Create Products Programmatically
In this tutorial I am going to guide you through the process of creating products in WooCommerce in code.
It is the most correct way of creating products in latest WooCommerce versions. So, please forget about wp_insert_post()
and update_post_meta()
functions. Yes, I perfectly remember that products are WordPress custom post types and product prices are post meta but it doesn’t allow us to use those functions anyway, because there is a little more than that and it could cause bugs.
In this tutorial we are going to use CRUD objects that were introduced in WooCommerce 3.0 (CRUD is an abbreviation of Create, Read, Update, Delete). The CRUD objects we are interested in right now are:
WC_Product_Simple
– for simple products,WC_Product_External
– for external products,WC_Product_Grouped
– for grouped products,WC_Product_Variable
– variable ones.
We are also going to use plenty of methods of these objects, that allow us to configure our product data.
Simple Products
Let’s start with creating a simple product. I am suggesting you to imagine, what a dead simple product should have? Well, it starts with product name, slug (for URL), price and.. image, right? Okay, we may have some product description with its benefits as well!
// that's CRUD object
$product = new WC_Product_Simple();
$product->set_name( 'Wizard Hat' ); // product title
$product->set_slug( 'medium-size-wizard-hat-in-new-york' );
$product->set_regular_price( 500.00 ); // in current shop currency
$product->set_short_description( '<p>Here it is... A WIZARD HAT!</p><p>Only here and now.</p>' );
// you can also add a full product description
// $product->set_description( 'long description here...' );
$product->set_image_id( 90 );
// let's suppose that our 'Accessories' category has ID = 19
$product->set_category_ids( array( 19 ) );
// you can also use $product->set_tag_ids() for tags, brands etc
$product->save();
The code above is enough to create a product like this.

There are also methods that you could find useful:
set_featured()
– passtrue
if you want this product to be marked as featured.set_gallery_image_ids()
– multiple image IDs can be passed as an array here.set_menu_order()
– manual product order as an integer.set_status()
– any post status here. Don’t want the product to be published? Setdraft
here.set_total_sales()
– product total sales can be passed here as an integer value.set_catalog_visibility()
– visibility in the catalog can be configured with this method,hidden
,visible
,search
andcatalog
values are accepted.update_meta_data()
– any product meta data, pass a pair of meta key and meta value as first and second parameters appropriately.
Products on Sale
You can use it in combination with the snippet above, but please don’t forget to add these methods before $product->save();
line.
$product->set_regular_price( 500.00 );
$product->set_sale_price( 250.00 );
// sale schedule
$product->set_date_on_sale_from( '2022-05-01' );
$product->set_date_on_sale_to( '2022-05-31' );

Inventory Settings
$product->set_sku( 'wzrd-hat' ); // Should be unique
// You do not need it if you manage stock at product level (below)
$product->set_stock_status( 'instock' ); // 'instock', 'outofstock' or 'onbackorder'
// Stock management at product level
$product->set_manage_stock( true );
$product->set_stock_quantity( 5 );
$product->set_backorders( 'no' ); // 'yes', 'no' or 'notify'
$prodict->set_low_stock_amount( 2 );
$product->set_sold_individually( true );
The parameters above lead to this Inventory configuration.

Dimensions and Shipping
$product->set_weight( 0.5 );
$product->set_length( 50 );
$product->set_width( 50 );
$product->set_height( 30 );
$product->set_shipping_class_id( 'hats-shipping' );
In case you’re wondering what is a shipping class ID and where you can get it, I recommend you to check this tutorial.
Linked Products
There are two methods – set_upsell_ids()
and set_cross_sell_ids()
, both of them accept an array of product IDs.
$product->set_upsell_ids( array( 15, 17 ) );
// we can do the same for cross-sells
// $product->set_cross_sell_ids( array( 15, 17, 19, 210 ) );

Attributes
This is going to be interesting.
First of all I want to remind you that there are two types of product attributes in WooCommerce – predefined taxonomy-based attributes (can be created in Products > Attributes) and individual product attributes.
Second, forget about wp_set_object_terms()
here.
No matter what type of attribute you are going to add to a product, you have to use the single method which is set_attributes()
. But what should we pass into it? Below is the example of how to use WC_Product_Attribute
class in order to add a custom or taxonomy-based attribute to a product programmatically.
// that's going to be an array of attributes we add to a product programmatically
$attributes = array();
// add the first attribute
$attribute = new WC_Product_Attribute();
$attribute->set_name( 'Magical' );
$attribute->set_options( array( 'Yes', 'No' ) );
$attribute->set_position( 0 );
$attribute->set_visible( true );
$attribute->set_variation( true );
$attributes[] = $attribute;
// add the second attribute, it is predefined taxonomy-based attribute
$attribute = new WC_Product_Attribute();
$attribute->set_id( wc_attribute_taxonomy_id_by_name( 'pa_color' ) );
$attribute->set_name( 'pa_color' );
$attribute->set_options( array( 29, 31 ) );
$attribute->set_position( 1 );
$attribute->set_visible( true );
$attribute->set_variation( false );
$attributes[] = $attribute;
$product->set_attributes( $attributes );
When creating attributes you have to remember two things:
- The difference between creating custom or taxonomy-based attributes is in what you pass into
set_id()
andset_name()
methods. It should be an attribute taxonomy name insidewc_attribute_taxonomy_id_by_name()
function and just a taxonomy name appropriately. - When you pass term IDs in
set_option()
function, you shouldn’t do it too early in the code when taxonomy is not even registered. It also applies to product categories and tags.

