File Structure

WordPress MVC (WPMVC) follows a clean, convention-based directory layout designed for maintainability, scalability, and separation of concerns. After installing via Composer and running the Ayuco setup wizard (php ayuco setup), your project (plugin or theme) will have the following typical structure.

my-awesome-plugin-or-theme/                 # Root folder (plugin folder name or theme folder)
├── assets/                                 # All static frontend and admin files
│   ├── css/                                # Compiled CSS files
│   ├── js/                                 # Compiled JavaScript files
│   ├── img/                                # Images, icons, SVGs
│   ├── fonts/                              # Custom fonts
│   ├── lang/                               # Translation files (.pot, .po, .mo)
│   ├── raw/                                # Source files for asset compilation (Gulp)
│   │   ├── css/                            # Raw CSS before concatenation/minification
│   │   ├── js/                             # Raw JavaScript before bundling
│   │   └── sass/                           # SCSS/SASS source files
│   └── views/                              # View files
├── app/                                    # Core application code — the MVC heart (PSR-4)
│   ├── Config/                             # Configuration files
│   │   └── app.php                         # Main app settings (namespace, version, cache, autoenqueue, localize…)
│   ├── Controllers/                        # MVC Controllers
│   │   ├── PublicController.php            # Public-facing logic
│   │   └── Admin/                          # Admin-area controllers
│   ├── Models/                             # Data models (post, user, term, option, comment, custom tables)
│   ├── Widgets/                            # (OPTIONAL) Custom widget classes
│   └── Main.php                            # Main.php (hooks router)
├── tests/                                  # PHPUnit tests (if you ran `php ayuco setup tests`)
├── vendor/                                 # Composer dependencies (wpmvc-core, ayuco, etc.)
├── node_modules/                           # npm dependencies for Gulp asset pipeline
├── .gitignore
├── composer.json                           # Composer dependencies & autoloading
├── package.json                            # npm scripts & Gulp dependencies
├── gulpfile.js                             # Asset compilation & build tasks
├── ayuco                                   # Ayuco CLI executable (make sure chmod +x ayuco)
├── functions.php                           # (THEME ONLY) Main theme entry file (minimal bootstrap)
├── style.css                               # (THEME ONLY) Main theme indentifier file (minimal bootstrap)
├── plugin.php                              # (PLUGIN ONLY) Main plugin entry file (minimal bootstrap)
└── readme.txt                              # Standard WordPress plugin readme

Key Folders Explained

• assets/ Contains your front-end files.
  • views/ → Presentation templates.
  • raw/ → Source files (unminified CSS/JS/SCSS).
  • Compiled/minified output goes to css/ and js/.
  • Auto-enqueue is managed via app/Config/app.php (e.g., app.css, app.js).
• app/ Contains your back-end files. The heart of your custom code.
  • Config/ → All project settings.
  • Controllers/ → Business logic and request handling.
  • Models/ → Data access and business rules.
• Root files
  • plugin.php → The WordPress entry point for plugins. Usually very thin — just loads Composer autoloader and calls the framework bootstrap.
  • functions.php → The WordPress entry point for themes. Usually very thin — just loads Composer autoloader and calls the framework bootstrap.
  • styles.css → WordPress identity file for themes.
  • ayuco → Command-line tool for scaffolding, generation, and maintenance.
  • composer.json + package.json → Dependency management for PHP (Composer) and frontend (npm/Gulp).

This structure keeps WordPress boilerplate minimal while giving you a modern, MVC-organized codebase — perfect for artisan-level plugin and theme development.

Next steps

• Run php ayuco setup after installation to scaffold your namespace and initial files.
• Use Ayuco commands (php ayuco create controller, etc.) to generate files in the right places.
• Compile assets with gulp watch (watch mode) or gulp build (production).