Quick Start Guide Edit

This guide is designed to demonstrate the basic principles of block development in WordPress using a hands-on approach. Following the steps below, you will create a custom block plugin that uses modern JavaScript (ESNext and JSX) in a matter of minutes. The example block displays the copyright symbol (©) and the current year, the perfect addition to any website’s footer.

Start by ensuring you have Node.js and npm installed on your computer. Review the Node.js development environment guide if not.

Next, use the @wordpress/create-block package and the @wordpress/create-block-tutorial-template template to scaffold the complete “Copyright Date Block” plugin.

Choose the folder where you want to create the plugin, and then execute the following command in the terminal from within that folder:

npx @wordpress/create-block copyright-date-block --template @wordpress/create-block-tutorial-template

The slug provided (copyright-date-block) defines the folder name for the scaffolded plugin and the internal block name.

Navigate to the Plugins page of your local WordPress installation and activate the “Copyright Date Block” plugin. The example block will then be available in the Editor.

With the plugin activated, you can explore how the block works. Use the following command to move into the newly created plugin folder and start the development process.

cd copyright-date-block && npm start

When create-block scaffolds the block, it installs wp-scripts and adds the most common scripts to the block’s package.json file. Refer to the Get started with wp-scripts article for an introduction to this package.

The npm start command will start a development server and watch for changes in the block’s code, rebuilding the block whenever modifications are made.

When you are finished making changes, run the npm run build command. This optimizes the block code and makes it production-ready.

• Get started with create-block
• Get started with wp-scripts
• Get started with wp-env