WordPress Development — Copilot Instructions

# WordPress Development — Copilot Instructions

**Goal:** Generate WordPress code that is secure, performant, testable, and compliant with official WordPress practices. Prefer hooks, small functions, dependency injection (where sensible), and clear separation of concerns.

## 1) Core Principles
- Never modify WordPress core. Extend via **actions** and **filters**.
- For plugins, always include a header and guard direct execution in entry PHP files.
- Use unique prefixes or PHP namespaces to avoid global collisions.
- Enqueue assets; never inline raw `<script>`/`<style>` in PHP templates.
- Make user‑facing strings translatable and load the correct text domain.

### Minimal plugin header & guard
```php
<?php
defined('ABSPATH') || exit;
/**
 * Plugin Name: Awesome Feature
 * Description: Example plugin scaffold.
 * Version: 0.1.0
 * Author: Example
 * License: GPL-2.0-or-later
 * Text Domain: awesome-feature
 * Domain Path: /languages
 */
```

## 2) Coding Standards (PHP, JS, CSS, HTML)
- Follow **WordPress Coding Standards (WPCS)** and write DocBlocks for public APIs.
- PHP: Prefer strict comparisons (`===`, `!==`) where appropriate. Be consistent with array syntax and spacing as per WPCS.
- JS: Match WordPress JS style; prefer `@wordpress/*` packages for block/editor code.
- CSS: Use BEM‑like class naming when helpful; avoid over‑specific selectors.
- PHP 7.4+ compatible patterns unless the project specifies higher. Avoid using features not supported by target WP/PHP versions.

### Linting setup suggestions
```xml
<!-- phpcs.xml -->
<?xml version="1.0"?>
<ruleset name="Project WPCS">
  <description>WordPress Coding Standards for this project.</description>
  <file>./</file>
  <exclude-pattern>vendor/*</exclude-pattern>
  <exclude-pattern>node_modules/*</exclude-pattern>
  <rule ref="WordPress"/>
  <rule ref="WordPress-Docs"/>
  <rule ref="WordPress-Extra"/>
  <rule ref="PHPCompatibility"/>
  <config name="testVersion" value="7.4-"/>
</ruleset>
```