WPBakery Page Builder — Agent Skill

A comprehensive AI agent skill for programmatically working with WPBakery Page Builder (formerly Visual Composer) in WordPress.

What This Skill Does

Enables AI coding agents to:

• Create WPBakery page layouts from scratch using correct shortcode syntax
• Edit existing WPBakery content by modifying post_content shortcodes
• Register custom elements via vc_map() and the WPBakery PHP API
• Extend existing elements with new parameters and behaviors
• Debug common WPBakery issues (raw shortcodes, missing CSS, editor failures)
• Integrate with WooCommerce, Grid Builder, and custom post types
• Migrate content between WordPress installations (image ID remapping, URL replacement)

Install

npx skills add designshift/wpbakery-skill

Or install for a specific agent:

npx skills add designshift/wpbakery-skill -a claude-code
npx skills add designshift/wpbakery-skill -a cursor
npx skills add designshift/wpbakery-skill -a codex

Skill Structure

skills/wpbakery/
├── SKILL.md                              # Core instructions (loaded when skill triggers)
└── references/
    ├── shortcode-reference.md            # All element shortcodes with full attributes
    ├── php-api.md                        # vc_map(), parameter types, filters, Grid Builder
    └── recipes-and-patterns.md           # Layout recipes, WP-CLI, regex, troubleshooting

What's Covered

Area	Details
Shortcodes	All built-in elements: rows, columns, text, images, buttons, tabs, accordions, toggles, CTAs, icons, grids, video, maps, widgets, and more
PHP API	vc_map(), vc_add_param(), vc_remove_element(), filters, hooks, theme integration
Parameter Types	textfield, textarea_html, dropdown, attach_image, css_editor, vc_link, param_group, google_fonts, iconpicker, and all others
Custom Elements	Simple elements, container/nested elements, class naming conventions
Grid Builder	Grid shortcodes, custom grid elements, template variables, zones
WooCommerce	Auto-mapped elements, removal hooks, shop page layouts
Templates	User templates, programmatic templates, template overrides
Database	Content storage (post_content), CSS meta, _wpb_vc_js_status, direct editing
Troubleshooting	Raw shortcodes, missing CSS, editor failures, migration issues

Requirements

• WordPress with WPBakery Page Builder installed
• SSH/WP-CLI access recommended for bulk operations

Contributing

Issues and PRs welcome. If you find missing shortcode attributes or API functions, please open an issue.

License

MIT

Author

Built by DesignShift