Introducing Genesis Custom Blocks

Genesis Custom Blocks is the latest introduction to the Genesis family. It’s a free plugin that massively simplifies the experience of building custom blocks for the WordPress block editor. Using the plugin, which is available now on wordpress.org, means that anyone, regardless of where they host their sites or what theme they use, can build blocks that look and behave exactly the way they need them to!

Ever since the launch of the block editor (Gutenberg), WP Engine has been increasing its investment into products that empower people in the new block-first paradigm. Amidst this, we’ve frequently heard two things from both the Genesis and WordPress communities:

• “Premium block libraries are great, but we need to implement a custom design, add a unique feature, or integrate with a third party plugin or app.”
• “Is there anything that Genesis or WP Engine can do to help us with Custom Blocks?”

Regarding the first question, we totally understand. To answer the second, Yes!

Today, we’re very excited to announce the release of Genesis Custom Blocks, which makes building custom blocks a whole lot easier. Genesis Custom Blocks provides an interface in the WordPress admin to add and configure your custom blocks. Alongside this, the plugin gives WordPress developers a super simple templating engine to build out their block templates. This templating engine is, as we call it, “front end agnostic,” meaning you’ll be able to work with whatever theme or front end-framework you prefer.

There’s a lot to cover regarding how this plugin works and what it can do for WordPress developers. This four-minute walkthrough video covers it all really well.

Free as in beer.

If you’re familiar with the Genesis Framework, you’ll know that it has always been a licensed product. Well, we’re changing the game a little. And by a little, I mean a lot. Genesis Custom Blocks is available for free on WordPress.org. It’s not a light-weight get-a-taste-of-things plugin either. It’s full-featured and ready to power your custom block dev workflows.

Do more with Pro.

In addition to the free features, we’ve built a number of advanced features (including the repeater field type) that provide professional developers with additional custom block super-powers. These advanced features are available as part of a Genesis Pro subscription.

You can learn more about those features, Genesis Pro, and the rest of the Genesis product suite here.

A developer tool is only as good as its documentation.

The docs for Genesis Custom Blocks are one of the biggest “features” of the plugin. After all, a developer tool without documentation isn’t that useful of a tool. Alongside these docs, we have our Genesis Slack Community. This is a place that Genesis users can learn and share together. We’d love you to join us here and welcome any questions you may have around Genesis Custom Blocks.

FAQs

Q: Do I need a WP Engine hosting plan to use Genesis Custom Blocks or Genesis Pro?

A: No! Genesis Custom Blocks on WordPress.org is a plugin that can be installed no matter where you host. Additionally, if you have a Genesis Pro subscription, the advanced features of Genesis Custom Blocks can also be used wherever your site is hosted.

Q: Do I need to be using the Genesis Framework to use Genesis Custom Blocks?

A: Nope! The only thing that Genesis Custom Blocks needs is for the block editor to be enabled on your WordPress site. If you have a recent version (5.0+) of WordPress running, this will be enabled by default.

Q: I’m a WP Engine customer, do I get Genesis Custom Blocks as part of my hosting plan?

A: Genesis Custom Blocks is free and available for anyone via WordPress.org, including WP Engine customers. The advanced features are available with a Genesis Pro plan. WP Engine customers can add Genesis Pro as a paid add-on to their account via the WP Engine account portal.

Q: I already have a Genesis Pro subscription. What does this mean for me?

A: Alongside the free plugin on WordPress.org, you get immediate access to the advanced features of Genesis Custom Blocks. No need to pay anything more or do anything else. You can visit your account page for more info on installing the plugin.

Find out more about Genesis and Genesis Pro as well as amazing Genesis-built themes for WordPress. You can also read this case study to learn more about the ways businesses are leveraging Genesis to build better sites faster and grow their client accounts.