AI Top Choices - AI Tools Plugin

A comprehensive WordPress plugin for managing an AI Tools catalogue with ratings, reviews, structured pricing, editorial reviews, and JSON-LD schema markup.

Features

Custom Post Type

• AI Tools (ai_tool) - Custom post type at /ai-tools/
• Full WordPress editor support with excerpts and featured images
• REST API enabled for headless implementations

Taxonomies

Hierarchical Category (ai_tool_category)

Pre-seeded with the following structure:

• AI Tools (parent)
  • Writing
  • Image & Design
  • Video
  • Coding
  • Marketing
  • Productivity
  • Audio & Voice
  • Chatbots
  • Business
  • Data & Analytics
  • Education
  • Automation & Agents
  • Research Platforms
  • Aggregators

Tag-based Taxonomies

• Use Cases (ai_use_case) - Flexible tagging for use cases
• Platforms (ai_platform) - Platform availability
• Pricing Models (ai_pricing_model) - Pre-seeded: Free, Freemium, Paid, Usage-based, One-time, Enterprise, Open-source
• Billing Units (ai_billing_unit) - Pre-seeded: month, year, one_time, seat_month, seat_year, usage

Structured Pricing Data

All pricing stored canonically in USD with the following fields:

• Pricing model (enum)
• Price type (none, single, range, tiers)
• Single price amount
• Price range (low/high)
• Billing unit
• Free plan/trial availability
• Trial days
• Pricing page URL
• Official URL
• Tiered pricing (JSON format)

Tier Format:

[
  {
    "name": "Starter",
    "amount": 19,
    "currency": "USD",
    "unit": "month",
    "notes": "Up to 10 users"
  }
]

Editorial Review System

• Editor rating (1.0-5.0)
• Review summary
• Pros (one per line)
• Cons (one per line)
• Key features (one per line)

User Ratings & Reviews

• Database table: wp_aitc_tool_ratings
• One rating per logged-in user per tool (updates existing)
• Guest reviews allowed (default to pending moderation)
• Star rating (1-5) + optional title/text
• Honeypot spam protection
• Rate limiting (3 reviews per hour per IP)
• Admin moderation interface
• Cached rating summaries (transients)
• AJAX submission

JSON-LD Schema

Automatic structured data output for SEO:

Single Tool Page:

• SoftwareApplication schema
• Pricing offers (single/range/tiers/enterprise)
• Editorial review (when rating exists)
• Aggregate user rating (when ≥5 approved reviews)
• Publisher: AI Top Choices

Archive/Taxonomy Pages:

• ItemList schema (up to 25 items)

Settings:

• Option to disable schema output (avoid duplication with SEO plugins)

Templates

Plugin ships with theme-compatible templates:

• templates/single-ai_tool.php - Single tool page
• templates/archive-ai_tool.php - Archive listing
• templates/taxonomy-ai_tool_category.php - Category archive

Templates can be overridden in theme: {theme}/aitc-ai-tools/single-ai_tool.php

CSV Import

Admin interface at AI Tools → Import CSV

Supported columns:

title,excerpt,content,official_url,pricing_page_url,pricing_model,price_type,
price_single_amount,price_range_low,price_range_high,billing_unit,has_free_plan,
has_free_trial,trial_days,pricing_tiers_json,editor_rating_value,
editor_review_summary,editor_features,editor_pros,editor_cons,category_slug,
use_case,platform,ai_pricing_model,ai_billing_unit

Notes:

• editor_features, editor_pros, editor_cons: Use pipe-separator (|) for multiple items
• category_slug, use_case, etc.: Comma-separated term slugs
• has_free_plan, has_free_trial: Use 1 or 0
• Option to update existing tools by matching title

Admin Features

• Meta Boxes: Pricing and Editorial Review sections
• Moderation Page: AI Tools → Moderate Reviews (approve/spam/delete)
• Settings Page: Enable/disable schema output
• Import Page: Bulk CSV import

Installation

This plugin is designed to work standalone without the traditional WordPress plugin directory structure.

1. Clone or download this repository
2. The plugin files are at the root level (no wp-content/plugins folder needed)
3. When activated in WordPress, the plugin will automatically:
   • Create custom post type and taxonomies
   • Seed default category terms
   • Create ratings database table
   • Flush rewrite rules

File Structure

aitc-ai-tools/
├── aitc-ai-tools.php          # Main plugin file
├── README.md                   # This file
├── includes/
│   ├── class-post-types.php    # CPT registration
│   ├── class-taxonomies.php    # Taxonomy registration & seeding
│   ├── class-meta-boxes.php    # Admin meta boxes
│   ├── class-ratings.php       # Ratings system
│   ├── class-schema.php        # JSON-LD output
│   └── class-templates.php     # Template loader
├── admin/
│   ├── class-settings.php      # Settings page
│   ├── class-csv-importer.php  # CSV import
│   └── class-ratings-admin.php # Review moderation
├── templates/
│   ├── single-ai_tool.php
│   ├── archive-ai_tool.php
│   └── taxonomy-ai_tool_category.php
└── assets/
    ├── css/
    │   ├── admin.css
    │   └── ratings.css
    └── js/
        ├── admin.js
        └── ratings.js

Database Schema

wp_aitc_tool_ratings

CREATE TABLE wp_aitc_tool_ratings (
  id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED AUTO_INCREMENT PRIMARY KEY,
  post_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  user_id BIGINT(20) UNSIGNED DEFAULT NULL,
  rating TINYINT(1) UNSIGNED NOT NULL,
  review_title VARCHAR(255) DEFAULT NULL,
  review_text TEXT DEFAULT NULL,
  status ENUM('pending','approved','spam') DEFAULT 'pending',
  ip_hash CHAR(64) NOT NULL,
  user_agent_hash CHAR(64) NOT NULL,
  created_at DATETIME NOT NULL,
  KEY post_id (post_id),
  KEY user_id (user_id),
  KEY status (status),
  KEY created_at (created_at)
);

Security Features

• Nonce verification on all forms
• Capability checks (edit_posts, manage_options)
• Input sanitization and output escaping
• SQL injection prevention (prepared statements)
• Honeypot anti-spam field
• Rate limiting (IP-based)
• XSS protection

Performance Optimizations

• Database indexes on ratings table
• Transient caching for rating summaries (24 hours)
• Cache busting on status changes
• Efficient SQL queries with JOINs

Compatibility

• WordPress 5.8+
• PHP 7.4+
• Theme-agnostic (tested with GeneratePress)
• Works with REST API
• No external PHP dependencies

Hooks & Filters

The plugin is designed to be extensible. Key action hooks:

• aitc_before_tool_content - Before tool content
• aitc_after_tool_content - After tool content
• Template system allows theme overrides

Support

For issues and feature requests, visit the plugin repository.

License

GPL v2 or later

Changelog

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Custom post type and taxonomies
• Pricing meta fields
• Editorial review system
• User ratings and reviews
• JSON-LD schema output
• CSV importer
• Admin moderation interface
• Frontend templates