Build real WordPress sites on your Mac by chatting with AI (fully local)
Disclosure: I build ShipPress, the Mac app this article is about. AI coding agents like Claude Code and Codex are pretty good at writing WordPress themes and pages now. When I actually use them, though, the code is rar
Disclosure: I build ShipPress, the Mac app this article is about.
AI coding agents like Claude Code and Codex are pretty good at writing WordPress themes and pages now. When I actually use them, though, the code is rarely where I get stuck. The friction is everything around it:
- setting up a local WordPress with PHP and a database
- deciding which folders the agent is allowed to touch
- rolling back a change that went wrong
- getting the finished site onto a real server
I built ShipPress, a free Mac app, to take care of those parts. Here's what building a WordPress site through chat looks like with it.
What you need
- macOS (Apple Silicon or Intel)
- one of these AI CLIs with your own account: Claude Code, Codex, Grok Build, Antigravity CLI or Cursor CLI
- ShipPress (free): https://shippress.codotx.com/?ref=devto-en
You sign in to the CLI with your own account. ShipPress doesn't store your credentials, and AI usage runs on the plan you already pay for. On first launch ShipPress can install the AI tool for you with one click, so you don't have to open a terminal.
The flow
1. Pick a starting point
Either describe your project in one sentence or start from one of the bundled block themes (there are WooCommerce shop designs too). For example:
Build a website for a small harbour-side cafe called "Harbor Beans", with a menu and opening hours.
Putting the name in the sentence also sets the site name.
2. Let the AI build
Your chosen CLI builds the theme, pages and content straight into a local WordPress install. You can run more than one AI worker on the same site at once.
3. Fix things by chatting
Make the header dark green.
Add the opening hours to the footer.
The preview updates right away. ShipPress saves a restore point after every AI change, so you can go back with one click. For me that's the biggest difference from working with the bare CLI.
The canvas view shows all your pages side by side, and you can click a spot on a page to ask for a change there. You can check the phone view too.
4. Go live
- direct connections: InstaWP, Hostinger, Pressable, Cloudways, Kinsta, xCloud
- over SSH: SiteGround, WordPress.com, DigitalOcean and other hosts with SSH access
- no hosting at all: export a static site and host it through ShipPress, including buying a domain in the app (not for shop sites)
Bare CLI or ShipPress?
| Bare CLI | ShipPress | |
|---|---|---|
| Local WP environment | you set it up | the app does it |
| Undoing changes | your own git workflow | automatic restore point per change |
| Preview | open a browser yourself | live in the app |
| Deployment | by hand | host connection, SSH or static export |
If you're comfortable in a terminal, the bare CLI works fine. ShipPress is for people who want to build WordPress sites with AI without living in the terminal.
Wrapping up
AI agents are genuinely useful for WordPress sites. The hard parts are the environment, rollback and deployment, and that's what ShipPress handles.
It's still early. If you try it and get stuck anywhere, tell me in the comments or open a GitHub issue.
- Download: https://shippress.codotx.com/?ref=devto-en
- Issues: https://github.com/oberonlai/shippress-releases/issues
- Video tutorials: https://www.youtube.com/@codotx-app
A Windows version is planned.
Oberon Lai
Originally published by Dev.to WebDev. Aggregated on AIWithGhost for educational purposes — full credit and traffic to the original publisher.