Create-wp-block NPM

Create Single or Multiple WordPress Blocks

Extends the WordPress core @wordpress/create-block package that creates a new block plugin. It's basically a thin wrapper around the core CLI which allows us to expose some new features right now until they're officially available, such as:

Single named blocks.
Multiple named blocks.
Full Tailwind CSS integration.

The create-wp-blocks script is meant to be a useful tool to create blocks with additional functionality currently available in @wordpress/create-block. Hopefully, over time, most (or all) of these extra features will be available in the core package and this one can be deprecated.

New functionality

Specify a block name via the --block (or -b alias). By default in @wordpress/create-block there's no way to name a block, it's always set to the name of the plugin slug. e.g. npx create-wp-block test -b block1.

Note, if the block name is specified but a plugin name (slug) is, then this will trigger interactive mode which is the default behaviour of @wordpress/create-block when no slug is specified.

Optional Tailwind CSS integration is now available via the --tw flag.

Usage

To create a basic plugin containing a single block:

npx create-wp-block todo-list

Note: This produces exactly the same plugin as npx @wordpress/create-block todo-list

Things become interesting when we use the new features:

npx create-wp-block todo-list -b block1

This will create a plugin with the slug todo-list, which contains a single block with the slug block1.

Create multiple blocks with:

npx create-wp-block todo-list -b block1 block2 block3

This will create a plugin with the slug todo-list, which contains three blocks with slugs: block1, block2, block3. Each block is located inside its own sub-folder. e.g. /src/block1/.

Enable full Tailwind integration with the --tw option:

npx create-wp-block todo-list -b block1 block2 block3 --tw

Each block compiles its own Tailwind styles, which is inline with how blocks are compiled with @wordpress/create-block. Blocks continue to maintain their own styles independently.

For quick testing you can disable wp-scripts with the --ns option:

npx create-wp-block todo-list -b block1 block2 block3 --ns

This doesn't install npm modules and creates the block plugin much quicker. However, you'll need to manually run npm install to do an initial build of the plugin block JavaScript code.

Trouble Shooting

If no named blocks are specified then the plugin slug will be used as a fallback.

There will probably be regular updates to this CLI as it's refined and new features are added. Sometimes npx will cache the version of the script which can be annoying. To make sure you're always running the latest release version you can add @latest. e.g. npx create-wp-block@latest myplugin -b one.

For now (at least) there's no interactive mode if a plugin slug is not specified. This is required or the script will exit with a warning message. You're required to enter a plugin slug.