Review WordPress plugins against the 18 WordPress.org Plugin Directory guidelines - GPL license compliance, trialware/freemium rules, naming and trademark constraints, and why a submission was rejected.
---
name: wp-plugin-directory-guidelines
description: Use when reviewing WordPress plugins for GPL compliance, checking license headers/compatibility, evaluating upsell/freemium/trialware patterns, validating naming or trademark rules, or understanding why a plugin was rejected from WordPress.org - the authoritative reference for the 18 Plugin Directory guidelines.
---
An authoritative checklist for getting a plugin accepted to the WordPress.org directory.
## How to use
1. Check the main plugin file's `License:` and `License URI:` headers against the valid header list (e.g. `GPL-2.0-or-later`).
2. Walk the 18-guideline checklist (per-guideline detail in `references/guideline-review-checklist.md`), paying special attention to Guidelines 1, 4, 5, 7, 8, and 17.
3. Confirm trialware/freemium compliance - flag split licensing where distributed code is restricted (Guideline 5).
4. Verify bundled third-party code is GPL-compatible (MIT/BSD/ISC safe; Apache-2.0 and MPL-2.0 need care); cite the file path and exact license string for every issue.
5. Screen the name (Guideline 17): >=5 alphanumeric chars, header matches readme, trademarks only after `for`/`with`, slug lowercase-hyphenated and <=50 chars.
6. For ambiguous licenses, defer to the GNU license list rather than guessing.
Full skill & source: https://github.com/WordPress/agent-skills/tree/aa735ea7111c7924ee988306bcef70439e17dec9/skills/wp-plugin-directory-guidelines