Generate a WordPress plugin that triggers Zapier webhooks
Zapier is the glue of a lot of small businesses. The Zapier side is easy: Catch Webhook trigger, copy the URL, start building. The WordPress side is where teams get stuck. They install a generic plugin that fires a webhook on every post save, which works until the marketing team wants a different webhook per form, with a conditionally shaped payload, and only when the contact comes from a specific campaign.
A plugin built for your specific Zapier workflows keeps the payload contract tight and predictable. Zaps tend to break when the upstream payload changes; a custom plugin guarantees the shape of the data every time because the code is deterministic.
Why generate it instead of installing an existing plugin?
WP Webhooks free tier covers simple cases. Their premium (€129/year) unlocks per-trigger webhook URLs, conditional firing and WooCommerce integration. If your workflow maps to their rules, paying is fine. If it does not, working around their templating is more painful than having the plugin describe your exact JSON.
The Zapier built-in "WordPress" app requires giving Zapier admin access to your site, which some clients reject for security reasons. A custom plugin that you own pushing outbound webhooks is a tighter trust boundary.
Failure handling is where generic plugins drop the ball. If Zapier is down for 30 minutes, what happens to the 200 events that should have fired? A custom plugin with a local queue and retry logic handles this gracefully; a fire-and-forget plugin just loses them.
Example prompt
This is the kind of description that generates this plugin. You can start from it and tweak whatever you need before hitting generate.
Plugin name: Acme Zapier Triggers
Webhook endpoints (all Catch Hook URLs from Zapier, pasted in admin):
- new_user_zap: fires on user_register.
- new_order_zap: fires on woocommerce_order_status_completed.
- new_submission_zap: fires on wpforms_process_complete for form ID 5.
Payload shapes:
- new_user: { event, timestamp, user_id, email, first_name, last_name, role }
- new_order: { event, timestamp, order_id, order_total, currency, customer_email, line_items: [...], billing_country }
- new_submission: { event, timestamp, form_id, submission_id, fields: { name, email, message } }
All POST JSON with header X-Acme-Event: <trigger_name> and a signature header X-Acme-Signature: hmac-sha256 of body with a secret key (stored in options).
Retry: on failure (non-2xx), store in a queue and retry with 1min / 5min / 30min / 1h / 4h backoff. After final failure, log + email admin.
Conditional firing:
- new_order_zap fires only if order total >= 50 EUR.
- new_submission_zap always fires.
Admin: settings page with webhook URLs, signature secret, conditional rules, log of recent fires (success / retry / failed).
HPOS-compatible.What the generated plugin typically includes
- One POST per trigger via wp_remote_post with 10s timeout
- Consistent payload envelope with event, timestamp, version
- HMAC-SHA256 signature header for Zap-side verification
- Queued retries on failure with escalating backoff and a dead letter after 5 attempts
- Per-trigger enable/disable + conditional rules in admin
- Log of last 50 fires with status and response snippet
- HPOS-compatible order reads
Works identically for Make, Pipedream, n8n, Integromat or any service that accepts a webhook. Change the endpoint, nothing else.
Frequently asked questions
How is this different from just using Zapier's WordPress app?
Zapier's WordPress app requires admin credentials and polls your site. A custom plugin pushes outbound only, with a signature you verify in the Zap. Tighter trust boundary and usually faster.
What if Zapier is down?
The plugin queues failed events locally and retries on exponential backoff. After 5 failed retries the event moves to a dead-letter log and the admin is emailed once per hour at most.
Can I sign the payload?
Yes. Each fire includes an X-<YourPlugin>-Signature header with an HMAC-SHA256 of the body using a secret you set. The Zap can verify authenticity before acting.
Does it work with WooCommerce HPOS?
Yes. We read orders exclusively through wc_get_order() and $order->get_meta(). The plugin declares custom_order_tables compatibility in before_woocommerce_init.