@artemsemkin/vite-plugin-wp-headers

Vite plugin that automates file generation during the build lifecycle. Runs a callback on every build start and re-runs it when watched files change during dev — no manual scripts, no forgotten rebuilds.

Install

npm install @artemsemkin/vite-plugin-wp-headers -D

Why

Build systems often need to generate or update files before bundling starts — WordPress header comments from package.json, version stamps, license blocks, etc. Without automation, you either forget to regenerate or add a manual pre-build step that breaks when someone skips it.

This plugin hooks into Vite's lifecycle so generation happens automatically:

• On every vite build invocation
• On dev server startup
• On every change to watched source files during dev

You provide the generation logic. The plugin handles when it runs.

API

wpHeaders({
  generate(): void    // called on build start + file changes during dev
  watch?: string[]    // absolute paths to watch during dev server
}): Plugin

Examples

WordPress headers from package.json

Pair with @artemsemkin/wp-headers to generate style.css headers, plugin PHP headers, and readme.txt blocks from package.json data:

// vite.config.ts
import { resolve } from 'node:path'
import { processMapping } from '@artemsemkin/wp-headers'
import { wpHeaders } from '@artemsemkin/vite-plugin-wp-headers'

const themeDir = resolve(__dirname, 'themes/flavor')
const pluginDir = resolve(__dirname, 'plugins/flavor-core')

const mappings = [
  { type: 'theme', slug: 'flavor', entityDir: themeDir, tgmBasePath: resolve(themeDir, 'src/php') },
  { type: 'plugin', slug: 'flavor-core', entityDir: pluginDir, tgmBasePath: resolve(themeDir, 'src/php') },
]

export default {
  plugins: [
    wpHeaders({
      generate() {
        for (const m of mappings) {
          processMapping(m)
        }
      },
      watch: mappings.map((m) => resolve(m.entityDir, 'package.json')),
    }),
  ],
}

Change any package.json version field during dev → headers regenerate instantly.

Any file generation

Works with any generation logic — not limited to WordPress:

import { writeFileSync } from 'node:fs'
import { wpHeaders } from '@artemsemkin/vite-plugin-wp-headers'

export default {
  plugins: [
    wpHeaders({
      generate() {
        writeFileSync('src/version.ts', `export const VERSION = '${Date.now()}'`)
      },
    }),
  ],
}

Behavior

• Build: generate() runs once during configResolved
• Dev server: generate() runs on startup, then again whenever a watched file changes
• Errors during dev are logged via Vite's logger (won't crash the server)