inside your project, reads your files, and follows context across the whole session. For a self-contained WordPress plugin, it felt like the right tool to test properly.

The question I wanted to answer: can I describe what I want, hand it over, and trust the output enough to ship it?

The Prompts I Used

I kept both prompts short. No detailed spec, no step-by-step instructions — just a plain description of what I wanted the plugin to do from the user’s perspective.

Prompt 1 — Plugin structure

Short and intentional. I wanted to see how it handled the structure before throwing the real work at it. No point debugging functionality if the foundation is wrong.

Prompt 2 — Full functionality

What Claude Code Generated

Step 1 — Plugin Structure

The first prompt produced a single PHP file with the standard WordPress plugin header, an ABSPATH security check, and three constants for version, plugin directory, and plugin URL. Clean and correct from the start.

<?php

/**
* Plugin Name: Makitweb Copy ID
* Version: 1.0.0
* Author: Makitweb
* License: GPL v2 or later
*/if ( ! defined( 'ABSPATH' ) ) {
exit;
}

define( 'MAKITWEB_COPY_ID_VERSION', '1.0.0' );
define( 'MAKITWEB_COPY_ID_PLUGIN_URL', plugin_dir_url( __FILE__ ) );

Step 2 — The Functionality

The second prompt produced two things: a PHP function hooked into WordPress’s row action filters, and a small JavaScript file for the clipboard logic.

The PHP side uses the post_row_actions and page_row_actions filters to inject a link into every row on the admin list screen. The post ID is embedded as a data-id attribute — no AJAX call needed because nothing goes to the server.

function makitweb_copy_id_row_action( $actions, $post ) {
     $actions['copy_id'] = sprintf(
          '<a href="#" class="makitweb-copy-id" data-id="%d">%s</a>',
          absint( $post->ID ),
          esc_html__( 'Copy ID', 'makitweb-copy-id' )
     );
     return $actions;
}
add_filter( 'post_row_actions', 'makitweb_copy_id_row_action', 10, 2 );
add_filter( 'page_row_actions', 'makitweb_copy_id_row_action', 10, 2 );

The JavaScript uses navigator.clipboard.writeText() with a fallback for older browsers, and a delegated event listener on document so it works even after WordPress re-renders rows during bulk actions.

Reviewing the Code

I always read generated code before calling it done. A few things stood out:

Security basics were handled correctly. The ID goes through absint(), output is wrapped in esc_attr() and esc_html() in the right places, and the script only loads on edit.php — not every admin page.

The JavaScript fallback was there without being asked. Older browsers that don’t support the Clipboard API get a textarea + execCommand('copy') path instead. Small thing, but it shows the tool is thinking about edge cases.

Delegated event listener. Rather than binding directly to each row link, it listens at the document level. This matters because WordPress admin tables re-render rows after bulk actions — direct bindings would silently break. This one I didn’t ask for either.

Testing It in WordPress

Activated the plugin, went to Posts, hovered over a row. Copy ID appeared right there alongside Edit, Quick Edit, and Trash. Clicked it, pasted into a notes file — correct ID, instantly. Same result on Pages.

I half expected to spend twenty minutes debugging something. That didn’t happen.

Watch the Full Walkthrough

If you’d rather watch than read, here’s the full video where I build and test the plugin live:

What I’d Actually Use This For

If you work on WordPress sites at any scale, you look up post IDs constantly — for ACF relationships, WPML, custom queries, shortcodes that take an ID parameter, debugging template logic. The list goes on.

This plugin doesn’t solve a complicated problem. It solves an annoying one. Those are sometimes more worth solving.

My Honest Take on Claude Code for WordPress Development

It’s genuinely useful for scoped, practical work like this. It knows WordPress hooks and functions. It follows security conventions. And it doesn’t just give you code that works — it usually gives you code that works correctly, which are two different things.

That said, you still have to read what it produces. I wouldn’t ship anything without reviewing it first. But reviewing is a lot faster than writing from scratch, and when the starting point is already solid, the review goes quickly.

For WordPress developers who want to build small utilities without setting up a boilerplate project from scratch, it’s a genuinely good workflow.

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