Training course · Claude Code · WordPress

Claude Code for WordPress Developers

Agentic coding with Claude Code in the terminal and IDE: CLAUDE.md, subagents, hooks, MCP, CI pipelines and secure permissions.

Duration
2 days (14 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

“Claude Code for WordPress Developers” is designed for roles such as WordPress theme and plugin developers, Web agencies and freelancers specialising in WordPress and WooCommerce developers and shows step by step how to use Claude Code productively, safely and transparently in WordPress – from the fundamentals to advanced workflows.

Claude Code is Anthropic’s agentic coding assistant, working directly in your terminal and in popular IDEs. Rather than completing individual lines, it reads your repository, plans changes across multiple files, runs commands, executes tests and prepares commits. Over two days you will learn to use it with deliberate control: clear project instructions in CLAUDE.md, careful context management, and a workflow in which you set the direction as a developer and can trace every change the agent makes back to a clear intention.

The course is built around real engineering work: diagnosing bugs, delivering features, refactoring legacy code and filling gaps in test coverage. You will configure subagents for specialised tasks, enforce quality checks with hooks, connect external systems through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) and capture team knowledge as reusable skills. Finally, you will run Claude Code headless in CI pipelines and define permissions, sandboxing and approval rules so that its use remains defensible even in security-sensitive environments.

WordPress powers a large share of all websites, from corporate sites and WooCommerce shops to complex portals. Development has changed considerably along the way: block themes, full site editing, Gutenberg blocks built in React and the REST API now sit alongside classic PHP plugins and long-lived themes. AI coding assistants and agents help you build custom blocks and plugins faster, modernise legacy code, track down security flaws such as missing escaping or nonces and analyse performance issues. Because WordPress projects are often maintained by small teams or individuals, the productivity gain is especially noticeable. In this course you learn to apply AI in line with the WordPress coding standards, combine it with WP-CLI and local development environments and ship plugins that are secure and maintainable.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • WordPress theme and plugin developers
  • Web agencies and freelancers specialising in WordPress
  • WooCommerce developers
  • Frontend developers building Gutenberg blocks
  • Technically minded website owners

Typical challenges we address

  • Long-lived themes and plugins with outdated PHP code and hard-to-maintain dependencies
  • Security flaws from missing escaping, missing nonces and unsafe database queries
  • Performance issues caused by plugin bloat, unnecessary queries and poor caching
  • Moving from classic themes and page builders to block themes and full site editing

What you will be able to do

  • You use Claude Code for multi-step development tasks while keeping full control over every change.
  • You maintain a CLAUDE.md that effectively conveys project conventions, commands and architectural guidance to the agent.
  • You extend Claude Code with subagents, hooks, MCP servers and skills tailored to your team.
  • You integrate Claude Code into Git workflows and CI pipelines with traceable, test-backed results.
  • Develop Gutenberg blocks, plugins and block themes with AI support in line with the WordPress coding standards.
  • Systematically find and fix security and performance issues in existing WordPress installations.
  • Automate maintenance, deployment and content migrations with WP-CLI and AI agents.

Course outline

Day 1

Module 1 How Claude Code works
  • Installation, sign-in and use in the terminal, VS Code and JetBrains IDEs
  • Understanding the agentic loop: read, plan, act, verify
  • Using plan mode to agree on an approach before any code changes
  • Writing effective task briefs with goal, context and acceptance criteria
Module 2 Project context with CLAUDE.md and context management
  • Structuring CLAUDE.md at project, directory and user level
  • Documenting build, test and style conventions so the agent follows them reliably
  • Managing the context window with targeted file references, compaction and fresh sessions
  • Resuming sessions and breaking long tasks into manageable stages
Module 3 Extending Claude Code with subagents, hooks, MCP and skills
  • Defining subagents for code review, research or test generation
  • Using hooks to enforce formatting, linting or checks before and after tool calls
  • Connecting MCP servers for issue trackers, databases or internal documentation
  • Creating custom slash commands and skills for recurring team workflows
Module 4 Git workflows, testing and quality assurance
  • Creating branches, meaningful commits and pull requests with Claude Code
  • Test-first work: have tests written before the implementation
  • Reviewing diffs systematically and rejecting or refining changes
  • Organising parallel work with Git worktrees and multiple sessions

Day 2

Module 5 Headless operation, CI and security
  • Running Claude Code non-interactively in scripts and CI pipelines
  • Automated reviews and issue handling in GitHub or GitLab workflows
  • Configuring permission modes, allow and deny rules, and sandboxing
  • Handling secrets, prompt injection risks and organisation-wide policies
Module 6 Practice lab: WordPress
  • Developing Gutenberg blocks
  • Building and modernising plugins
  • Running a security audit
  • Analysing performance
  • Extending WooCommerce
  • Automating maintenance
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • WordPress projects handle form, customer and order data: you learn not to pass unfiltered database dumps to AI services, to respect GPL obligations for plugins and generated code, to protect credentials in wp-config.php and to implement GDPR requirements for tracking and forms.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Developing Gutenberg blocks

Generate custom blocks with block.json, React components for editor and front end, block attributes and style variations, and implement dynamic blocks with server-side rendering in PHP.

