Tag Archives: summary

neillmcshea 2:42 am on 25 October 2025
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Core-AI Contributor Check-in – Oct 22nd, 2025

The CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI team celebrated a major milestone this week: the Abilities 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. successfully merged into 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. release. This achievement marks the culmination of intense, last-minute work, and the team recognized the extraordinary effort required to meet the core feature freeze deadline.

With the foundational server-side API now in core, the team’s focus is immediately shifting to the future, specifically managing the client-side (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/.) portion of the Abilities API and planning the next phases for the AI Experiments 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. A major decision surfaced regarding the destination of the client-side code, with a consensus leaning toward moving it into 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 to leverage existing infrastructure and streamline future development.

The team is also cleaning up post-merge tasks, including resolving follow-up issues in the MCP Adapter and starting to define long-term maintenance and communication strategies for the new components now living in the WordPress core.

Key Highlights

🚀 Abilities API Shipped in WordPress 6.9 Beta

The server-side implementation of the Abilities API has successfully landed in the core WordPress beta, marking the project’s most significant milestone to date.

  • Core Integration Complete: The underlying server-side code for registering and retrieving abilities is now part of the WordPress 6.9 beta.
  • Team Recognition: The team gave a huge shout-out to Greg Ziółkowski for his “unyielding efforts” in finalizing the merge before the code freeze deadline.
  • Post-Merge Cleanup: Several related issues and documentation tasks in the Abilities API repository are being closed or moved, as the source of truth for the API now resides in the core WordPress develop repository.

💻 Client-Side Abilities and Future Development

The front-end portion of the Abilities API did not make the 6.9 beta deadline, prompting a major strategic discussion on its future home.

  • Client-Side Deferred: The JavaScript client-side code for abilities did not ship with 6.9, primarily due to the tight deadline and complexity, confirming that none of the client-side registration made it into the beta.
  • Strategic Move to Gutenberg: There is a strong consensus among the team and core contributorsCore Contributors Core contributors are those who have worked on a release of WordPress, by creating the functions or finding and patching bugs. These contributions are done through Trac. https://core.trac.wordpress.org. to move the client-side code to the Gutenberg repository.
    • Reasoning: This location offers the best “testing ground” and development environment, simplifying integration with the BlockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience. Editor and command palette, and aligns with the strategy of centralizing JavaScript development.
  • Repo Fate: The long-term plan is to archive the original Abilities API repository once the feature stabilizes in core, officially making the WordPress develop repository the source of truth for the server-side API.
  • Maintaining Compatibility: The team will continue to explore methods (like Composer packages) to ship polyfills for WordPress 6.8 and older, ensuring continuity for developers who need to support previous versions.

🧪 AI Experiments Plugin Progress

Development is continuing on the plugin designed to host experimental AI features.

  • Unblocking Contributors: The team is focused on merging final scaffolding PRs to unblock more contributors who are eager to start building experimental features.
  • Design North Star: A preliminary design discussion considered using a card format for enabling/disabling features (similar to the Add Plugin screen) to provide a familiar user interface.
  • Prioritizing Credentials: The most immediate need is the basic service provider settings screen to allow users to enter API credentials and start experimenting.
  • Design Contribution: Product design work and mockups are being pulled from Fueled resources to initiate discussions and provide a conceptual starting point, inviting broader community feedback on the Needs Design tasks.

📦 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/preface.php. Client and MCP Adapter Milestones

Work is progressing on the core developer tools that power the AI features.

  • PHP AI Client (0.2) Released: The core PHP client SDK had its 0.2 version released.
  • Native API Support De-prioritized: Work to use native provider APIs (e.g., for Google Gemini) was deemed not urgent, as the current OpenAI-centric API format is sufficient for initial experimentation.
  • MCP Adapter Major Merge: The significant Major Refactor PR (#48) in the MCP Adapter has been merged, though the resulting codebase requires immediate follow-up testing and small fixes before it can be tagged as version 0.3.
  • MCP Follow-up: Ovidiu Galatan is currently tackling several small, technical follow-up issues stemming from the large merge, with a plan to prioritize and organize them for community pickup before he goes on vacation.

🚀 Testing and Next Steps

The team emphasized the need for immediate, widespread testing to flush out bugs during the beta phase.

  • External Testing Commitment: David Levine plans to actively engage external parties, including the Elementor team, for migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. and testing next week to provide a crucial influx of real-world feedback.
  • Real-World Validation: The successful independent integration of 11 abilities into the GatherPress plugin provides valuable evidence of the API’s immediate utility.
  • Process Documentation: The current process of moving features from a feature repository into core is noted as a necessary step, and the team plans to document this handover process to create a clear path for future feature incubation.

