--- title: Builders canonical_url: https://lolacore.com/builders/ last_updated: 2026-07-10T18:03:13+00:00 plugin_version: 1.2.3 --- # Builders Builders Build exactly what your site needs. Two tools, one conversation. ================================================================ Plugin Builder for site-wide tools with admin panels. Block Builder for Gutenberg blocks in your inserter. Both ship free in LolaCore core. [Plugin Builder ↓](#plugin-builder)[Block Builder ↓](#block-builder) Plugin Builder You needed one free shipping bar. You installed forty settings tabs to get it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Describe the plugin you need. Lola builds it with a real admin panel, you test it in a disposable sandbox, and you install it when you are ready. Delete it when you are done and your plugins list is clean again. [Install LolaCore free →](https://wordpress.org/plugins/lolacore/) ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild Build me a free shipping progress bar. Show how much more the customer needs for free shipping, on product and cart pages, with a settings panel for the threshold, colors, and messages. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)Your store has free shipping at $75, so I will use that as the default threshold. Building it now with a settings page under WooCommerce, color pickers, custom messages, and live cart updates. Saved to your library. Want to test it in Playground first?Free Shipping Progress Bar · v1 saved ✓ The examples below show WooCommerce stores, because that is where single-purpose plugins pile up fastest. But the Plugin Builder works on any WordPress site, for any plugin you can describe. 01 · Show, don't tell A free shipping bar with its own settings panel. Built in one conversation. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Every store with a free shipping threshold needs this bar: the one on your product and cart pages saying "You are $23 away from free shipping," filling up as the customer adds items. When they hit the threshold, it switches to a confirmation message. You have seen this feature before, bundled inside plugins with 40 settings tabs, most of which you will never open. Here is what happens when you describe exactly what you need to Lola instead. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild Lola, build me a free shipping progress bar plugin. Show how much the customer needs to add to get free shipping, on product pages and the cart page. When they hit the threshold, the message changes. And I need a settings panel to configure the threshold, the colors, and the messages without touching code. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)Your store has WooCommerce active with free shipping enabled at $75. I will use that as the default threshold, but you will be able to change it in the settings panel. Building it now. **Plugin created: Free Shipping Progress Bar.** Settings page under WooCommerce with: threshold amount (pre-filled at $75), below-threshold message with a {remaining} placeholder, threshold-reached message, bar colors (background, fill, text), display locations (product pages, cart, or both), and an enable toggle. The bar reads the live cart total and updates without a page reload. Saved to your library. Want to test it in Playground first? Yes, open Playground. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)Here is your test environment: a disposable WordPress with WooCommerce and demo products, your plugin already active. Add a product to the cart and you will see the bar update live.Open Playground → Lola detected your free shipping threshold from your WooCommerce shipping zones, pre-filled it in the settings panel, built the admin interface with color pickers and message templates, and set up live cart updates. The store owner configures everything from a settings page. No code required, ever. This is a plugin, not a snippet. Its own menu entry, its own settings, its own toggle. Exactly the options you asked for, and not one more. And it took one conversation. 02 · Show, don't tell Social proof from your real orders, on your own server. ------------------------------------------------------- You know those little popups in the corner: "Maria from Madrid bought Running Shoes 3 minutes ago." Most of the tools that generate them run as external services, loading their script on your pages and processing your order data on someone else's servers. Lola builds this as a plugin that reads directly from your WooCommerce orders. Real customers, real products, real timestamps. Everything stays inside your WordPress, with a settings panel that controls privacy, frequency, and style. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild Build me a recent purchase notification plugin: those little toast popups showing recent orders. Use real data from WooCommerce. I need a settings panel to control how it looks and what customer data it shows, because I don't want to expose full names. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)WooCommerce is active. I will query your recent completed orders for the notification data. **Plugin created: Live Purchase Notifications.** Settings page under WooCommerce with: customer display format (full name / first name / city / first name + city), number of recent orders to pull from, time between notifications, how long each stays visible, display pages, position, notification style, product categories to exclude, and an enable toggle. Each notification shows the product name, thumbnail, customer info per your privacy setting, and a relative timestamp. All data comes from real orders. Nothing is generated or simulated. Saved to your library. This plugin lives in your WordPress, reads the order data that is already there, and respects the privacy format you chose. No external service, no script loading from someone else's domain, no order data leaving your site. And when the holiday season ends and you do not need the popups anymore, you deactivate the plugin. Reactivate it next Black Friday. Or delete it and ask Lola to build a better version with what you learned. 