If your a WordPress developer then this is one plugin that you need to download before you start any new work on a plugin or theme.

This plugin is made just for WordPress developers by the WordPress developers of Automattic. Automattic are also the developers behind some other great WordPress plugins like Jetpack, Vaultpress, Akismet, Gravatar and WordPress resources website Code poet.

This plugin is simply called Developer and you can download it for free from WordPress.org.

Developer Plugin

This plugin will help any developer configure their development environment by suggesting different WordPress plugins to help in developing your plugin.

But this can also be used for Theme development, when you first install the plugin you will presented with a screen which asks if you are developing a theme or a plugin.

After choosing what you are planning to develop it will suggest a few plugins for you to install.

This is screen you will see if you are developing a plugin and it suggests to download these plugins.

• Debug Bar - Helps show you how much you are calling the database by adding a debug menu to the admin bar that shows query, cache, and other helpful debugging information.
• Debug Bar Cron - If you have scheduled events in WordPress then use this plugin to display query information in the admin menu.
• Rewrite Rules Inspector - An admin tool for inspecting your rewrite rules.
• Log Deprecated Notices - This plugin will log any usage of deprecated files, functions, and function arguments
• Monster Widget - Consolidates all 13 core widgets into a single widget enabling theme developers to create multiple instances with ease.
• User Switching - This plugin allows you to quickly swap between user accounts in WordPress at the click of a button.
• Pig Latin - Converts all translatable strings into Pig Latin, which makes it easy to spot any strings which aren't translated
• Beta Tester - This plugin provides an easy way to get involved with Beta testing WordPress.

You will only see this screen when you first install the plugin, it will then add a record into the wp_options table storing your choices, if you deactivate and activate the plugin again this screen will not be display. Which means if you start a new plugin and want to use these options you need to delete this record in the database so that the plugin suggestion screen will be displayed.

Make sure you use this plugin the next time you start a new plugin.

Developer Plugin