Getting started

This guide turns the skeleton into a working plugin: you'll create a personalized Acme Content plugin, run it on a local WordPress site, and confirm a source edit shows up on the frontend. Run commands from the plugin directory unless a step says otherwise.

Prerequisites

• Git
• Composer 2
• PHP 8.2+ (for Composer and the host-side PHPCS/PHPStan checks)
• Node and npm matching .nvmrc (Node 22.22.2 or later) — use nvm or another version manager
• Docker, running, for the bundled wp-env site and the PHP test suite

An existing local WordPress installation can replace the wp-env site; Docker is still needed for the container-based PHP test command.

1. Get the skeleton

Download it into the folder that will become your plugin directory. Composer gives you a copy without the skeleton's Git history and installs the Composer dependencies:

composer create-project rtcamp/plugin-elementary acme-content-features
cd acme-content-features
git init
git add .
git commit -m "chore: start from plugin-elementary"
nvm install
nvm use

Or clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/rtCamp/plugin-elementary.git acme-content-features
cd acme-content-features
nvm install
nvm use

The first commit gives the Composer copy a baseline to review init's changes against, and the repository lets npm install in step 2 set up the Git hooks.

The folder name is the plugin's directory in WordPress and is what you pass to wp plugin activate. Name it after the main plugin file init will create (acme-content-features), so the local copy matches the release zip.

2. Install dependencies

composer install
npm install

All dependencies install from public registries: rtcamp/wp-primitives and the coding standards from Packagist, and @rtcamp/wp-tooling and the lint configs from npm. No token or sibling checkout is needed.

npm install also installs two Git hooks (a commit-message check and a pre-commit hook that runs lint-staged) and runs npm run sync-ai, which copies the framework's review rules into .github/instructions/. Resolve installation errors before continuing; see initialization troubleshooting.

3. Personalize

Check the working tree is clean, then run the setup wizard:

git status --short
npm run init

Use Acme Content as the plugin name. For this first walkthrough, keep every example set and the default features: HMR on, Tailwind and Dev Tools off. Initialization explains each prompt.

Alternatively, open the clone in Claude Code and ask:

/init Set up this plugin as "Acme Content". Keep the examples and default features.

Use one route. The AI route can also run step 2 for you if you start it first.

Using a different AI assistant? /init and /scaffold are Claude Code skills, with matching Copilot prompts in .github/prompts/. AGENTS.md is the tool-agnostic source of truth; with another tool, describe the task and use the CLI route.

Review the result. For Acme Content you should see:

Item	Value
Main plugin file	acme-content-features.php (renamed from project-name-features.php)
PHP namespace	Acme_Content\Features
Composer package	rtcamp/acme-content-features
Text domain	acme-content-features
Constants	ACME_CONTENT_FEATURES_*
Recorded state	.wp-scaffold.json

Init renames the Composer package, so run composer update --lock to refresh composer.lock. A baseline commit after this review gives you a checkpoint before feature work.

4. Start WordPress

npm run wp-env start
npm run wp-env run cli -- wp plugin activate acme-content-features
npm run build:dev

wp-env activates the plugin when it starts, so on a fresh site the activate command reports that the plugin is already active. Keep it for a site where the plugin is not active yet.

The committed .wp-env.json mounts this directory as a plugin in the development site; the PHP tests use their own site from .wp-env.tests.json. Open the local site and WordPress admin; a fresh wp-env install uses admin / password.

Confirm the plugin is active under Plugins, then check two of the retained examples:

• Settings → Acme Content Features is the example settings page.
• Tools → Features Tools is the example admin page.

From the terminal, the WP-CLI example confirms the bootstrap and autoloader:

npm run wp-env run cli -- wp acme-content-features health-check

If the plugin sits inside an existing WordPress project instead, start that project's environment, activate the plugin there, and run npm run build:dev from the plugin directory.

5. Make a visible edit

Start the asset watcher:

npm run start:assets

In src/css/main.scss, temporarily add body { outline: 3px solid red; }. Wait for the rebuild, refresh the frontend, and confirm the outline appears. Remove the rule and stop the watcher with Ctrl+C.

Manual refresh always works. Local development covers automatic reload, the block dev server, checks and production builds.

The plugin is now running locally with a source-to-frontend edit confirmed. Next, explore the supplied features, generate a feature, or extend the plugin by hand.