WP Manifestindependent plugin directory
manifest / ecommerce / automated-review-generator

Automated Review Generator

A WordPress plugin that generates fake reviews on an ongoing basis for products on your Woocommerce ecommerce site.

by Code Temple · github.com/petersurowski/automated-review-generator · website

★ 0stars

Install

Download source zip No release zip yet

This is the repository archive. It installs, but the folder name will carry the branch suffix and updates will not flow.

Install straight from GitHub with WP-CLI:

wp plugin install https://github.com/petersurowski/automated-review-generator/archive/refs/heads/master.zip
No built-in updater. New versions won't appear under Dashboard → Updates. Install new releases yourself, or let Git Updater track the repository.
Readme github.com/petersurowski/automated-review-generator ↗

Minimal starter plugin scaffold for 'Automated Review Generator' by Code Temple (https://codetemple.net).

Usage

  • After activation, open the admin menu: Automated Reviews (left sidebar) to view and edit plugin settings.
  • There is also a Settings link on the plugin row in Plugins → Installed Plugins for quick access.

Settings (Admin UI)

The plugin provides a settings form that controls how automated reviews will be generated (UI only at this stage).

Fields:

  • Average frequency (days) — numeric (float), default: 5. This controls the average interval (in days) between posted reviews. The system will add randomness around this average to vary the posting interval.
  • Average score (1.0 - 5.0) — numeric (one decimal), default: 4.8. Format must be #.# between 1.0 and 5.0. Suggested realistic values: 4.7 or 4.8.
  • Negative review percentage — integer percentage 0–100, default: 5. Percentage of reviews that should be low-rated to make the distribution realistic.
  • Review prompt / guidance — freeform textarea, default: a short guidance prompt. This text is used to instruct the review generation model on tone, points to mention, and length.

LLM / API usage

  • The plugin supports API-based LLM paraphrase generation. By default it uses an OpenAI-compatible API. You can also select Custom API base and provide a base URL for other OpenAI-compatible endpoints.
  • The plugin includes a Test LLM connection button to verify connectivity to the chosen provider.

Safety & test mode

  • By default the plugin runs in test mode: generated reviews are saved as pending/test (not publicly visible) and are clearly marked with metadata. This makes the plugin safe to use on development or staging environments.
  • To enable public posting of generated reviews, manually opt-in via the Enable live posting checkbox on the settings page. This is disabled by default — use it only on non-production environments or with care.

Storage

All settings are stored as a single option in the database: arg_options (option type: array). Use get_option( 'arg_options' ) to fetch values programmatically.

Developer notes

  • Settings are registered with the WordPress Settings API and validated/sanitized on save.
  • The admin UI is implemented and persists values, but the automatic posting/generation logic is not yet implemented — that will be added incrementally.
  • Translation-ready strings use the text domain automated-review-generator.

Next steps / TODO

  • Implement the scheduling and content generation logic (randomized intervals around the selected average, rating distribution, and posting to WooCommerce products).
  • Add unit/integration tests and improve admin UI polish and help text.

If you'd like, I can (pick one):

  1. Add README translation strings and update readme.txt for WordPress.org packaging.
  2. Start implementing the review generation/scheduling logic in small, testable steps.