#check-in, #core-ai, #meeting, #summary

Jonathan Bossenger 9:46 am on 21 October 2025
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AI Chat Summary – 16 October 2025

Location: #core-ai Slack Channel 

The bi-weekly CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI meeting was held on October 16th, 2025:

  • Abilities 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. Progress and Inclusion in WordPress 6.9
    • @isotropic and @jason_the_adams led a discussion focused on the urgent need to finalize the Abilities API for inclusion in the upcoming 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. release, scheduled for the following week.
  • Abilities API HooksHooks In WordPress theme and development, hooks are functions that can be applied to an action or a Filter in WordPress. Actions are functions performed when a certain event occurs in WordPress. Filters allow you to modify certain functions. Arguments used to hook both filters and actions look the same. and Extensibility
    • @jason_the_adams raised a discussion around the hooks needed to maintain an Abilities API 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 that can provide more bleeding edge features between core releases. @justlevine and @jason_the_adams agreed the current 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 hooks, like the *_args filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. and unshaped metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress., should allow for experimentation and future improvements.
  • Abilities API Categories and Filtering
    • @isotropic discussed the need for robust filtering of abilities, particularly for AI agents, but the group concluded the current categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. and meta system provides sufficient flexibility for now, with the responsibility of filtering abilities falling more on systems like MCP Adapter rather than the core Abilities API.
  • Abilities API and AI Experiments
    • @isotropic and @justlevine highlighted the need for abilities to support AI use cases, such as handling dates and inserting blocks, and encouraged @jmarx75 to create issues in the AI Experiments repo to propose new abilities. The group agreed these could start in experiments before potentially flowing into core.
  • Abilities API Documentation and Terminology
    • @karmatosed suggested adding a terms/glossary section to the Abilities API handbook to help provide clarity, and @justlevine referenced Tanstack’s “Philosophy” approach as a potential model for documenting the project’s beliefs and principles.

#core-ai, #meeting, #summary

neillmcshea 2:49 pm on 16 October 2025
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Core-AI Contributor Check-in – Oct 16th, 2025

This week’s meeting was characterized by an urgent focus on hitting the Friday milestone for the Abilities 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. to ensure inclusion in the upcoming 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. release (scheduled for the following week). The team quickly made a decision to formally extend the internal milestone deadline to Friday to allow time for critical reviews and merges.

The discussion revolved around which in-progress features (like categories, coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. abilities, and filtering) could realistically be finalized without introducing complexity or technical debt. The team prioritized confirming that the core functionality—registering and retrieving abilities—was done, while tabling or deferring more complex “icing on the cake” features like filtering. Jason Adams was tasked with raising an immediate decision point to leadership on whether to pull an in-progress feature if it could not be finalized quickly.

Finally, the team received exciting external validation as Jeff Marx shared that he had successfully implemented 11 abilities using the Abilities API in the GatherPress 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, demonstrating the API’s readiness for real-world plugin development.

Key Highlights

🗓️ Abilities API Deadline and Scope

The team established a firm internal deadline to complete all necessary work for the Abilities API to make it into the core WordPress 6.9 beta.

  • Milestone Reset: The internal milestone deadline was formally moved from Thursday to Friday to allow critical work to be completed without unnecessary panic.
  • Core Deadline: The target for core integration is tied to the WordPress 6.9 Beta 1 release, which is scheduled for the beginning of the following week (the 21st).
  • Core Functionality Complete: The essential goal for 6.9—the ability to register and retrieve abilities—is already complete.
  • Focus on Core, Defer “Icing”: The team prioritized shipping the core API and deferring optional features like filtering to avoid introducing complexity or missing the deadline. Filtering was deemed non-essential, as developers can always retrieve all abilities and filterFilter Filters are one of the two types of Hooks https://codex.wordpress.org/Plugin_API/Hooks. They provide a way for functions to modify data of other functions. They are the counterpart to Actions. Unlike Actions, filters are meant to work in an isolated manner, and should never have side effects such as affecting global variables and output. them manually.
  • Urgent Decision Point (Cherry on the Cake):
    • An in-progress feature (the “half cherry,” likely a complex required field like categories) was noted as partially merged on the 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/preface.php. side but lacking 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/./client-side completion.
    • Action: Jason Adams was tasked with getting an immediate decision from core leadership (James and Greg) by end of play the following day (Friday) on whether to pull the unfinished feature entirely or push for its completion by the new deadline.

Abilities API Core Features Status

The team reviewed the status of key features intended for the 6.9 core merge:

  • Categories (Grouping Mechanism):
    • Status: Work is in progress and is now required due to a prior decision.
    • Plan: Ovidiu Galatan committed to completing the implementation and aligning the MCP Adapter with the required categories today, provided the filtering work is paused.
  • Core Abilities:
    • Status: A draft PR exists but is unlikely to be fully reviewed, approved, and merged in time.
    • Decision: The team decided to defer most initial built-in core abilities (excluding the ability fetching ability) for now to avoid slowing down the overall 6.9 timeline.
  • Filtering:
    • Status: Work is in progress but is highly complex.
    • Decision: The team agreed to pause/punt the formal filtering feature as it is not a blocker for using the Abilities API.

Client and Experiments Update

The focus shifts to completing client tools now that the Abilities API is nearing its core deadline.

