gazchap

By default, WooCommerce will only show thumbnails for categories if the category has a thumbnail set.
This plugin changes this behaviour so that WooCommerce will hunt for a product thumbnail in the category being displayed, and use that instead.
Upon activation, the plugin will configure itself with the basic settings. Any categories that you have on your WooCommerce store that do not have a thumbnail set will then start displaying any available product thumbnails inside the category.
There are a number of options, these can be found in WooCommerce -> Settings -> Products -> Auto Category Thumbnails.
<ul>
<li>
Thumbnail Size sets the image size that the plugin should use when displaying the thumbnails. Defaults to shop_thumbail, but shop_catalog may be a better option for some themes.
</li>
<li>
Go into Child Categories makes the plugin look in child categories too, useful if you have products buried in quite a deep category structure.
</li>
<li>
Random Thumbnail tells the plugin to pick a random product thumbnail from those it finds every time the page loads – otherwise it always uses the first one it finds.
</li>
<li>
Use Transients tells the plugin to save the thumbnail it picks for a category as a transient in WordPress, so that it won’t have to do it again while the transient is still active. This can hugely increase performance on sites with many categories, so is enabled by default.
</li>
<li>
Transient Expiry is the length of time each transient is active for before the site picks another thumbnail for the category. By default it is set to 1 day.
</li>
<li>
Custom Transient Expiry can be used to define your own transient expiry period (in seconds) if none of the pre-defined options are suitable.
</li>
<li>
Exclude Thumbnail IDs accepts a comma-separated list of attachment IDs from the WordPress Media Library. The plugin will never use any thumbnail with one of these IDs for a category.
</li>
</ul>
<h3>License</h3>
Licensed under the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html" rel="nofollow ugc">GNU General Public License v2.0</a>

GazChap's WooCommerce Auto Category Product Thumbnails

Pick WooCommerce category thumbnails automatically from products contained within those categories.

