How the strategy pattern fixed a messy shipping module
A WooCommerce shipping module was one 800-line if/else function. Refactoring it with the strategy pattern turned adding a new carrier from a 40-hour job into an hour of work.
Author: Ahmad Wael
I'm a WordPress and WooCommerce developer with 15+ years of experience building custom e-commerce solutions and plugins. I specialize in PHP development, following WordPress coding standards to deliver clean, maintainable code. Currently, I'm exploring AI and e-commerce by building multi-agent systems and SaaS products that integrate technologies like Google Gemini API with WordPress platforms, approaching every project with a commitment to performance, security, and exceptional user experience.
Building a lean WordPress API client, no extra libraries
Syncing users between two WordPress sites, I built a small REST API client on WordPress’s own WP_Http class instead of pulling in Guzzle. It uses dependency injection and returns WP_Error on failure.
Using the mediator pattern to untangle WordPress plugin code
A tangled inventory plugin had hooks and direct class calls everywhere. Treating the WordPress Plugin API as the mediator, with hooks in a dedicated subscriber class, keeps the core logic clean and testable.
When two WordPress plugins fight over the same hook
A shipping plugin overrode our VIP free shipping. The fix was not forcing our filter to run last but using hook priority and writing a filter that cooperates with the other plugin instead of overwriting it.
Catching silent database errors with the proxy pattern
A WooCommerce site was failing silently with database errors that never hit the logs. A wpdb proxy in a db.php drop-in caught the failed queries and fired a custom hook, which exposed a coupon plugin causing deadlocks.
Dependency inversion: a practical guide for WordPress devs
I got a call from a client with a membership plugin that was becoming a total nightmare. It was originally built to use Stripe for…
The WordPress loading process: a senior dev’s guide
I got a call about a membership site that was, for lack of a better term, freaking out. Logged-in users were seeing the public, logged-out…
Stop trying to ‘learn’ OOP. Just build something.
I had to pull a junior dev aside last week. Good kid, sharp. But he was spinning his wheels on a new feature for a…
You can’t fix a slow site on a terrible server
I got an email from a long-term client. “Ahmad, the site is painfully slow. Ever since that last plugin update, it’s been a nightmare.” My…
What separates a WordPress developer from a WordPress expert?
I got a call about a WooCommerce site, a big one with thousands of products and constant orders, where the admin dashboard was timing out….