Start here
Start here: the course map and the system you will build
Course lessonsLesson 1 of 67
In this course you will build an AI tools platform on WordPress, where each user has one account and one credit wallet. You start by naming a customer’s task, then build one shared engine that every tool runs on. After that you add the interfaces, accounts, credits and payment, and test how each part behaves before launch.
The end goal is a system that can take new tools, with identity, credits and payment you can prove are correct. Then you test whether the market will pay for it.
The catalog of fifty tools is a map for later growth. The first launch I suggest is only ten tools, each of which has passed its acceptance criteria.
The course has 12 modules, one of them an optional extension, and 60 lessons. It comes with a catalog of 50 tool cards in 10 groups. Technical terms stay in their original English, as you will meet them in code and documentation.
Who this course is for
This course is for WordPress site owners, freelancers and marketers who want to build a paid tool with the help of AI coding assistants. The level runs from technical beginner who knows the basics to intermediate.
You need to understand the WordPress dashboard and the site files, and to read HTML and simple JSON. If that is not you yet, learn these basics before Module 03.
What you will be able to do by the end
- Define a new tool and add it to the shared engine.
- Build a clear interface for each tool.
- Protect the request route and each user’s results.
- Run a credit wallet whose movements reconcile with the balance.
- Grant credits only after a trusted payment.
- Run a small, limited market test.
Writing code with AI help does not excuse you from reading every change and testing it. You will apply that rule in every module.
What you need before you start
- A computer and an internet connection.
- A development site or an isolated Staging copy: a separate copy of a site where you can experiment without touching a live one.
- A code editor, and Git to keep restore points in your code.
- One coding assistant, such as Claude Code or Codex.
To run the tools for real, you need an API account with an AI provider. Give it a test budget, separate from your coding assistant subscription. You also need a compatible payment gateway in Sandbox mode, a test mode that moves no real money.
The Block build tools need Node, in the versions tested for the course. The early stages need no paid site and no live payments.
The core path and the optional module
The core path is 55 lessons, and Module 10 adds five more on Gutenberg Blocks, n8n, Make and a separate Python service. You can leave Module 10 until after your first launch. If you want to go deeper into the WordPress editor, take its Blocks part before the tool workshops.
Set aside about 35 to 55 hours for practice and review. That is a first estimate, and it moves with your experience, your setup and the problems you run into. This path is not a promise that you will build a commercial product in a fixed number of days.
What you will build yourself
You will build six tools that represent the catalog, across five workshops: hooks, headlines, a Meta ad, an article outline, an educational article and an advertorial. Then you add a seventh tool on your own, as an independent challenge.
The rest of the catalog follows five implementation patterns, which the course teaches. You will not need fifty separate billing systems, because every tool shares the same account and the same wallet.
Course map
| Module | Topic | Lessons |
|---|---|---|
| 01 | The idea, the product and the tool map | 01 to 05 |
| 02 | The development setup and working with Claude Code or Codex | 06 to 10 |
| 03 | WordPress REST foundations and accounts | 11 to 15 |
| 04 | The AI engine and the tool registry | 16 to 20 |
| 05 | The platform interface and user experience | 21 to 25 |
| 06 | Workshops: building tools that represent the catalog of fifty | 26 to 30 |
| 07 | Security and abuse prevention | 31 to 35 |
| 08 | The wallet, credits and correct billing | 36 to 40 |
| 09 | Selling credit packs and connecting payment | 41 to 45 |
| 10 | WordPress Blocks and optional integrations (optional module) | 46 to 50 |
| 11 | Testing, deployment and operations | 51 to 55 |
| 12 | Launch, marketing and the graduation project | 56 to 60 |
What you hand in at each milestone
- Modules 01 and 02: an audience and tools specification, a development environment, a code repository and a first WordPress plugin.
- Modules 03 to 06: a protected route, an AI engine, an interface and six representative tools.
- Modules 07 to 09: security barriers, a wallet, a test payment and a reconciliation you can prove.
- Modules 11 and 12: a release people can try, a graduation presentation and a limited launch plan.
Module 10 is an optional extension that sits outside these milestones.
The system you will build
The platform is a set of parts, each with one job. The table lists each part and the decision that governs it.
| Component | Role | Key decision |
|---|---|---|
| Tool interfaces | Catalog, form and result | The same component displays different tool definitions. |
| WordPress REST | Identity, permission and the request contract | The server works out who the user is and decides what they may use. |
| Tool Registry | Fields, instructions, outputs and prices | Fifty definitions run on one shared logic. |
| AI Provider Adapter | Talking to the provider and converting the result | No key in the browser, and no blind trust in the output. |
| Job Service | Tracking long tasks | Every job belongs to an account and has a known status. |
| Wallet Service | Reservations, transactions and settlement | One authoritative financial source. |
| WooCommerce | Buying packs, payment and refunds | A trusted payment comes before any credit grant. |
| Monitoring and support | Cost, errors and reconciliation | One request ID links every step of the request journey. |
WordPress REST is the interface your site uses to receive tool requests and answer them. The Tool Registry is the set of tool definitions: each entry describes a tool by its fields, instructions, output shape and price. The AI Provider Adapter is the single layer that talks to the model provider and turns its reply into a shape the platform understands.
The Job Service follows tasks that take time, such as articles. The Wallet Service holds the balance and every movement on it.
Five patterns cover most of the catalog
- Short list: headlines and hooks.
- Structured parts: ads and descriptions.
- Long task: articles.
- Extraction from a source: summaries and FAQs.
- Multi-stage flow: channel packs and campaigns.
A different pattern can change the template, the run time and the way the charge is settled. Identity and the wallet stay shared across all five.
How a paid request moves through the system
Every request that spends credits follows this path, and you will build it one step at a time:
- The user signs in, and the server confirms who they are.
- The server checks their permission, their inputs and their usage limits.
- The server picks the tool and the price version. It never takes them from the browser.
- The server records the request and reserves the credits atomically, in one step that no other request can interleave with.
- The server calls the AI provider outside the database transaction.
- The server validates the result, then settles the charge or releases the reservation under the stated policy.
- If the outcome stays unknown, the request goes to review and settlement. The server does not generate again without checking.
This reservation and settlement design, and the choice of one authoritative financial source, is a working proposal for this project. You will prove its properties in your own code and environment before you sell. Using WordPress or myCred alone does not prove that simultaneous requests, the ones that arrive at the same moment, are handled correctly.