𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗼𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘃𝗲𝗿𝘆𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗘𝘅𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗖𝗼𝗱𝗲
I build WordPress plugins.
I started using Claude Code to write code faster. Six months later, I realized it did not save me time on coding. It saved me time on everything else.
Every release, I face the same chores:
- Update the version number
- Edit the readme file
- Write the changelog
- Check translation files
- Draft the announcement
These tasks are not hard. They are distracting. They pull me away from building. When I finish these chores, I have to reload the entire project into my brain. This mental reload is the real cost.
I now hand these chores to Claude Code. I keep my focus on the code.
One major risk in WordPress is a version mismatch. The PHP file has a version header. The readme has a Stable tag. If these do not match, updates fail.
I created a custom skill in Claude Code to check this. It runs these steps before every release:
- Verifies the PHP version matches the readme
- Checks the readme Stable tag
- Confirms the top changelog entry is correct
- Ensures the "Tested up to" field is accurate
I gave Claude one strict rule: surface mismatches, do not fix them. I want to see the file and the line number. I do not want the AI to guess and ship a mistake to my users.
I also use it for these tasks:
- Writing changelogs from git logs. I tell it to write "(to confirm)" if it is unsure. This prevents the AI from making up details.
- Finding untranslated strings. It shows me the gaps so I can decide what to do.
- Managing large readme files. It moves old entries to a separate file to keep the parser working.
I keep my process at half-automation. I never let the AI hit the release button. I never let it finalize user-facing text.
The machine does the fetching and the diffing. I keep the judgment.
If you use AI to write more code, ask yourself a question. Is the code slowing you down? Or is it the ring of small jobs around the code that breaks your attention?
I found that the ring was my real problem. Hand that off first.