WP DevBench

A powerful developer sandbox plugin for WordPress that lets you run custom PHP functions, test code snippets, and debug outputs directly in the WordPress admin dashboard.

Dark Mode Theme Support

Requirements

• WordPress: 6.1 or higher
• PHP: 8.3 or higher

Installation

1. Download the plugin ZIP file
2. Extract the ZIP file (optional - WordPress can do this automatically)
3. Upload the wp-devbench folder to /wp-content/plugins/ directory on your web server
4. Activate the plugin from your WordPress admin dashboard:
   • Go to Plugins → Installed Plugins
   • Find WP DevBench
   • Click Activate

Via Composer (Upcoming)

composer require colinmitchell/wp-devbench

Usage

Accessing the Plugin

Once activated, you'll see a new WP DevBench menu item in the WordPress admin sidebar.

Features

WP DevBench provides a safe sandbox environment where you can:

• Run PHP Code - Execute custom PHP functions and snippets from within the dashboard.
• Test Code - Test WordPress functions and hooks before deploying to production.
• Debug - View detailed output, errors, and debugging information/stack tracing.
• Inspect Data - Return var_dump, print_r, and other debugging functions to inspect data.

Usage

Basic Function Registration

The simplest way to register a function:

devbench_add_function(
    source: 'my-plugin',
    function_name: 'get_user_count',
    callback: function() {
        return count_users()['total_users'];
    },
    description: 'Get total number of users'
);

With Parameters

Add dynamic parameters that appear as form fields in the dashboard:

devbench_add_function(
    source: 'my-plugin',
    function_name: 'get_user_data',
    callback: function(int $user_id) {
        $user = get_userdata($user_id);
        return $user ? $user->to_array() : null;
    },
    params: [
        [
            'id'    => 'user_id',
            'type'  => 'integer',
            'title' => 'User ID',
        ],
    ],
    description: 'Fetch user information by ID'
);

With Dropdown Choices

Create select dropdowns for predefined options:

devbench_add_function(
    source: 'my-plugin',
    function_name: 'query_posts',
    callback: function(string $status, int $count) {
        return get_posts([
            'post_status'    => $status,
            'posts_per_page' => $count,
        ]);
    },
    params: [
        [
            'id'      => 'status',
            'type'    => 'string',
            'title'   => 'Post Status',
            'choices' => ['draft', 'publish', 'pending', 'trash'],
            'default' => 'publish',
        ],
        [
            'id'      => 'count',
            'type'    => 'integer',
            'title'   => 'Number of Posts',
            'default' => 10,
        ],
    ],
    description: 'Query posts by status and count'
);

With File Uploads

Accept file uploads (CSV, XML, JSON, etc.):

devbench_add_function(
    source: 'my-plugin',
    function_name: 'import_csv',
    callback: function(string $csv_file) {
        // File arrives as base64 data URI
        // Example: "data:text/csv;name=users.csv;base64,ABC123..."

        // Parse the data URI
        preg_match('/^data:([^;]+);name=([^;]+);base64,(.+)$/', $csv_file, $matches);
        $mime_type = $matches[1];
        $filename  = $matches[2];
        $base64    = $matches[3];
        $content   = base64_decode($base64);

        // Process CSV
        $rows = array_map('str_getcsv', explode("\n", $content));

        return [
            'filename' => $filename,
            'rows'     => count($rows),
            'preview'  => array_slice($rows, 0, 5),
        ];
    },
    params: [
        [
            'id'     => 'csv_file',
            'type'   => 'file',
            'title'  => 'Upload CSV File',
            'accept' => '.csv',
        ],
    ],
    description: 'Import and preview CSV data'
);

Registration Methods

Method 1: Global Function (Recommended for Most Cases)

Use the global devbench_add_function() helper. Works everywhere without dependencies:

devbench_add_function(
    source: 'my-plugin',
    function_name: 'my_function',
    callback: 'my_callback_function',
    params: [],
    description: 'My custom function'
);

Method 2: OOP with Composer

For plugin developers using Composer and autoloading:

use WP_DevBench\Inc\Services\DevBench;

final class MyPlugin {
    public function __construct() {
        add_action('init', [$this, 'register_devbench']);
    }

    public function register_devbench(): void {
        DevBench::add_function(
            source: get_class($this),
            function_name: 'get_stats',
            callback: [$this, 'get_stats'],
            params: [],
            description: 'Get plugin statistics'
        );
    }

    public function get_stats(): array {
        return [
            'version' => $this->version,
            'active'  => true,
        ];
    }
}

Method 3: WordPress Action Hook

Most declarative approach, great for mu-plugins:

add_action('wp_devbench_register_functions', function() {
    devbench_add_function(
        source: 'my-mu-plugin',
        function_name: 'maintenance_mode',
        callback: function(bool $enable) {
            update_option('maintenance_mode', $enable);
            return ['maintenance_mode' => $enable];
        },
        params: [
            [
                'id'      => 'enable',
                'type'    => 'boolean',
                'title'   => 'Enable Maintenance Mode',
                'default' => false,
            ],
        ]
    );
});

Error Debug Results

Getting Started

1. Navigate to WP DevBench in your admin dashboard
2. Enter your PHP code in the editor
3. Click Run or Execute
4. View the results and debug output below

Setup Development Environment

# Clone repository
git clone https://github.com/ColinMitchell/wp-devbench.git
cd wp-devbench

# Install dependencies
composer install
npm install

# Start development server
npm start

# Start local WordPress (Docker)
npm run env start

Available NPM Scripts

• npm run build - Build JavaScript and CSS assets
• npm start - Start development server with hot reload
• npm run format - Format all code (JS, CSS, PHP)
• npm run lint - Run linters without fixing
• npm env start - Start local WordPress environment via Docker

Composer Scripts

• composer test - Run all tests (PHPStan, PHPCS, Pest)
• composer phpstan - Run PHPStan static analysis
• composer phpcs - Run PHP CodeSniffer
• composer pest - Run Pest PHP tests
• composer phpcbf - Auto-fix PHP code style issues

Code Quality

The plugin uses industry-standard tools for code quality:

• PHPStan - Static analysis for PHP code
• PHPCS - Code style validation (WordPress Coding Standards + VIP standards)
• Pest - Modern PHP testing framework
• ESLint - JavaScript linting
• Prettier - Code formatting
• Husky - Git hooks for pre-commit checks

Support

For issues, questions, or feature requests, visit:

• GitHub: https://github.com/ColinMitchell/wp-devbench/issues
• Documentation: https://github.com/ColinMitchell/wp-devbench

Roadmap

• [ ] Localization Support
• [ ] Multisite Toggle Support (Spoof which site the function is running on)
• [ ] CLI Support - Run functions from WP CLI

License

This plugin is released under the GPL-2.0-or-later license.

Author: Colin Mitchell Version: 1.0.0