03 · Build, then iterate A countdown timer with two levels of configuration. And what happens when you want more from it. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This one goes beyond a floating timer. It is a per-product countdown on individual product pages, tied to the sale dates you set in WooCommerce. It has global settings for style and behavior, plus a per-product box in the product editor. Two levels of configuration is what makes this a genuinely complex build, and it still fits in one conversation. Part 1 · Creation ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild I need a sale countdown timer plugin. Show a countdown on product pages when a product has a scheduled sale. I want global settings for the style and behavior, and a per-product box in the product editor where I set the sale end date and override the global message. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)WooCommerce is active. I will hook into the product sale schedule and the product edit screen. **Plugin created: Product Sale Countdown.** Global settings page with counter style, colors, default message with a {countdown} placeholder, expired message, and expiry behavior. Per-product meta box with sale end date (pre-filled from the WooCommerce sale schedule), a custom message override, and a disable-for-this-product checkbox. Products with a scheduled sale show the countdown automatically. Saved to your library. 3 files, version 1. Two weeks pass. Black Friday worked. Now you want one more thing. When a sale expires, instead of just hiding the counter, you want it to show a "Sale ended, but here is 5% off for 24 hours" message with a consolation coupon. That feature is specific to your store and your coupon strategy, the kind of thing you would otherwise build custom or wait on a developer for. But Lola already knows your plugin. Part 2 · Iteration ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaIterate · v2 Update the Product Sale Countdown plugin. When a sale expires, show a "Sale ended" message with a consolation coupon code and a 24-hour window. I want to configure the coupon code and the message from the settings panel. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)I found Product Sale Countdown in your library (version 1). I will add the post-expiry consolation feature to the global settings. **Changes applied (version 2):** a new toggle to enable post-expiry consolation, a coupon code field (validated against your existing WooCommerce coupons), a configurable consolation message, and a window duration. When a sale expires and consolation is enabled, the countdown area transforms into the message for the configured window, then disappears. Version 2 saved. Version 1 is in your revision history. Test in Playground?Product Sale Countdown · v2 saved ✓ That is the moment. The feature you needed is specific to your store and your coupon strategy, the kind of thing you would otherwise wait on a developer for. You described it in two sentences and Lola added it to your existing plugin, with new fields in the admin panel, validation against your WooCommerce coupons, and a configurable time window. Version 2. Version 1 still in your history if you need to roll back. You described it, Lola built it, you tested it, you deployed it. Same day. 04 · The safety net Nothing runs on your live store until you have watched it work in a sandbox. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Between Lola generating a plugin and that plugin running on your site, there are five gates. Here is each one. Lola reviews her own work. Every generated plugin goes through an automated review before it reaches your library: a second AI pass that checks for security issues (nonces, input sanitization, output escaping), WordPress coding standards, and potential conflicts. If the review finds problems, Lola fixes them and regenerates before delivering. The review is an internal quality gate, not a guarantee. That is why Playground testing exists as the next step. Playground lets you test in an isolated store. One click opens a disposable WordPress instance with your plugin already installed and active. If your plugin needs WooCommerce, the Playground includes WooCommerce with demo products so you can test cart and checkout behavior. You see how the plugin behaves on a real WordPress, using demo data rather than your live store. Close the tab and the test environment is gone. Installation is a two-step process. Lola never installs on your live site without asking. When you confirm, she validates the PHP syntax first. If there is an error, nothing is written and Lola reports what failed. If syntax passes, the plugin is placed in your plugins directory but stays inactive. You then choose to activate it. Two confirmations, not one. Nothing is ever activated silently. The code is yours to read and review. Every plugin in your library shows the full source code in tabs: PHP, JavaScript, CSS. Standard WordPress plugin code. No proprietary framework, no compiled output, no obfuscation. If you or your developer want to inspect what Lola generated, it is all there. Delete from your library, cleanly. Trash a plugin from your library and the entry, its code, and all revision history are removed from your database. If you already installed it on your site, you remove that copy the same way you remove any WordPress plugin: deactivate and delete from the Plugins screen. 