ProductForge Documentation

Overview

ProductForge adds a WooCommerce → ProductForge page to your WordPress admin. Enter one product name per line, choose a niche, and click Run ProductForge — the plugin creates each product in sequence, writes an AI description via the Anthropic Claude API, assigns niche tags, and optionally imports stock photos from Pexels, Pixabay, Unsplash, or Openverse.

All processing runs on the server. Keep the page open until the Results tab appears.

Requirements

• WordPress 6.0 or later
• WooCommerce 8.0 or later (HPOS-compatible)
• PHP 7.4 or later
• An active ProductForge license (Lite, Plus, or Pro)
• An Anthropic API key for AI descriptions (optional but recommended)
• A stock photo API key for image import (Plus / Pro only)

Installation

1. Download productforge-1.0.0.zip from your account dashboard.
2. In WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Upload the zip and click Install Now, then Activate.
4. You will see ProductForge listed under the WooCommerce menu.

License activation

Go to WooCommerce → PF Settings → License. Paste your license key (format: PGBS-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX for Lite, PGST-… for Plus, PGAG-… for Pro) and click Activate. The page reloads with your tier shown.

To move a license to a different site, click Deactivate License on the old site first, then activate on the new one.

Settings page

Go to WooCommerce → PF Settings. From here you can:

• Manage your license key
• Enter your Anthropic API key
• Choose and configure a stock photo provider (Plus / Pro)
• Set default price, category, status, and images per product

Anthropic API key

ProductForge uses the claude-haiku-4-5 model to generate product descriptions. This is the fastest and most cost-effective Claude model — typical cost is a fraction of a cent per description.

1. Sign up at console.anthropic.com and add a payment method.
2. Create an API key (starts with sk-ant-).
3. Paste it into WooCommerce → PF Settings → Anthropic API Key.
4. Click Test Connection to verify before saving.

Stock photo API keys

Image import is available on Plus and Pro plans. ProductForge supports four providers:

Set your preferred provider with the radio buttons in Settings. The key for the chosen provider is sent to the API; others are stored but unused.

Creating products

Go to WooCommerce → ProductForge. The forge page has two tabs: Create Products and Results.

Steps

1. Select a niche from the dropdown (or pick Custom and type your own).
2. Enter one product name per line in the textarea. The counter shows how many you have and warns if you exceed your plan limit.
3. Set defaults in the right column: price, category, status (Draft / Published).
4. Configure image import and AI options if your plan includes them.
5. Click ⚙ Run ProductForge.

When done, the Results tab opens automatically showing a summary (products created / failed) and a table with each product's name, SKU, description source (AI or none), status, and an Edit link into WooCommerce.

Niches & niche tagging

Choosing a niche does two things:

• Gives Claude context so descriptions are niche-appropriate.
• Assigns a set of product tags to every product created (e.g. "Beauty & Skincare" assigns tags: beauty, skincare, cosmetics, wellness, self-care).

Niche tagging runs on all tiers. The built-in niches are:

Apparel & Clothing • Electronics & Tech • Home Decor & Furniture • Beauty & Skincare • Fitness & Sports • Food & Beverage • Pets & Animal Care • Toys & Games • Books & Education • Office & Stationery • Cannabis & Hemp • Supplements & Vitamins • Jewelry & Accessories • Outdoor & Adventure • Automotive & Parts • Custom

AI tone & length (Plus / Pro)

With a Plus or Pro license, the AI Description Options card unlocks:

Lite users always get neutral medium-length descriptions.

Image import (Plus / Pro)

When image import is enabled, ProductForge searches the chosen provider for each product name + niche, then downloads and attaches images to the WooCommerce product:

• The first image is set as the featured image (product thumbnail).
• Any additional images are added to the product image gallery.
• Images are imported directly into your WordPress Media Library.

Plus plans allow up to 3 images per product. Pro plans allow up to 5 images per product.

CSV export (Plus / Pro)

After a batch completes, click ⬇ Export CSV in the Results toolbar. The CSV includes: product ID, name, SKU, price, status, and permalink.

You can also tick Download results as CSV after creation before running the forge — the download triggers automatically when the batch finishes.

VariaMatrix integration (Pro)

If you have both ProductForge Pro and VariaMatrix active, a checkbox appears on the Create Products tab: Generate variations with VariaMatrix after creation.

When checked, ProductForge fires the productforge_after_product_created action hook for each new product. VariaMatrix can listen to this hook to automatically open the generation flow. The hook signature is:

Where $args contains: name, niche, price, status.

Plan comparison

Troubleshooting

Batch times out / page goes blank

The forge runs server-side with set_time_limit(0). If your host caps PHP execution time and kills the request, try a smaller batch or enable image import only for a subset of products. Some shared hosts enforce hard limits regardless of PHP settings.

AI descriptions are empty

Check that your Anthropic API key is saved in Settings and the test shows a green tick. Also verify you have API credits at console.anthropic.com.

Images not importing

Confirm your stock photo API key is saved and the correct provider is selected. Check that your WordPress uploads directory is writable (wp-content/uploads). Pexels and Pixabay need a valid key; Openverse works without one but is rate-limited.

SKU already exists error

ProductForge auto-generates SKUs from the product name and retries once on collision. If you still see SKU errors, the generated SKU pattern matched an existing product twice. You can edit SKUs freely after creation.

FAQ