Running a Successful WordPress Membership Site | Adi Spiac (Cozmoslabs)

AI tools can now generate WP-CLI commands, automate WordPress operations, and perform tasks that previously required more command-line experience. Does that make learning WP-CLI less important, or does it make understanding the underlying tools even more valuable? In this episode of The Melapress Show, Robert Abela welcomes back Marcel Tannich, Technical Consultant and contributor to the WordPress Plugins Team, to discuss the role of WP-CLI in modern WordPress management. Marcel explains why WP-CLI remains useful for troubleshooting, automation, and managing websites at scale, particularly when the WordPress admin interface is inaccessible or standard management tools aren't enough. The conversation also explores how AI changes the way people use the command line. Marcel shares practical advice on reviewing AI-generated commands, testing changes in staging environments, using dry runs, and preparing for recovery if something goes wrong. They also discuss why AI agents that can execute commands make technical understanding and human judgment increasingly important. Key topics include: Why WP-CLI remains relevant when AI can generate commands The advantages of WP-CLI for troubleshooting and managing multiple WordPress websites Using scripts, aliases, and repeatable processes for automation How dry runs, staging environments, and backups help reduce risks Working with AI-generated commands and AI agents safely How to start learning WP-CLI through practical exercises 🎙️Guest: Marcel Tannich, Technical Consultant 🎙️Host: Robert Abela, Melapress

In this episode of The Melapress Show, Robert Abela speaks with Milana Cap, WordPress Documentation Team representative and WordPress Engineer at XWP, about the role documentation plays in building and maintaining software. The conversation explores why documentation is often neglected, why code reference alone is not enough, and why useful documentation needs to be treated as part of the product and development process. Milana also shares practical ideas for documenting decisions, maintaining documentation over time, and making the work manageable for smaller teams. She explains how the WordPress Documentation Team approaches release documentation and discusses the limits and opportunities of AI in documentation workflows. The episode also covers her Doc2Me project, which aims to help developers identify and structure the documentation that needs to be written. Key topics include: ▫️ Why code is not the same as complete documentation ▫️ Why documentation should be part of development ▫️ How to record decisions and reduce future confusion ▫️ How WordPress handles documentation during release cycles ▫️ Where AI can support documentation work ▫️ The idea behind the Doc2Me project 🎙️Guest: Milana Cap, WordPress Documentation Team representative and WordPress Engineer at XWP 🎙️Host: Robert Abela, Melapress

In episode 59 of The Melapress Show, Robert Abela speaks with security consultant Kathy Zant about the security challenges facing small businesses that use WordPress. Kathy explains why long login sessions create opportunities for session hijacking, how AI connector keys can increase the value of a compromised website, and why people should receive only the access they need. They also discuss the limits of security tooling and AI, the role of education in improving security decisions, and why real stories help people understand risks more clearly than abstract warnings. Key topics include: Why small and low-traffic websites remain useful to attackers WordPress session hijacking and long “remember me” sessions AI connector keys, prompt injection, and the limits of AI Least-privilege access for users and contractors Security education through practical stories Quarterly website access and security reviews 🎙️Guest: Kathy Zant, Security Consultant 🎙️Host: Robert Abela, Melapress

Most WordPress users never think twice about the plugins repository: search, install, done. But behind that simple flow sits a review pipeline that handles roughly 800 new submissions a week, run by fewer than 10 active volunteers, with help from automated tools and AI. Francisco walks through how that process actually works, why plugin submissions have surged since AI coding tools took off, and where the system still can't fully protect against bad actors, including a real supply-chain attack the team dealt with after a popular plugin changed hands. Key topics include: How the review pipeline works, from the Plugin Check tool to AI-assisted first review to human reviewers Why the repository grew from 60,000 to 70,000+ plugins in under two years How AI model releases correlate directly with spikes in new plugin submissions How plugin ownership is verified and the limits of that system, illustrated by a real backdoor incident The "adopt me" tag and no-index system for abandoned or outdated plugins Why plugins get closed: guideline violations, sock puppeting, GPL issues, and security reports When the team closes a plugin immediately versus issuing a warning, and when they push a fix directly 🎙Guest: Francisco Torres, Representative, WordPress Plugins Team 🎙️Host: Robert Abela, Melapress

In Episode 57 of the Melapress Show, Josh Hall, founder of Web Designer Pro, joins Robert Abela to discuss how to turn one-off WordPress projects into recurring maintenance revenue. Selling a maintenance plan is one of the trickiest parts of running a web design business: sell too early, and you seem pushy; wait too long, and the client walks. Josh shares the exact framework he used to grow his own agency and now teaches through his community, Web Designer Pro. Key topics include: The build-support-grow framework for introducing a maintenance plan at the right stage of a project What to include in a maintenance plan: hosting, updates, basic security, and monthly support hours Why bundling hosting with maintenance protects both the agency and the client, and how to handle clients who already have hosting elsewhere How to manage client admin access, from full access to limited roles, plus basic client training resources Setting plugin policies and liability clauses to protect the agency from unvetted client-installed plugins When and how to start delegating maintenance work as the client list grows, and how Josh's team is experimenting with AI without disrupting live client work 🎙Guest: Josh Hall, Founder of Web Designer Pro 🎙️Host: Robert Abela, Melapress