05 · Your library Your plugins, your library, your rules. --------------------------------------- Every plugin Lola builds lives in your WordPress admin under Lola > My Built Plugins. Each entry shows the plugin name, current version, and whether it is installed on your site or just saved in the library. From the library, every plugin has the same options: test in Playground, install on your site, or leave it saved. Open the editor to review the code in PHP, JS, and CSS tabs. Tell Lola to iterate on it. Or send it to the trash. Versioning is automatic. Every time Lola updates a plugin, the previous version is saved as a revision. You can view the history and restore an older one if an update did not work as expected. Over time, your library becomes a toolkit built for your specific store. The free shipping bar from launch. The social proof popups from the holiday campaign. The countdown timer you iterated twice. Each one tailored to your theme, your WooCommerce setup, your exact requirements. Each one doing its one job, with nothing extra attached. 06 · The weight Open your plugins list. How many do you actually use? ----------------------------------------------------- Think about five concrete needs your store has had this year: a free shipping bar, social proof popups, a countdown timer, a custom checkout field, an announcement bar. Five generalist plugins Five settings pages you explore once and never open again. Five sets of stylesheets and scripts loading on every page your customers visit. Five update notices every month, each a small risk of conflict with your theme or with each other. Five more rows in a plugins list that already makes you tired to look at. Five plugins Lola built Five tools that do exactly what you described, with exactly the settings you asked for, running entirely inside your WordPress. When a campaign ends, you deactivate or delete, and your site goes back to exactly what it was. That is the difference. Not more plugins. The right ones, at their right size. The Plugin Builder is part of LolaCore core. Your store doesn't need another forty-option plugin. ---------------------------------------------------- Describe the one thing you need. Lola builds it, you test it in a sandbox, you install it when you are ready. Exactly that feature, nothing extra on your site. [Install LolaCore free →](https://wordpress.org/plugins/lolacore/) LolaCore works on WordPress 7.0+ with any AI provider configured through WordPress connectors (Anthropic, OpenAI, or DeepSeek). The Plugin Builder is included free in LolaCore core. Already using LolaCore? The Plugin Builder is in the latest version. Update and find it under Lola > My Built Plugins. The Plugin Builder gives you custom tools for your store. **WooCommerce Pro** gives you 29 management tools for orders, analytics, customers, and catalog operations. Same Lola, same memory, same conversation. [See WooCommerce Pro →](/woocommerce-pro/) 07 · The scope The tools your store actually uses, built one conversation at a time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- Each plugin Lola creates is three files: PHP for the logic and admin panel, JavaScript for front-end behavior, CSS for styling. Three files is enough for a free shipping bar with a settings page, a social proof system with privacy controls, a countdown timer with per-product configuration, a custom checkout field with conditional logic, an announcement bar with scheduling, or a delivery date estimator with business-day calculations. Some builds live outside that scope: a full CRM, an accounting system, a page builder. When you ask for something that needs its own database tables, a REST API, a payment gateway integration, or third-party package dependencies, Lola tells you it is outside the Plugin Builder scope and points you to a dedicated plugin. The target is the gap between a code snippet and a full commercial plugin. The space where you need one focused feature built for your site, instead of a thirty-feature suite where you configure one tab. That gap is where the Plugin Builder works. When you need the full suite, the suite is the right tool for that job. When you need one thing, now you have a way to get exactly that. Next upBlock Builder Custom Gutenberg blocks for your inserter. Same Lola, same memory, same sandbox-first workflow. Block Builder You needed one testimonial card. You installed forty blocks to get it. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Describe the block you need. Lola scaffolds a real Gutenberg block, you preview it in a disposable sandbox, and it lands in your inserter under your own namespace. Remove it when the campaign ends and your editor is clean again. [Install LolaCore free →](https://wordpress.org/plugins/lolacore/) ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild Build me a testimonial card block with quote, name, role, optional headshot, and color pickers in the sidebar. I want to drop it anywhere in the editor. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)Building a static block for the inserter. **Block created: Testimonial Card** (lolacore/testimonial-card). Inspector controls for every attribute and a live preview in the canvas. Saved to your library. Want to test it in Playground first? The examples below include a WooCommerce store because dynamic product blocks are where custom layouts pile up fastest. But the Block Builder works on any WordPress site running the block editor, for any block you can describe. 08 · Show, don't tell A testimonial card with sidebar controls. Built in one conversation. