There's an uncomfortable truth that all of us who develop with WordPress know: when the project grows, when the client asks for "just one more field," when the design becomes more dynamic than anticipated… that's when you see who truly masters the stack. And for me, that stack has always been the same: WordPress + ACF + PHP. Solid, flexible, scalable and, if you know what you're doing, surprisingly elegant.
But 2025–2026 is proving to be a seismic event. Between the changes to ACF, the controversy surrounding Automattic and SCF, and the disruption of AI into the developer workflow, we are living through a period where you either adapt… or you're left behind as others take flight.
This post is my way of bringing order to all that noise and explaining how I'm using AI —Claude, agents, connectors, antigravity and company— to take my work with WordPress and ACF to another level.
The ACF ecosystem in full revolution
ACF remains the undisputed king of custom pitches, but it hasn't exactly been a quiet year. The acquisition by WP Engine, licensing changes, the emergence of SCF as an alternative powered by Automattic… and the community debating it as if it were a Barcelona-Madrid derby.
What's important to me is this:
- ACF remains the most mature and versatile tool to model content in WordPress.
- SCF has entered the fray with force, with a more open philosophy and a very “core-friendly” approach.
- The community is more active than ever, which is always a good sign.
And in the midst of all this, AI appears to change not only how we write code, but how we think about the architecture of a project.
AI + WordPress + ACF: The combination you didn't know you needed
AI is no longer a toy. It's a real productivity tool, and when you integrate it into your WordPress workflow, some very interesting things happen.
What does AI bring to development with ACF?
- Faster content modelingI describe the type of content and the AI generates the structure of fields, relationships, validations and logic.
- Generation of clean and optimized PHP codeFrom templates to complex functions, with a level of detail that saves hours.
- Smart refactoring: detect redundancies, improve performance, reorganize files.
- Automatic documentationSomething we all know we should do… but never do enough of.
And if we talk about Claude…
Claude has become my favorite co-pilot for WordPress. His connectors and agents allow you to:
- Read and analyze entire repositories.
- Understanding CPT + ACF structures without getting lost.
- Propose architectural improvements.
- Generate blocks, endpoints, shortcodes, or conditional logic without breaking a sweat.
And the best part: understand context, not just loose instructions.
Agents, connectors, and antigravity: the WordPress developer's new superpower
The arrival of the agents has been a game-changer. It's no longer just "ask the AI for something," but "let it work with you.".
Real-world examples that I already use in projects
- An agent that reviews each commit and suggests performance improvements.
- A connector that analyzes the database and detects unused ACF fields.
- An antigravity flow that automatically generates Twig or PHP templates based on defined fields.
- An assistant who creates technical project documentation for the end client.
This isn't science fiction. It's the daily reality of a developer who wants to deliver higher quality in less time.
And what about performance?
This is where AI truly shines. Because it doesn't just generate code: It optimizes it.
- Lighter insoles.
- More efficient consultations.
- Better asset organization.
- Caching and architecture recommendations.
- Real-time bottleneck identification.
AI doesn't replace the developer's judgment, but it does give you a constant, fast, and surprisingly accurate second opinion.
WordPress is still a monster*… but now we have better tools to tame it.
I still enjoy it as much as the first day when I start a new project and begin modeling content with ACF. But now, with AI as an ally, I feel I can go faster, further, and with greater precision.
The stack WordPress + ACF + PHP It's not just still alive: it's stronger than ever. And if you add agents, connectors, and a little antigravity, you have a work environment that lets you focus on what really matters: creating robust, efficient, and well-thought-out solutions.
* Monster, due to its absolute power as the main content manager for more than 80% websites and SPA applications. Remember that WordPress not only serves pages, but also, through its powerful REST API, serves data and content that billions of applications "pull" from, without the need for it to serve HTML content.