Virtual and Downloadable products
Let’s assume that our Wizard Hat is just an illustration that we are going to purchase or an accessory in a game like Lineage II. How to make it virtual and downloadable as well?
It is kind of similar how we made it for product attributes.
// Virtual product : YES
$product->set_virtual( true );
// Downloadable product : YES
$product->set_downloadable( true );
$downloads = array();
// Creating a download with... yes, WC_Product_Download class
$download = new WC_Product_Download();
$file_url = wp_get_attachment_url( $attachment_id ); // attachmend ID should be here
$download->set_name( 'wizard-hat-illustration' );
$download->set_id( md5( $file_url ) );
$download->set_file( $file_url );
$downloads[] = $download;
$product->set_downloads( $downloads );
$product->set_download_limit( 1 ); // can be downloaded only once
$product->set_download_expiry( 7 ); // expires in a week

External and Grouped products
Creating both external and grouped products programmatically are quite simple. If you read the previous chapter carefully, you won’t have any problems with it at all.
First of all you have to choose an appropriate product PHP-class, which is WC_Product_External
for external products and WC_Product_Grouped
for grouped ones.
Then you have to use set_button_text()
and set_product_url()
methods to add a link to a partner website where this external product is actually listed. For grouped products you have to use set_children()
method only.
Variable Products
Well, it is going to be interesting again. But as always we will make it as simple as possible.
// Creating a variable product
$product = new WC_Product_Variable();
// Name and image would be enough
$product->set_name( 'Wizard Hat' );
$product->set_image_id( 90 );
// one available for variation attribute
$attribute = new WC_Product_Attribute();
$attribute->set_name( 'Magical' );
$attribute->set_options( array( 'Yes', 'No' ) );
$attribute->set_position( 0 );
$attribute->set_visible( true );
$attribute->set_variation( true ); // here it is
$product->set_attributes( array( $attribute ) );
// save the changes and go on
$product->save();
// now we need two variations for Magical and Non-magical Wizard hat
$variation = new WC_Product_Variation();
$variation->set_parent_id( $product->get_id() );
$variation->set_attributes( array( 'magical' => 'Yes' ) );
$variation->set_regular_price( 1000000 ); // yep, magic hat is quite expensive
$variation->save();
$variation = new WC_Product_Variation();
$variation->set_parent_id( $product->get_id() );
$variation->set_attributes( array( 'magical' => 'No' ) );
$variation->set_regular_price( 500 );
$variation->save();
Of course, WC_Product_Variation
class has much more methods, almost like WC_Product_Simple
, all of them you could find in official WooCommerce documentation.
But for now – we have this simple variable product in our shop.

Almost forgot, you can set a default variation with set_default_attributes()
method.
$product->set_default_attributes( array( 'magical' => 'No' ) );

Misha Rudrastyh
Hey guys and welcome to my website. For more than 10 years I've been doing my best to share with you some superb WordPress guides and tips for free.
Need some developer help? Contact me
Thanks for this awesome guide!
I really just used wp_insert_post to create Woo Products.
Appreciate your sharing!
Thanks Gerald!
I hope
wp_insert_post()
is in the past now! ;)Thank you very much !
omg thank you so much for writing the section on adding product attributes with such clarity. I’ve been tearing my hair out all day on the multitudes of ways to do them over on stackoverflow but nobody was utilising the new CRUD methods, which are so much simpler!
Always welcome!
Hi, tell me plz, how to add image by url by this methods? It require image ID, i havent images in the site, i have image in another site, cdn , etc
Hey Jar,
Here is how.
Thank you very much for this!!!!!
How do we check if a product with the same SKU already exists and update it instead of creating a new product post?
Great question! Just published a tutorial about that.
Thank you so much! Really awesome and helpful.
So thorough, simple, and easy to understand! Thank you!
Everything works fine when added as an action in
wp_footer
, but when I try to execute$product->save()
In a stand-alone execute-once snippet, it gives an error:
“Uncaught Error: Class ‘ActionScheduler_Store’ not found in /home/customer/www/*redacted*/public_html/online-store/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce/src/Internal/ProductAttributesLookup/LookupDataStore.php”
Do you know if there are any file includes needed for the save method to work correctly?
The weird thing is, it actually adds the product. Unfortunately, I’m using it to port products in from another platform, and need to loop through 600+ products.
NM! a simple
add_action( 'plugins_loaded',...
did the trickThis is amazing. Saved me from a lot of headache.
I’ve been looking to add an image to an attribute but haven’t been able to find a way yet. Like, I’ve asked user to upload an image – I’ve moved the image upon upload to my website server now I want to show a thumbnail of this image under “Custom Image” attribute on cart and checkout page. I know it is possible, I’ve seen it many times but I just haven’t been able to figure out “how”. haha
Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.
And manyt many thank you for sharing your ideas here. :)
Misha! you are my love. <3
I have solved a lot of things using your articles. Keep it up. You are doing great.
Thank you so much <3 🙏