Claude Code automates WordPress release tasks

Claude Code's custom skill system lets developers define reusable slash commands. A WordPress plugin author created a release-check skill that runs three checks before every tag: verifying the Version header in the main PHP file matches the Stable tag in the readme, checking the top changelog entry corresponds to the intended version, and ensuring the Tested up to field does not exceed the current stable WordPress release [DevTo]. The skill uses the Read, Grep, and Bash(grep:*) tools, guaranteeing no silent modifications to source files [Anthropic Blog].

The author built two more skills: one that consumes a git range and returns a draft changelog in WordPress markdown format, and another that diffs the .pot translation template against each .po file, listing only untranslated strings. All skills are stored in the repository, version-controlled, and invoked automatically by Claude when the context matches the description.

By delegating checklist tasks to Claude, the author reports a consistent 5-minute reduction per release and eliminates the need to re-orient after each chore. The skills perform pure-checking operations with zero risk of unintended side effects, keeping the judgment step firmly human. This approach can be applied to any plugin ecosystem, as WordPress hosts over 58,000 plugins following the same version-header and readme schema [DevTo].