WordPress's Telex AI tool moves from vibe-coding experiment to building real website features

WordPress's vibe-coding experiment, Telex, has already been put to real-world use | TechCrunch

WordPress's experimental AI development tool, Telex, has already been put to real-world use, only months after its September debut. At the company's annual "State of the Word" event on Tuesday in San Francisco, WordPress Project Cofounder and Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg shared several examples where Telex had been used within a working WordPress shop to do things like create price comparisons, price calculators, and pull in real-time business hours plus a map link to a retail store, among examples. Telex, which Mullenweg previously described as a "v0 or Lovable, but specifically for WordPress," is essentially the publishing platform's attempt to build its own vibe-coding tool for the AI era. The software allows developers to generate Gutenberg blocks -- the modular bits of text, images, columns, and more -- that make up a WordPress website. While the software is still labeled as an experiment, Mullenweg was able to demonstrate several real-world examples that had been built by community creator Nick Hamze. In the first example, Mullenweg showed off a pricing comparison tool built with Telex, noting that these sorts of rich, interactive web elements were something that a developer used to have to custom-build, but could now be created in a few seconds. In another demo, a developer used Telex to add real-time store hours, a phone number, and a link to get directions to the header block of their WordPress site. Telex was also shown being used to create a carousel of partner logos on a business's site, a custom pricing tool, a Google Calendar integration, and a grid for posts on a WordPress homepage where each post's card on the site had the same height. "Again, things that you used to have to, like, hire developers, do custom software like this would have cost thousands, tens of thousands of dollars to build, even just years ago. We're now able to do in a browser for pennies," said Mullenweg. "It's kind of insane." Another developer, Tammie Lister, used Telex to create a new Gutenberg block every day in the month of October, creating things like a playable, ASCII version of Tetris and a trick-or-treat block for Halloween. The Telex demos were discussed alongside other AI-focused initiatives at WordPress, including architectural developments, like the Abilities API and MCP adapter. The former defines what WordPress can do in a way that AI systems can interpret, the company explained, while the latter exposes those abilities so any MCP-compatible tool can understand and use them. "This adapter pattern means WordPress can participate in AI workflows without duplicating logic or creating separate integrations for every AI platform," Mullenweg told event attendees. "So you can now connect a WordPress installation to popular tools like Claude, Copilot, and many other platforms that support MCP." In addition, he noted that developers were already using AI in their everyday workflows through tools like Cursor, Claude Code, and other next-generation CLIs. This, Mullenweg said, "means you can refactor projects, search code bases, automate tasks, [and] run scripts with WP CLI alongside the AI agent." Mullenweg said that, in 2026, WordPress would introduce some benchmarks and evaluations that AI models can use to test on WordPress tasks, like changing plugins, editing text, or even manipulating the WordPress interface using browser agents.

WordPress launches Telex AI to vibe code custom blocks

WordPress's experimental AI development tool, Telex, has successfully transitioned from a conceptual prototype to a functional real-world utility just months after its September debut. During the annual "State of the Word" event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Automattic CEO Matt Mullenweg demonstrated how the software is already being used to streamline complex web development tasks. Described as a "vibe-coding" tool specifically for the platform, Telex allows users to generate Gutenberg blocks -- the modular components of a WordPress site -- using natural language prompts. Although the software remains labeled as an experiment, Mullenweg highlighted several practical applications developed by community creator Nick Hamze, according to TechCrunch. Demonstrations included the rapid creation of interactive price comparison tools, custom calculators, and a header block featuring real-time business hours, phone numbers, and map directions. Other use cases involved generating partner logo carousels, Google Calendar integrations, and post grids with standardized card heights. Mullenweg emphasized the economic shift driven by such tools, noting that functionality that previously cost tens of thousands of dollars and required professional developers can now be built in a browser for pennies. The tool's potential to democratize development was further illustrated by Hamze, a self-described non-developer, who stated that the ability to simply describe a desired outcome and have Telex build it provides an "intoxicating" level of freedom. This sentiment was echoed by creator Tammie Lister, who utilized Telex to build a new Gutenberg block every day throughout October, ranging from a Halloween-themed trick-or-treat block to a playable ASCII version of Tetris. Beyond the Telex demonstrations, the event outlined WordPress's broader AI architecture, specifically the introduction of the Abilities API and an MCP (Model Context Protocol) adapter. The Abilities API defines WordPress capabilities in a format AI systems can interpret, while the adapter allows the platform to integrate seamlessly with external AI tools like Claude and Copilot without requiring unique logic for every platform. Looking ahead, Mullenweg announced that by 2026, the company plans to introduce benchmarks to evaluate how effectively AI models can perform specific WordPress maintenance tasks, such as plugin management and interface manipulation.