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Every marketing site eventually needs a testimonial layout: quote, name, role, optional photo, background color you can tweak per instance. You can rebuild it with core blocks every time, save it as a reusable pattern and reconfigure it by hand on each page, or install a block library where this layout is one card among forty. Here is what happens when you describe exactly the block you need to Lola instead. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild Lola, build me a testimonial card block. I want a quote field, the person's name, their role or company, and an optional headshot. Put color pickers in the sidebar for the background and text. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)**Block created: Testimonial Card** (lolacore/testimonial-card). block.json with quote, name, role, photo, and color attributes. edit.js with Inspector Controls and a live canvas preview. Static block: content saves with the post. Saved to your Block Builder library. Want to test it in Playground first? Yes, open Playground. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)Here is your test environment: WordPress with the block editor loaded and Testimonial Card already available in the inserter under LolaCore. Add the block to a page and try the sidebar controls.Open Playground → Lola scaffolded a real Gutenberg block: block.json, editor script, and styles. Each instance is configured from the block sidebar, the way your editors already work. Exactly the fields you asked for, and not one more. One conversation. 09 · Show, don't tell A product highlight that reads your live catalog on every page load. -------------------------------------------------------------------- Static blocks are enough for marketing layouts. Store blocks need live data: product name, price, sale badge, thumbnail, link to the product page. That means server-side rendering with PHP that reads WooCommerce on the fly. Here is a single featured-product block built for your exact layout rules. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild Build me a featured product block. One product at a time. Pick the product in the sidebar, show image, title, price, sale price if on sale, and a View product link. Horizontal card layout with a toggle for the sale badge. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)**Block created: Featured Product** (lolacore/featured-product). Dynamic block with render.php so prices stay current on the front end. Product picker in the sidebar and a placeholder preview in the editor. Saved to your library. Test in Playground? WooCommerce loads with demo products. The editor shows a placeholder. The live site shows real product data: current price, sale state, thumbnail URL, permalink. Change the product in the sidebar and every page using that block updates on the next page load. When the campaign ends, uninstall the block from your site or delete it from the library. The product catalog stays exactly as it was. 10 · Build, then iterate A section block with inner blocks. And what happens when the design needs one more control. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Some layouts are not a single card. They are a container: a heading, a row of testimonial cards, maybe a background. In Gutenberg that is a parent block with inner blocks. Still one conversation for Lola. Part 1 · Creation ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaBuild I need a testimonials section block. Parent block with a heading field and room for multiple testimonial cards inside. Give the section a background color control and generous padding. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)**Block created: Testimonials Section** (lolacore/testimonials-section). Parent block with inner_blocks enabled, heading attribute, background color control, and InnerBlocks in the canvas. Saved to your library. Version 1. Two weeks later the layout is live on your About page. Your designer wants star ratings under each quote. That control is specific to your brand, exactly the kind of detail you would otherwise wait on a developer for. But Lola already knows your testimonial card. Part 2 · Iteration ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)LolaIterate · v2 Update the Testimonial Card block. Add a star rating attribute: 1 to 5, default 5, controlled with a range slider in the sidebar. ![Lola](/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/lolacore-favicon.png)**Changes applied (version 2):** new rating attribute, range control in the sidebar, and star row in the saved markup and styles. Version 1 is in your revision history. You described it, Lola scaffolded it, you tested it, you installed it. Same week. 11 · The safety net Nothing reaches your live site until you have watched it run in a sandbox. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- Between Lola scaffolding a block and that block appearing in your inserter, there are six gates. Here is each one. Lola reviews her own work. Every generated block goes through an automated review before it reaches your library. If the review finds problems, Lola fixes them and regenerates before delivering. The review is an internal quality gate, not a guarantee. That is why Playground testing exists as the next step. Playground lets you test in an isolated editor. One click opens a disposable WordPress instance with your block already available in the inserter. For dynamic blocks that depend on WooCommerce, the Playground includes WooCommerce with demo products. Close the tab and the test environment is gone. Attestation before install. Lola writes block files to your live site only after you have opened Playground for the current version and confirmed you are satisfied. Installation is a confirmed write. When you confirm, Lola validates the block structure first. If validation passes, the files land in wp-content/lolacore-blocks/{slug}/ and register on the next page load. The code is yours to read and edit. Every block in your library shows the full source in tabs: block.json, JavaScript, CSS, and PHP when the block is dynamic. Uninstall cleanly. Remove a block from your site and the files leave lolacore-blocks/. Trash a library entry and its code and revision history leave your database. 