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Shahid Malla

Guides from client work

Guides on WHMCS, web design, SaaS and AI.

Step-by-step guides written from my own client work and checked against the official documentation. Each one says when it was last reviewed, and what I sell when it matters.

124 guides · 6 topics

Editor's pick

shahidmalla.com/blog/best-whmcs-addons-modules
Best WHMCS Addons, Modules and Developers: A Buyer's Guide
Featured in WHMCS

Best WHMCS Addons, Modules and Developers: A Buyer's Guide

No single WHMCS addon is best. This buyer's guide sorts modules by job, names the vendors and module developers behind them, and gives a checklist to run before you pay.

Shahid Malla · Dec 28, 2025 · 12 min
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Latest articles

12 min

WordPress AI Agent: What It Can Safely Automate on Your Sites

A working guide to running an AI agent across WordPress sites: updates that snapshot and roll back, PHP errors grouped by plugin and line, WooCommerce checks worth automating, and the actions that stay with a person.

Shahid Malla Nov 15, 2026
11 min

How to Train ChatGPT on Your Own Data: The Options Compared

Training ChatGPT on your own data is rarely training. I compare the options a business actually has, with the limits, privacy settings and running costs I read on the vendors' own pages today.

Shahid Malla Nov 14, 2026
12 min

WHMCS AI Agent: Daily Checks, Safe Fixes and Ticket Drafts

A working guide to running an AI agent against WHMCS: the daily checks worth automating, read-only access, fix policies with approval timers, the billing actions that must stay with a person, and how ticket drafts fit.

Shahid Malla Nov 14, 2026
12 min

WHMCS Email Templates: Edit, Brand and Test Them Safely

WHMCS email templates checked against the WHMCS 9.1 documentation: where each setting lives, the editor and its merge fields, global header, footer and CSS branding, localization, safe testing and restoring the defaults.

Shahid Malla Nov 13, 2026
11 min

How to Back Up WHMCS: Database, Files and a Restore Test

The WHMCS backup routine checked against the WHMCS 9.1 docs: the three built-in database backup options, the files they never touch, why configuration.php decides what you can restore, and a staging restore test.

Shahid Malla Nov 10, 2026
11 min

Game Server Panels Compared: Pterodactyl, Pelican, AMP, TCAdmin

Pterodactyl, Pelican, AMP and TCAdmin side by side: how each panel is built, what a license costs, which games it ships configs for, which WHMCS module exists, and how recently each project shipped code.

Shahid Malla Nov 8, 2026
11 min

How to Become an AI Freelancer: Skills, Proof and First Clients

A starting plan for AI freelance work: which AI services clients post, the skills each one needs, the project that proves it, where the first jobs come from and how long the first paid work takes.

Shahid Malla Nov 8, 2026
11 min

AI Tools for Freelancers: What Each Costs and What It Replaces

One AI tool per job, priced from each vendor's own page: writing, coding, design, video, meetings and admin. What the free tiers run out of, and which plans keep client files out of model training.

Shahid Malla Nov 7, 2026
12 min

How to Connect Pterodactyl to WHMCS for Game Server Billing

A worked setup for the official Pterodactyl WHMCS module: which API key it needs, how to add the panel as a server, which product fields map to the panel, and the billing cycle to test before you sell.

Shahid Malla Nov 7, 2026
11 min

Vibe Coding Technical Debt: Why AI-Built Apps Break Over Time

Why an AI-built app that worked at launch starts breaking months later: what code-quality research measured, which updates break it, where it slows under load, and what a developer backing the product does each month.

Shahid Malla Nov 6, 2026
12 min

Will AI Replace Freelancers? What the Research Shows

A research-led answer: the Upwork study that measured what ChatGPT and image models did to freelance writing and design work, what grew on Upwork and Fiverr at the same time, and what the BLS job outlook adds.

Shahid Malla Nov 6, 2026
12 min

How Video Editors Use AI to Take More Clients

The AI features already inside Premiere Pro and After Effects, what Descript, Runway and extra Adobe credits cost, how to price AI-assisted editing, and the disclosure and copyright rules that apply.

Shahid Malla Nov 6, 2026

All guides by topic

Every guide on the site, grouped by what you are trying to do. Each one is checked against the official documentation and shows the date it was last reviewed.

Web design and development

What a website costs, who should build it, and how to redesign one without losing the search traffic it already has.

Service: Web designer and developer

WHMCS: choose it, set it up, keep it running

Plain guides for owners and admins: what WHMCS is, what it costs, how to configure it yourself, and how to update, move and troubleshoot it.

Service: WHMCS development

WHMCS development and integrations

For developers and technical owners: module types, hooks, the API, provisioning, themes and connecting WHMCS to other systems.

Service: WHMCS custom module development

Payments in WHMCS

Setting up and testing the gateways hosting companies use most, and what to check when a payment does not arrive.

Service: WHMCS payment gateway integration

AI, SaaS and apps

Where AI chatbots and agents help a support team, how to choose a stack for a first SaaS product, and how AI coding agents such as Claude Code change build times.

Service: AI chatbot development

Hosting, servers and security

Starting a hosting business, mail that lands in the inbox, and keeping cPanel and WHMCS servers out of trouble.

Service: Web hosting expert

Hiring a developer

What WHMCS and module work costs, how to vet a developer, and when a freelancer, an agency or a ready-made module fits.

Service: Hire a WHMCS developer

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Need it built instead?

The guides cover what you can do yourself. For custom modules, integrations, websites, apps and AI chatbots, send a short brief and get a written quote within one business day.