wp-coding-standards

name	wp-coding-standards
description	Use when generating or reviewing PHP, JavaScript, CSS, or HTML code in any WordPress context (plugins, themes, block themes, mu-plugins, Gutenberg blocks) to enforce WordPress Coding Standards (WPCS). Covers naming conventions, formatting, sanitization/escaping patterns, SQL safety, and tooling setup.
compatibility	Targets WordPress 6.9+ (PHP 7.4+). Applies to all WordPress project types.
type	skill
tags	["wordpress","coding","standards","php","js","css","html"]
timestamp	"2026-06-27T00:00:00.000Z"
resource	./references/

WordPress Coding Standards

When to use

Use this skill whenever you are generating or reviewing WordPress code, regardless of project type:

• writing or editing PHP (plugins, themes, functions.php, mu-plugins, CLI scripts)
• writing or editing JavaScript / TypeScript for WordPress (vanilla, jQuery, @wordpress/* packages)
• writing or editing CSS / SCSS for WordPress frontend or admin
• writing or editing HTML templates or block markup
• setting up linting/PHPCS tooling for a WordPress project

Do not use this skill for:

• plugin submission readiness (use wp-plugin-directory-compliance)
• block implementation details (use wp-block-development)
• Gutenberg block markup serialization (use wp-image-to-blocks)
• PHPStan static analysis (use wp-phpstan)

Authoritative sources

• PHP: https://developer.wordpress.org/coding-standards/wordpress-coding-standards/php/
• JavaScript: https://developer.wordpress.org/coding-standards/wordpress-coding-standards/javascript/
• CSS: https://developer.wordpress.org/coding-standards/wordpress-coding-standards/css/
• HTML: https://developer.wordpress.org/coding-standards/wordpress-coding-standards/html/
• WPCS tooling: https://github.com/WordPress/WordPress-Coding-Standards

Procedure

1) Identify the language being generated

Use only the relevant reference:

• PHP code → ./references/php.md
• JavaScript / TypeScript → ./references/js.md
• CSS / SCSS → ./references/css.md
• HTML templates / markup → ./references/html.md
• Tooling setup → ./references/tooling.md

2) Apply standards before returning code

Do not volunteer code without first checking the primary rules for that language. Key defaults that apply everywhere:

• PHP: tabs for indentation, Yoda conditions, snake_case functions/variables, PascalCase classes, UPPER_CASE constants, always sanitize input and escape output.
• JS: single quotes, strict equality (===), camelCase functions/variables, JSDoc for public APIs.
• CSS: lowercase hyphen-delimited selectors, alphabetical property order within rules.
• HTML: lowercase elements and attribute names, double-quoted attribute values, semantic structure.

3) Tooling setup (when asked to configure linting)

See ./references/tooling.md for:

• phpcs.xml / .phpcs.xml.dist configuration for WPCS
• composer.json dev dependencies
• .eslintrc / eslint.config.js for WordPress JS
• Stylelint configuration for WordPress CSS

Verification

Before returning any generated code, confirm:

• Indentation: tabs in PHP and JS, 2 spaces in HTML/CSS (or tabs for HTML per project)
• No space between function name and opening parenthesis in PHP
• Spaces inside parentheses for control structures in PHP: if ( $x ), not if($x)
• Yoda conditions used for equality comparisons in PHP
• Sanitization at input boundaries (sanitize_text_field, intval, wp_unslash, etc.)
• Escaping at output boundaries (esc_html, esc_attr, esc_url, wp_kses_post, etc.)
• SQL built with $wpdb->prepare(), never raw string interpolation
• No bundled copies of WordPress-core libraries (jQuery, etc.)
• Strict equality in JS (=== / !==)
• Single quotes in JS, double quotes in HTML attribute values

References

• PHP Coding Standards
• JavaScript Coding Standards
• CSS Coding Standards
• HTML Coding Standards
• Tooling Setup