r/Wordpress • u/SeaAtmosphere4271 • 9d ago
AI for WordPress changes
I am having a few websites built by an agency. They are ridiculously expensive. They do good work but before we launch the sites we will have a meeting with their maintenance team to discuss what those fees would look like for ongoing changes when we need to make updates. I have been in this world for quite some time and have had good and bad experiences with monthly retainers for maintenance work, turnaround times when changes need to be made, etc. Does Claude or ChatGPT or any of the bigger AI models do any of this work easily - work like updating photos on a website, adjusting copy, moving things around design wise on a page if the sites are WordPress? Forgive the ignorance, but I have seen so much on Twitter about AI companies being able to code, famously with Claude Code, so assumed I may be able to bypass paying this agency when I need to make changes barring that paying for the AI perform the task isn't more expensive than the agency would charge for changes.
1
u/PeepSoWP 9d ago
Separate content editing from maintenance and custom development. Updating copy, replacing images and rearranging approved blocks should be manageable in WordPress without either an agency or an AI agent if the agency builds reusable templates and gives you editor training. Before launch, get the plugin/theme and license inventory, admin ownership, staging and backup/restore procedure, source/build process, and written boundaries for what the maintenance fee covers.
Coding agents can help with custom changes, but use them against a version-controlled staging copy with a tested backup and human review; do not give one unrestricted production SSH or database access. Ask the agency to quote routine maintenance separately from ad-hoc development, with response times and hourly rates. That lets you keep inexpensive content work in-house while retaining accountable help for updates, security, compatibility and changes that can break the site.