Building and modernising plugins

Generate plugin scaffolding with namespaces, autoloading, hooks and settings pages and gradually move existing plugins to current PHP language features and the WordPress coding standards.

Running a security audit

Examine theme and plugin code for missing escaping, unvalidated input, missing nonce and capability checks and unsafe SQL without prepare, and produce corrected versions. Each finding is explained.

Analysing performance

Investigate slow pages with Query Monitor and profiling data, optimise expensive WP_Query calls, autoloaded options and asset loading order, and propose sensible caching strategies using transients.

Extending WooCommerce

Implement custom shipping methods, payment hooks, product fields and checkout tweaks while staying compatible with High-Performance Order Storage and the block-based cart and checkout pages.

Automating maintenance

Create WP-CLI scripts for updates, database search and replace, migrations between environments and content imports, and wire them into deployment pipelines for staging and production.

Possible hands-on projects

Block library for client sites

A plugin with reusable blocks such as teasers, FAQ accordions and contact boxes, including style variations from theme.json and full translation support.

Plugin security scanner

A command-line tool that searches plugin code for common security patterns and produces a prioritised report with remediation hints. It runs locally or in CI.

Content migration script

A WP-CLI command that imports content from a CSV or XML source, maps fields, brings over images and detects duplicates.

Prerequisites

You have hands-on programming experience in at least one language and are comfortable with Git and the command line. You have practical experience with PHP and WordPress theme or plugin development; basic JavaScript knowledge helps for block development.

Technical requirements

Your own laptop with admin rights, Git, a Node.js runtime and an up-to-date editor; a Claude subscription or Anthropic API access is required for the exercises.

Data protection & compliance

WordPress projects handle form, customer and order data: you learn not to pass unfiltered database dumps to AI services, to respect GPL obligations for plugins and generated code, to protect credentials in wp-config.php and to implement GDPR requirements for tracking and forms.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Wed, 25 November 2026 – Thu, 26 November 2026 Online Request
  • Thu, 10 December 2026 – Fri, 11 December 2026 Salzburg Request
  • Thu, 17 December 2026 – Fri, 18 December 2026 Online Request
  • Thu, 7 January 2027 – Fri, 8 January 2027 Online Request
  • Mon, 11 January 2027 – Tue, 12 January 2027 Bremen Request
  • Mon, 25 January 2027 – Tue, 26 January 2027 Online Request

Frequently asked questions

How is Claude Code different from traditional code completion?

Code completion suggests the next few lines, whereas Claude Code acts as an agent that handles whole tasks: it searches the repository, plans changes across several files, runs tests and commands, and corrects itself based on the results. You define the goal and review the outcome instead of steering every single line yourself.

Is Claude Code secure enough for enterprise use?

By default, Claude Code asks for approval before editing files or running commands. Permission rules, sandboxing, managed settings and hooks let you define precisely what the agent may do. During the course you learn to configure these mechanisms to match your security and data protection requirements and to assess risks such as prompt injection.

Does Claude Code work with my language and tech stack?

Yes. Claude Code is language-agnostic because it works with files, terminal commands and your existing build and test tooling. Whether you use Python, Java, TypeScript, Go, SAP-related code or infrastructure as code, what matters most is a well-written CLAUDE.md describing your commands and conventions. Each course variant adds the relevant domain focus.

Do AI assistants know the WordPress APIs well enough?

Core hooks, functions and patterns are well covered. For newer developments such as block bindings, the Interactivity API or editor changes, models sometimes suggest outdated approaches. Current documentation as context, project rules and automated checks with PHPCS and the WordPress coding standards fix this. You practise exactly this workflow in the course.

Can we use AI-generated code in commercial plugins?

In principle yes, but check the terms of your AI service and remember that WordPress plugins are generally licensed under the GPL. Generated code can resemble fragments of well-known projects, so review and, where appropriate, licence scanning belong in your process. In the course we discuss practical rules for agencies and product vendors.

How much does “Claude Code for WordPress Developers” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 2 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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