Plugins Types

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Three plugin types in BeeLab

BeeLab isn’t “one kind of WordPress plugin”. It’s a playground for three distinct architectures — from lightweight editor blocks, to standalone in-browser apps, to full WordPress + API systems backed by Django.

1) Block plugins (Gutenberg blocks)

Example: BeeSeen

This category focuses on new blocks for the WordPress editor. You drop them into any page like native blocks, configure a few settings (images, intensity, layout), and the effect runs on the front-end.

  • What the user gets: new visual blocks (motion, galleries, interactive layouts)
  • Where it runs: entirely in the browser (no login required)
  • How it’s built: modern JS + npm build → bundled assets registered as a WordPress block plugin
  • Why it’s nice: theme-friendly, fast, easy to reuse across pages
See BeeSeen demos

2) App-style plugins (single-page apps inside WordPress)

Example: BeeGame

This category treats WordPress as the hosting shell and ships an actual front-end application inside a plugin. The WordPress page is basically the mount point; the app handles routing, UI state, and interactions.

  • What the user gets: an interactive “mini-app” (simulations, tools, dashboards)
  • Where it runs: browser-only; no login, no backend required for the core experience
  • How it’s built: React + npm bundling; WordPress loads the built assets and provides the container page
  • Why it’s nice: richer UX than classic WP pages, but still deployable as a normal plugin ZIP
Explore the simulations

3) Full-stack plugins (WordPress + Django API + database + users)

Examples: BeeFont, Competence

This is the most ambitious category: WordPress is the UI layer, but the product is a real system behind it — with authentication, stored data, and server-side workflows. WordPress plugins act as the “apps”, and Django provides the API and persistence.

  • What the user gets: accounts, saved projects/data, and features that persist across sessions
  • Where data lives: a proper backend (Django + database)
  • How it’s built: WordPress plugin(s) for UI + Django API for auth/data + structured models and endpoints
  • Why it’s nice: this is how you build “real applications” while keeping WordPress as the site shell

BeeFont

A font-building workflow delivered as WordPress pages and blocks — with backend jobs, stored assets, and structured project data.

Create your own font

Competence

A structured data-driven plugin built around users, profiles, and persistent content — powered by an API rather than “just WP pages”.

Assess competencies

A quick rule of thumb

  • Need a visual effect inside normal pages? → Block plugin (BeeSeen)
  • Need a self-contained interactive tool? → App-style plugin (BeeGame)
  • Need accounts + data + workflows? → Full-stack plugin (BeeFont / Competence)

That’s the point of BeeLab: the same WordPress site can host all three styles — and each style stays “right-sized” for what it needs to do.

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