Built 2 Small WordPress Plugins Today
Sometimes the fastest solution is building exactly the tool you need.
Today I built two small WordPress plugins as part of my Web Workbench system. Both came from practical problems I wanted to solve while building and managing websites.
Rather than searching for another plugin or adding more complexity to a project, I decided to build exactly what I needed.
⚙️ WordPress Setup Helper (Self-Hosted Builds)
The first plugin helps with the initial setup of self-hosted WordPress installations.
When building sites on VPS and self-hosted environments, there are often the same tasks to complete repeatedly. The aim of this plugin is to streamline some of that process and provide a more consistent starting point for future builds.
The goal is simple:
• Speed up initial setup
• Reduce repetitive tasks
• Keep systems clean and predictable
It’s a small utility, but one that should save time over multiple deployments.
📊 Media Download Counter
The second plugin is a lightweight download tracking system for WordPress Media Library files.
The idea came from a simple question:
👉 Is anybody actually downloading the files and plugins I share?
I didn’t want to use GA4 or install a larger analytics platform just to track file downloads.
Instead, the plugin adds:
• Optional download tracking for Media Library files
• A generated tracked download URL
• Download counters stored within WordPress
• A copy button for sharing tracked links
• A Media → Downloads overview page in WordPress admin
Everything stays inside WordPress without relying on external analytics services.
Why Build Custom Tools?
Over the years I’ve found that many workflow problems don’t require large software solutions.
Sometimes a small plugin that does one job well is more useful than a feature-rich system with dozens of settings.
Many of the tools I build start as solutions to real problems encountered while working on websites, hosting environments, automation projects, and more recently AI-assisted development.
If a task becomes repetitive enough, there’s usually an opportunity to improve the workflow.
Final Thoughts
Both of today’s plugins were built to solve genuine problems:
• Faster WordPress setup on self-hosted systems
• Simple download tracking without external analytics
Neither plugin is particularly complex, but both improve day-to-day workflows.
As Web Workbench continues to evolve, I’ll be sharing more of these small tools, experiments, AI-assisted projects, and the thinking behind them as they develop