Top Atom Packages for WordPress developers

If you are into WordPress development, I am sure you should have heard of Atom.

Atom is an open-source text editor from GitHub. The flexibility of this text editor is attracting several developers and already becoming a serious competitor to other popular text editors such as Sublime.

Atom is quickly garnering support over its modern and fresh look, quick updates and responsive GitHub community.

I have seen several developers recommending and praising Atom and its frequent updates. The only negative feedback that I see around with Atom is that it’s slow for larger projects.

If you are into WordPress development working to build the next theme or plugin or simply getting started with development, I recommend you give Atom a try. Atom works seamlessly for all operating systems OS X, Windows, and Linux.

The best of all is that Atom is completely free to download and use.

Atom can be hacked and customized to meet your needs and increase your productivity. Similar to plugins in WordPress, Atom has Packages that let you extend the core functionality and add your own features. There are 3500+ packages available already to customize Atom to suit your needs.

WordPress developers using Atom have jumped in to add WordPress specific features and published them to help others.

In this post, I will list a few of such packages available for the WordPress environment. If you don’t know how to install packages for Atom, see the Installing Atom Packages section towards the end of this article.

WordPress Atom Packages

Please note that this is not an extensive list of Atom packages for WordPress, and as more and more WordPress developers start using Atom, we will see more helpful packages built specifically for WordPress.

Here’re all the Atom packages available as of now for WordPress developers.

1. Autocomplete WordPress Hooks Package

The first on the list is the package Autocomplete WordPress Hooks by Joe Hoyle, co-founder of Human Made.

Install AutoComplete WordPress Hooks | Github Repo

Autocomplete WordPress Hooks adds support for autocompleting WordPress actions and filters. 2000+ atom users have already installed the package and I am sure this will keep on increasing.

Despite fewer install numbers as compared to other packages in this list, I have placed this on top vouching for its quality. Joe Hoyle, along with the Human Made team has been at the forefront of developing awesome things with WordPress.

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2. WordPress Core API Support Package

Like its name suggests, the package adds support for the WordPress core API for the Atom Editor.

Install WordPress Core API Package | GitHub Repo

The package is published by Azizur Rahman and has contributions from few others in its GitHub repo. Here’s the list of supported snippets that you can use along with their descriptions.

Snippet	Description
wp-config	The base configurations of the WordPress.
theloop	The Loop
readme	Plugin Readme
registersidebar	Register Sidebar
shortcode	Shortcode
widget	Widget Template
templatepath	Include Template File
cptr	Custom Post Type: Register
cptm	Custom Post Type: Admin Messages – Registers admin messages for a custom post type
wp_list_pages	wp_list_pages
commentform	Comment Form Template
comment	Comment Template
post	Post Template
sidebar	Sidebar Template
theme_head	Theme Header

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3. WordPress Suite for Atom

WordPress Suite is one of the latest Atom packages that adds several WordPress tools within the Atom interface.

Install WordPress Suite  | GitHub Repo

The suite comes with several features including extensive support for WP CLI, few general features such as addingWordpress root folder to the Atom sidebar, support for notifications and others.

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4. wp-dev package for Themes and Plugin Development

WP-dev package is one of the recent Atom packages that provide you with a set of common snippets for WordPress development works. It can be an essential package for those looking to achieve common theme and plugin development tasks.

Install wp-dev package  | GitHub Repo

The package provides snippets for important development works including  Customizer, Settings API & Admin Functions, Debugging, Theme development, and Custom Post Types & taxonomies.

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5. WordPress Functions For Atom Package

This package also adds support for WordPress function suggestions and WordPress snippets.

Install WordPress For Atom Package | GitHub Repo

WordPress Functions For Atom Package is published by Aminul Islam with added credits to another package another text editor package sublime-text-2-wpseek and atom-WordPress.

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6. WordPress Dictionary for Atom Package

This is another package that adds support for snippets of all WordPress functions, filter hooks and action hooks for the Atom editor.

Install WordPress Dictionary for Atom | GitHub Repo

WordPress Dictionary for Atom package is published by Takayuki Miyauchi and has more than 600 developers using the package.

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7. Atom WordPress Package

Another popular package on this list is one of the oldest WordPress packages published on Atom.

Install Atom WordPress Package | GitHub Repo

Atom WordPress Package was published almost two years ago by tomvdv. The package was converted from Yoast’s bundle for TextMate – A wordPress package for another text editor.

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Installing Atom Packages

Installing Atom Package is as easy as installing a WordPress Plugin. Once you have downloaded and installed Atom, launch the code editor.

• From the menu, go to Atom > Preferences which takes you to the core settings of the Atom.

• Click on the +Install tab from the left-hand menu.
• Make sure you are on search packages search bar and search for WordPress or anything other packages you would like.Here’s what the search for WordPress looks like.

• Click on the Install Button just below the name and short information of the package (see the screenshot above).
• Alternatively, if you are comfortable using the command line tool, you can use the command “ apm install ”.

Note: The Packages menu on the list only includes the installed packages and don’t confuse searching on that page.

All the packages with additional information are listed on the Atom.io/Packages website.

You can also sign in with your GitHub account to favourite the available packages on the list.

To sign up for Atom, click on sign in after you are logged in to your GitHub account.

Atom will request for Read-only access to your account, and once you Authorize your account, you should be automatically logged in.

You can then go to your user page on the Atom.io website and see all your favourites on the page.

Here’s a beginner’s youtube video for setting up Atom and your settings.

If you are just starting with web development in general or need a text editor, give Atom a try. It is a free and open source software, similar to WordPress.

Also, if you are a WordPress developer and have been using Atom, why not publish some useful packages helpful to the community? You might also consider contributing to the above packages.

Let us know if you publish anything helpful or find any other packages helpful in the comments below.

Your View

What code editor do you use for your WordPress development and why?

Let us know your experience of using Atom over other code editors and if you have found any other packages useful for your WordPress specific development works.

Rate Atom for development purposes using the rating stars below.

Atom Packages for WordPress Review

Along with Atom, all Atom packages for WordPress listed above are completely free to download and use. If you use Atom for your development purposes, these packages can be really useful for your development process.