# WordPress workflow builder without custom plugins

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## Overview

A WordPress workflow builder for posts, comments, users, and webhooks. Replace functions.php snippets and custom plugins with visual flows — 50+ WordPress nodes.

Build WordPress workflows visually: posts, comments, users, and webhooks on one canvas. JOrchestrator is the workflow builder; the WordPress plugin is the runtime.

## A workflow builder, not another WP plugin pile

WordPress automation usually starts as a mu-plugin or a functions.php hook: save_post sends an email, comment_post pings Slack, a cron event republishes a page. It works until the next developer cannot find the snippet.

A WordPress workflow builder keeps those jobs visible. You drop a WordPress event, map the payload, and attach actions — update post, create page, approve comment, call an API — without deploying PHP for each request.

## What you can build without custom code

If the sentence starts with “when this WordPress hook fires…”, it belongs on the canvas:

- When a post is saved or its status changes, notify a channel or sync a PIM
- When a comment is posted, run moderation, AI screening, or a CRM note
- Create or update posts and pages from a form, sheet, or webhook
- Keep users, tags, and categories in sync with an external system
- Generate images or copy with AI, then write them onto the post

## How the WordPress workflow runs

Install the JOrchestrator WordPress plugin, link the domain, and activate the flow. Event nodes listen for core hooks such as save_post, comment_post, and transition_post_status. Action nodes call back through the same plugin.

Inbound webhooks cover the jobs WordPress cannot see — Stripe, a headless form, a mobile app. Hosted schedules cover the jobs wp-cron is bad at proving: retries, logs, and a timetable that does not depend on traffic.

- Trigger: WordPress hook, webhook, or hosted schedule
- Branch: If and Iterator over posts, comments, or line items
- Write back: Update Post, Publish Post, Create Page, users, tags
- Notify or sync: email, Slack, REST, sheets, object storage

## Start with a concrete WordPress workflow

Do not begin with a 40-node canvas. Ship one job, then clone the pattern.

- [Moderate WordPress comments in a flow](/use-cases/wordpress-comment-moderation) — Comment posted → screen → approve, spam, or notify
- [Joomla workflow automation](/joomla-automation) — Same builder if the fleet is mixed CMS
- [Publish-from-webhook pattern](/use-cases/joomla-publish-article) — The WordPress equivalent uses Update Post / Publish Post

## Nodes for this work

These are the WordPress nodes behind the recipes. Open a node page when you want the hook or the action — not the tour.

- [save_post trigger](/nodes/event-wp-save_post) — Start a flow when WordPress saves a post
- [comment_post trigger](/nodes/event-wp-comment_post) — React when a comment is posted
- [Post status transition](/nodes/event-wp-transition_post_status) — Draft → publish and other status changes
- [Update Post](/nodes/wp-update-post) — Patch title, content, status, or meta from a flow
- [Publish Post](/nodes/wp-publish-post) — Publish when the workflow says the post is ready
- [Create Page](/nodes/wp-create-page) — Open a WordPress page from webhook or schedule data
- [All WordPress and shared nodes](/nodes) — Triggers, actions, AI, logic

## FAQ

### Is this a WordPress workflow plugin?

The WordPress plugin executes flows. The workflow builder is the JOrchestrator canvas — triggers, logic, AI, and actions you design once and run on every linked site.

### Do I still need functions.php or a custom plugin?

Not for jobs the palette already covers: posts, pages, comments, users, tags, media, webhooks, and HTTP. Keep PHP for true site-specific behaviour the nodes cannot express.

### Which WordPress versions are supported?

WordPress 5 and 6. The flow must be Active and the site linked in Domain Setup before hooks fire.

### Can agencies run Joomla and WordPress on one builder?

Yes. The designer is the same. Joomla-only and WordPress-only nodes sit in their own palette groups; shared nodes (webhook, email, AI, storage) work on both.

## Related pages

- [Joomla automation](/joomla-automation) — Workflow automation for Joomla sites
- [Node reference](/nodes) — Every WordPress and Joomla node
- [FAQ](/faq) — Flows, schedulers, tunnels, security