benplum

Presswell

Presswell Art Direction gives editors and developers a consistent way to manage image sizing and cropping in WordPress. Define custom sizes, set focal points, and generate non-core thumbnails only when they are actually needed.
Features
<ul>
<li>Control image cropping with focal points</li>
<li>Define custom image sizes and nested thumbnail variants</li>
<li>Select custom image sizes directly in the WordPress editor</li>
<li>Dynamically generate non-core thumbnails on demand</li>
<li>Run batch regeneration from a dedicated Media tool</li>
<li>Use Endpoint Mode when filename-based 404 handoff is unavailable</li>
<li>Import/export size definitions and migrate legacy focal-point metadata</li>
</ul>
Focal Point Cropping
Set a focal point for Media Library images to control how custom crops are framed. Mark the visual subject once, and generated thumbnails stay centered on the correct area.
Custom Size Management
Use the settings UI to define and edit custom image sizes. Registered sizes become available when inserting images in the block editor and classic editor workflows.
Dynamic Generation + Endpoint Mode
Presswell Art Direction avoids generating every custom size at upload time. WordPress core sizes are generated normally, while custom sizes are generated when requested in templates or by URL.
If filename-based 404 image requests do not reach WordPress (common in some NGINX/server setups), enable Endpoint Mode (<code>/pwad-image/?id=...&size=...</code>). The plugin includes an automatic compatibility check in wp-admin.
Regenerator
The Regenerator screen (Media -> Regenerate Thumbnails) builds a queue and processes images in batches, with progress metrics and retry handling for failed jobs. You can choose exactly which sizes should be regenerated.
<h4>Documentation</h4>
Public APIs
pwad_add_image_size( $args )
<ul>
<li>$args (array) (required) – Keyed array containing <code>name</code>, <code>key</code>, <code>height</code>, <code>width</code>, <code>crop</code> (optional), and optionally <code>thumbnails</code> values.</li>
<li>Thumbnail keys are prefixed with parent’s key like <code>[size]-[thumbnail]</code>.</li>
</ul>
Example:
<pre><code>pwad_add_image_size( array(
 'name' => 'Square',
 'key' => 'square',
 'width' => '1200',
 'height' => '1200',
 'crop' => true,
 'thumbnails' => array(
 array(
 'name' => 'Medium',
 'key' => 'medium',
 'width' => '800',
 'height' => '800',
 ),
 array(
 'name' => 'Small',
 'key' => 'small',
 'width' => '400',
 'height' => '400',
 ),
 ),
) );
</code></pre>
pwad_get_image_sizes()
Returns all currently-available sizes (WordPress defaults + plugin/theme sizes + Presswell Art Direction sizes/thumbnails).
Example:
$sizes = pwad_get_image_sizes();
pwad_get_image( $attachment_ID, $size_key, $attr = array() )
<ul>
<li>$attachment_ID (int) (required) – ID of image attachment</li>
<li>$size_key (string) (required) – Image size identifier (<code>thumbnail</code>, <code>large</code>, <code>my-size</code>, <code>my-size-mobile</code>, etc.)</li>
<li>$attr (array) (optional) – HTML attributes passed to the rendered image element</li>
</ul>
Returns an image tag.
Example:
$square_large = pwad_get_image( $img_ID, ‘square’ ); 
 $square_small = pwad_get_image( $img_ID, ‘square-small’, array( ‘class’ => ‘hero-image’ ) );
pwad_get_image_src( $attachment_ID, $size_key )
<ul>
<li>$attachment_ID (int) (required) – ID of image attachment</li>
<li>$size_key (string) (required) – Image size identifier (<code>thumbnail</code>, <code>large</code>, <code>my-size</code>, <code>my-size-mobile</code>, etc.)</li>
</ul>
Returns a keyed array containing the <code>file</code>, <code>url</code>, <code>path</code>, <code>height</code>, <code>width</code>, and <code>mime-type</code> values.
Example:
$square_large = pwad_get_image_src( $img_ID, ‘square’ ); 
 $square_small = pwad_get_image_src( $img_ID, ‘square-small’ );
Actions
pwad/image_generated
Fires immediately after a custom crop file is generated so themes/plugins can queue optimizers or post-processing.
Arguments:
<ul>
<li>$data[‘attachment_id’] (int) – Attachment ID.</li>
<li>$data[‘size_key’] (string) – Requested size key.</li>
<li>$data[‘size_data’] (array) – Registered/requested size definition used for generation.</li>
<li>$data[‘source_file’] (string) – Source file path from attachment metadata (relative upload path).</li>
<li>$data[‘generated_file’] (string) – Generated filename for the new crop.</li>
</ul>
Example:
add_action( ‘pwad/image_generated’, function( $data ) { 
 // Example: queue optimization when a new crop is created. 
 if ( ! empty( $data[‘attachment_id’] ) && ! empty( $data[‘generated_file’] ) ) { 
 do_action( ‘my_optimizer/queue’, $data ); 
 } 
 } );
WP-CLI
wp pwad regenerate
Regenerates thumbnails.
<ul>
<li><code>--queue-per-page=<int></code> (default <code>200</code>)</li>
<li><code>--batch-size=<int></code> (default <code>25</code>)</li>
<li><code>--target-seconds=<float></code> (default <code>5</code>)</li>
<li><code>--resume-last=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>, continue the last interrupted queue)</li>
</ul>
wp pwad cache-prime
Generates thumbnails based on sitemap.
<ul>
<li><code>--sitemap=<url></code> (optional, auto-detects from robots.txt/common sitemap endpoints)</li>
<li><code>--page-limit=<int></code> (default unlimited)</li>
<li><code>--image-limit=<int></code> (default unlimited)</li>
<li><code>--delay-ms=<int></code> (default <code>250</code>)</li>
<li><code>--timeout=<float></code> (default <code>10</code>)</li>
<li><code>--retries=<int></code> (default <code>2</code>)</li>
<li><code>--include-external=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>)</li>
<li><code>--force-endpoint=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>)</li>
<li><code>--report-csv=<path></code> (optional, writes per-URL status/error report)</li>
<li><code>--dry-run=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>)</li>
<li><code>--resume-last=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>, continue the last interrupted prime run)</li>
</ul>
wp pwad cache-prune
Deletes cached thumbnails not referenced in sitemap.
<ul>
<li><code>--sitemap=<url></code> (optional, auto-detects from robots.txt/common sitemap endpoints)</li>
<li><code>--batch-size=<int></code> (default <code>200</code>)</li>
<li><code>--max-images=<int></code> (default unlimited)</li>
<li><code>--page-limit=<int></code> (default unlimited)</li>
<li><code>--image-limit=<int></code> (default unlimited)</li>
<li><code>--timeout=<float></code> (default <code>10</code>)</li>
<li><code>--grace-days=<int></code> (default <code>0</code>, uses file modified time)</li>
<li><code>--include-external=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>)</li>
<li><code>--force-endpoint=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>)</li>
<li><code>--report-csv=<path></code> (optional, writes per-file keep/delete report)</li>
<li><code>--dry-run=<0|1></code> (default <code>1</code>)</li>
<li><code>--resume-last=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>, continue the last interrupted prune run)</li>
</ul>
wp pwad cache-clean
Deletes all cached thumbnails.
<ul>
<li><code>--batch-size=<int></code> (default <code>200</code>)</li>
<li><code>--max-images=<int></code> (default unlimited)</li>
<li><code>--include-default=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>)</li>
<li><code>--dry-run=<0|1></code> (default <code>1</code>)</li>
<li><code>--resume-last=<0|1></code> (default <code>0</code>, continue the last interrupted clean run)</li>
</ul>
wp pwad queue-status
Shows resumable/remaining state for regenerator and cache queue runs.
<h3>Privacy</h3>
Presswell Art Direction does not send image data to external services. It processes image metadata and generated variants within your WordPress environment.

Presswell Art Direction

Really easy to use, and integrated perfectly with the front end of the site without any extra javascript or CSS required. Perfect add-on.

Very well done

Manage focal-point cropping and on-demand custom image generation in WordPress.

GazChap's WooCommerce Auto Category Product Thumbnails vs Presswell Art Direction