neillmcshea 6:58 pm on 21 January 2026
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Core-AI Contributor Check-in: October 29th, 2025

Editor’s note (@jeffpaul): These notes were sitting in draft, and while dated do capture prior discussions, decisions, and other updates so I’m publishing this meeting summary (in a condensed format) for transparency purposes.

TLDR; The team met to review progress across the coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI initiatives, primarily focusing on the integration of the Abilities APIAbilities API A core WordPress API (introduced in 6.9) that creates a central registry of capabilities, making WordPress functions discoverable and accessible to AI agents, automation tools, and developers. Transforms WordPress from isolated functions into a unified system. into WordPress core, the immediate feature development for the AI Experiments pluginAI Experiments Plugin WordPress's AI laboratory bringing all building blocks together. Serves as both a user tool and developer reference implementation. First release (v0.1.0) includes Title Generation experiment., and the strategic prioritization of the WordPress AI client. Key updates included reaffirming the Abilities API’s presence in the WordPress 6.9 betaBeta A pre-release of software that is given out to a large group of users to trial under real conditions. Beta versions have gone through alpha testing in-house and are generally fairly close in look, feel and function to the final product; however, design changes often occur as part of the process., plans to ship an initial 0.1 version of the AI Experiments plugin with core functionality, and a concentrated effort to release a foundational version of the WordPress AI Client to unblock feature development.

Key Highlights

Abilities API in WordPress 6.9 Beta

The server-side Abilities API has successfully landed in the latest WordPress 6.9 Beta 2 release, with the team’s immediate focus shifting to encouraging extensive testing and iteration based on community feedback.

  • Development Homing: Future development and iteration of the APIAPI An API or Application Programming Interface is a software intermediary that allows programs to interact with each other and share data in limited, clearly defined ways. will happen within WordPress Core, and the original Abilities API repository is likely to be archived following the 6.9 release.
  • Client-Side Move: The JavaScriptJavaScript JavaScript or JS is an object-oriented computer programming language commonly used to create interactive effects within web browsers. WordPress makes extensive use of JS for a better user experience. While PHP is executed on the server, JS executes within a user’s browser. https://www.javascript.com abilityAbility A registered, self-documenting unit of WordPress functionality that can be discovered and invoked through multiple contexts (REST API, Command Palette, MCP). Includes authorization and input/output specifications. registration (front-end component) did not make the core merge deadline and will be moved to the GutenbergGutenberg The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses ‘blocks’ to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc. https://wordpress.org/gutenberg/ repository. It will be released as a standalone NPM package to allow developers to easily incorporate it into their projects.

AI Experiments Plugin Progress

The pluginPlugin A plugin is a piece of software containing a group of functions that can be added to a WordPress website. They can extend functionality or add new features to your WordPress websites. WordPress plugins are written in the PHP programming language and integrate seamlessly with WordPress. These can be free in the WordPress.org Plugin Directory https://wordpress.org/plugins/ or can be cost-based plugin from a third-party. is moving past the scaffolding phase and is nearing its first feature release, which is expected to prompt broader community testing.

  • First Feature Release Target: The team plans to ship a 0.1.0 release once the admin settings screen PR and the first experimental feature, title generation, are merged.
  • Post-Release Testing: The 0.1.0 release will be accompanied by a call for testing to ensure the plugin’s architecture is sound across varied WordPress environments before more experimental features are built.
  • Technical Cleanup: Verbose documentation PRs (some possibly AI-generated) were merged with a plan to simplify them later. GitHubGitHub GitHub is a website that offers online implementation of git repositories that can easily be shared, copied and modified by other developers. Public repositories are free to host, private repositories require a paid subscription. GitHub introduced the concept of the ‘pull request’ where code changes done in branches by contributors can be reviewed and discussed before being merged by the repository owner. https://github.com/ Actions for linting/coding standards and a playground link for PR testing were merged to streamline the development process.

WordPress AI Client Update

The team is focusing development resources on releasing the first version of the WordPress-specific client to support the new features being built.

  • PHPPHP PHP (recursive acronym for PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor) is a widely-used open source general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for web development and can be embedded into HTML. https://www.php.net/manual/en/index.php AI Client Release: Version 0.2.0 of the core PHP AI client was released about a week and a half ago, including various fixes and enhancements.
  • WP AI Client Focus: The priority is now a rapid release of the WordPress AI Client (WP AI client) to prevent it from blocking the AI Experiments plugin development.
  • Initial Feature Set (0.1.0): The proposed WP AI client 0.1.0 release will include the WordPress-specific Prompt Builder, the credentials management settings screen, and the WordPress HTTPHTTP HTTP is an acronym for Hyper Text Transfer Protocol. HTTP is the underlying protocol used by the World Wide Web and this protocol defines how messages are formatted and transmitted, and what actions Web servers and browsers should take in response to various commands. client/transporter.
  • Server-Side Only MVPMinimum Viable Product "A minimum viable product (MVP) is a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers, and to provide feedback for future product development." - WikiPedia: The initial WP AI client release will only support LLM querying on the server side. The REST APIREST API The REST API is an acronym for the RESTful Application Program Interface (API) that uses HTTP requests to GET, PUT, POST and DELETE data. It is how the front end of an application (think “phone app” or “website”) can communicate with the data store (think “database” or “file system”) https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/ endpoint, which enables client-side querying, will be deferred to a subsequent release.

MCP AdapterMCP Adapter Translates WordPress abilities into Model Context Protocol format, allowing AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT to discover and invoke WordPress capabilities as tools, resources, and prompts. Milestones

Following a major refactor, the focus is on resolving immediate follow-up issues to unblock internal adoption.

  • Major Refactor Merged: The large Major Refactor PR was merged, moving the MCP Adapter into its 0.3.0 series.
  • Immediate Fixes: Small, subsequent PRs were opened to address remaining technical feedback, as the priority was to merge the large refactor and allow work on smaller, more manageable fixes.
  • Release Priority: The team plans to quickly review remaining issues and release version 0.3.0 immediately, as the older version (0.1.0) is now unusable due to changes in the shape of the abilities. The adapter is actively being used on internal Automattic projects, making a quick release essential.

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