Over the past month, I’ve been building a WordPress site as a data-brain layer connected to Claude in a NanoClaw container. My goal is a plugin with a group of skills and endpoints that can:
- meal plan,
- build a grocery list
- shop the list from multiple stores
- add items to store cart(s)
Since starting the project, I’ve dramatically evolved my thoughts on the future of the UX of AI interfaces its practical applications to everyday life.
Why not Chat-only?
Chat is great for general information, but reviewing, updating, and finalizing a plan in chat is tedious and error prone. I started the plugin with a chat-powered approach but found myself in a mundane loop of things like:
“Remove red peppers. I already have Paper towels. I only need 1 pack of beef.”
Then re-review all its text output… again…
I knew I had to find a better way. How could I review the output more easily, provide quick edits to the output, and provide context to the agent quickly?
I started out thinking I was building a meal-planning and grocery-shopping tool. Now, I think I’m building an example of how agentic software should work: structured context, constrained abilities, and easy-to review and edit outputs
The result: an interface where the agent and I can build a list together. The agent gets you close, and the interface lets you quickly make adjustments.
Plugin Overview
A meal-planning and weekly grocery list solution to make your life easier.
It uses WordPress as a context layer to provide an agent with all the data and abilities it needs to:
- choose meals you’ll like
- decide on grocery items you’ll need
- shop from your preferred stores
1. Meal Planning
Start by asking the agent for a meal plan. I have my WordPress site managed in a NanoClaw container by Claude, and I interact with it via Telegram.
I ask it to build me a meal plan for the week, and the agent accesses my site to see what my family’s preferences are, what our schedule is, etc. Information is saved in WordPress post content and metadata.
It has examples from previous weeks, and a list of recipes we like (also WordPress posts, but it could be connected to any Recipe API).
List Building
After the Meal Plan is set, it generates a grocery list off of the meals as well as checks my past orders for recurring items and household items.
This list gets saved as a WordPress post that polls for updates so the Agent and I can collaboratively build the grocery list.
The UX layer has been really interesting. I’ve found I needed a quick way to fix AI’s mistakes and provide context. The AI gets me a rough draft, and I can quickly edit it for final approval.
You can:
- edit item quantities
- add items
- delete items
- choose which store(s) you want to shop at
- add notes to an item for more context (“Buy organic if less than $1 more expensive than the cheapest option”)
- filter the list by meal, aisle, store, or unshopped items
This UX layer is where I see the human layer of AI evolving very quickly in the coming years. There are not established patterns on how to interact with AI in the most useful way. Building this plugin is rapidly evolving my thoughts on the UX of AI beyond chat interfaces.
Grocery Shopping
After you have your list where you want it, you can have your agent shop the list for you, streaming its updates along the way.
Once it has shopped your list, it returns the item titles, prices, images, and a quick-change dropdown to select an alternate related item.
The UX is all about quick fixes and edits to the agent. We know the agent isn’t right 100% of the time. It’s close, but not perfect. So, we let it get close, and provide a quick way to make it 100% right.
When you’re done, you can send the items to the stores you’ve selected.
How is the plugin useful?
It hits the perfect duo for usefulness:
- Saves time
- Saves money
Every week I do a meal plan and start from a blank slate. It doesn’t need to be that way. Now that my WordPress site has all my preferences, the agent can access that context and can get me a very solid start. It has taken an annoying task and gotten me to a finished meal plan in less time and with less annoyance. That’s win.
Same with building a shopping list. It knows all the items for a recipe. It can evaluate what I likely need and give me a chance to easily edit. Another win.
The really powerful thing is being able to shop multiple stores and build the best grocery store list for you. Imagine if you could ask the agent:
- “Pick the store that has all the items for the cheapest total cost”
- “Build me a grocery list with the cheapest items from each store”
- “Prefer organic ingredients if they’re within 20% of the cost of the cheapest item”
It’s like having a personal grocery shopping assistant that knows you and your preferences, and gives you a quick way to review and fine tune the decisions.
Why WordPress?
WordPress provides a great foundation for building personal OS agents. The biggest issues with a system like OpenClaw is:
- Security (whole computer access)
- Difficult, technical setup
WordPress solves this with:
- Secure container for your data
- Easy server install
- Plugin System for expanding agent skills
- Agent Abilities API (in 7.0)
- Consistent data structure
- Custom API endpoints
- Login/privacy layer
- Plenty more 🙂
Building the Plugin on WordPress meant I got so many things “for free” and didn’t have to reinvent the wheel. It can be a containerized secure, online endpoint for me and an agent to work together on. It’s a perfect use case.
What’s Next
I’m still finalizing how this can get released. It may end up as a public WordPress plugin, or get run on WordPress.com’s agent abilities. We’re not sure yet. Follow along to find out 🙂
Jerry Jones 