12 · Your library Your blocks, your library, your inserter. ----------------------------------------- Every block Lola builds lives in your WordPress admin under **Lola > Block Builder**. Each entry shows the block title, namespace (lolacore/{slug}), current version, and whether it is installed on disk or only saved in the library. Versioning is automatic. Every time Lola updates a block, the previous version is saved as a revision. Installed blocks register through LolaCore. Keep LolaCore active on the site where you use them. 13 · The weight Open your block inserter. How many categories do you actually use? ------------------------------------------------------------------ Think about five concrete layout needs your site has had this year: a testimonial card, a callout banner, a featured product highlight, a team member row, a notice bar with configurable colors. Five block libraries Five sets of blocks cluttering the inserter. Five style systems that may not match your theme. Five update streams, each one a small risk of editor conflicts. Five blocks Lola built Five entries under LolaCore in the inserter, each doing exactly what you described. When a campaign ends, uninstall the block and it leaves the inserter. That is the difference. Not more blocks. The right ones, at the right size. The Block Builder is part of LolaCore core. 14 · The scope Four files. Real Gutenberg blocks, each scoped to one job. ---------------------------------------------------------- Each block Lola creates follows the Block Builder scaffold: block.json, edit.js, edit.asset.php, style.css, and render.php when the block needs server-side output. Some builds live outside that scaffold: a full page builder, a design system with global tokens, or a block with npm dependencies and a webpack build. Lola tells you when a request is outside the Block Builder scope. Custom blocks are a different workflow from block patterns, template parts, and FSE template edits. The free **LolaCore for FSE** add-on extends into templates and global styles when you are ready for that layer. The blocks your site actually uses, built one conversation at a time. --------------------------------------------------------------------- [Install LolaCore free →](https://wordpress.org/plugins/lolacore/) LolaCore works on WordPress 7.0+ with any AI provider configured through WordPress connectors (Anthropic, OpenAI, or DeepSeek). The Block Builder is included in the free core along with **75 abilities across 10 domains**. Already using LolaCore? Find it under **Lola > Block Builder** in version 2.0.0 and later. The Block Builder gives you custom blocks in the inserter. **LolaCore for FSE** extends the same conversation into block themes: template parts, patterns, global styles, and placement of your custom blocks across the site. Same Lola, same memory, same chat. [See LolaCore for FSE →](/lolacore-for-fse/) 15 · Frequently asked questions Do the plugins Lola builds depend on LolaCore to run? No. Once a plugin is installed on your site, it runs as a standard WordPress plugin. If you uninstall LolaCore, every plugin Lola built keeps working. What you keep with LolaCore active is the ability to iterate on them, generate new ones, and test in Playground. Do the blocks Lola builds depend on LolaCore to run? Yes, for registration. Installed blocks live in wp-content/lolacore-blocks/ and register through LolaCore on each request. Keep LolaCore active on any site that relies on your built blocks. What is the difference between the Plugin Builder and the Block Builder? The Plugin Builder creates standalone plugins in wp-content/plugins/ with admin settings pages and site-wide behavior. The Block Builder creates Gutenberg blocks in wp-content/lolacore-blocks/ that appear in the block inserter. Does the Plugin Builder only work for WooCommerce plugins? No. Lola builds any WordPress plugin you describe, as long as it fits within three files. The examples on this page focus on WooCommerce because that is where single-purpose plugins accumulate fastest. Does the Block Builder only work on block themes (FSE)? No. Any site with the block editor can use built blocks in posts and pages. Block themes add template-level placement, which is what the free LolaCore for FSE add-on handles. What happens if a generated plugin breaks my site? Lola validates PHP syntax before writing any files to your site. If validation fails, nothing is installed. If it passes, the plugin is installed and left inactive until you explicitly activate it. Test in Playground first for extra safety. What happens if a generated block breaks my site? Lola validates the block structure before writing files. Test in Playground first and install only after attestation. Dynamic blocks run PHP on the front end, so Playground is the safest place to verify the render callback. Can I edit the generated code manually? Yes. Plugins install to wp-content/plugins/ and blocks install to wp-content/lolacore-blocks/{slug}/. The library view is for review and iteration through Lola. You can also edit the files directly, or tell Lola what to change and she will save a new version.