  • PHP AI Client (0.2): Jason Adams is finalizing PRs to prepare for the 0.2 release of the PHP client.
    • New Feature: A preferred model feature is being added, allowing developers to provide a prioritized list of models, with the client automatically falling back to the next available model that fits the prompt criteria.
  • WordPress AI Client (0.1): Development will ramp up on the WordPress AI client wrapper (0.1 release) in the coming weeks, especially once Jason Adams shifts to full-time work on the project.
  • Experiments Plugin: Work is continuing on design mockups and product definition for future features (V2/V3). The plugin’s release is not coupled to the WordPress 6.9 release, allowing the team to iterate on it until December 2nd and beyond.

External Validation and Testing

The project received positive external validation for the Abilities API.

  • GatherPress Integration: Jeff Marx reported successfully implementing 11 abilities in the GatherPress plugin over the weekend, demonstrating the API’s effectiveness for managing events and venues.
  • Actionable Feedback: David Levine offered to review Jeff’s code and potentially create a demo video, ensuring the new code serves as valuable prior art for future API refinement before the 6.9 core deadline.

MCP Adapter Status

Focus is shifting back to the adapter now that Abilities API is nearing completion.

  • Major Refactor PR: The largest outstanding piece of work, Ovi’s Major Refactor PR, needs final review.
  • Next Steps: Ovi will align the adapter’s code with the newly required categories from the Abilities API. Once this is done and reviews are complete, the team plans to merge the PR and bump the version to the next major iteration (e.g., 0.3) to move past this stalled point.
  • Issue Cleanup: The team closed an old, ambiguous issue related to version numbering (issue 40) to reduce confusion.

#core-ai, #meeting, #summary

neillmcshea 3:52 am on 9 October 2025
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Core-AI Contributor Check-in – Oct 8th, 2025

This week’s meeting focused on updating the team on various component progress, including the Abilities 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., AI Experiments 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, and 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/preface.php./WordPress AI Clients. A major announcement was the deployment of the MCP adapter on WordPress.comWordPress.com An online implementation of WordPress code that lets you immediately access a new WordPress environment to publish your content. WordPress.com is a private company owned by Automattic that hosts the largest multisite in the world. This is arguably the best place to start blogging if you have never touched WordPress before. https://wordpress.com/, marking a significant step in dogfooding the new technology.

The primary discussion points centered on scope and definitions for the Abilities API, particularly what constitutes a required vs. optional parameter, and how to define “metaMeta Meta is a term that refers to the inside workings of a group. For us, this is the team that works on internal WordPress sites like WordCamp Central and Make WordPress..” The team also had an in-depth conversation about the user experience for AI settings, specifically managing provider credentials and feature toggles, acknowledging the high friction point this represents for users.

Key Highlights

Announcements & Overall Progress

  • MCP Adapter on WordPress.com: The MCP (Modular Capabilities Package) adapter has been deployedDeploy Launching code from a local development environment to the production web server, so that it's available to visitors. and is actively being used on WordPress.com, confirming its real-world application.
  • Roadmap Review: Tammie Lister proposed wrapping up the roadmap discussion issue to maintain flow and actionability.
  • Abilities Repo Health: The Abilities Repository has 11 PRs and 1 draft, with five issues in the current milestone, signaling good progress.
  • MCP Repo Structure: Neill McShea and David Levine have scheduled a meeting to clarify and structure the MCP repository information, allowing for more detailed updates in the future.

Abilities API & Scope Management

  • Categories Requirement: The team agreed that a grouping mechanism (like “categories”) needs to be a required parameter from the first iteration of the Abilities API.
    • Reasoning: This is crucial for future-proofing, ensuring order in a potential “wild west” of abilities, and allowing for filtering when there are thousands of tools in WordPress.
  • Meta vs. Root-Level Arguments: A long discussion was held to define a clear boundary for placing arguments in the meta object versus at the root level of an ability.
    • Proposed Definition: Root-level arguments should be for anything required to execute the action (e.g., input/output schema, callback functions). Meta should be for anything descriptive, optional, or speculative/experimental that is not required for execution (e.g., annotations, show in REST, show in MCP).
    • Action: Jason Adams will work on a clear, concrete definition to be documented.
  • Scope Concern: David Levine raised a concern about “scope creep” and “shipping tech debt,” urging the team to confirm that currently planned speculative features (like annotations) are truly necessary for the first release, given that CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. does not easily remove features once they ship.

AI Client Updates

  • PHP AI Client (0.2): Felix Arntz is prioritizing the release of a 0.2 version of the PHP AI Client, with most work already complete and just a few outstanding PRs.
  • WordPress AI Client (Wrapper): The team needs to make a decision on whether the client wrapper should adjust for WordPress coding standardsWordPress Coding Standards The Accessibility, PHP, JavaScript, CSS, HTML, etc. coding standards as published in the WordPress Coding Standards Handbook. May also refer to The collection of PHP_CodeSniffer rules (sniffs) used to format and validate PHP code developed for WordPress according to the PHP coding standards. (e.g., snake_case functions and returning WP_Error) instead of strictly adhering to PHP’s best practices (camelCase functions and throwing exceptions).

AI Experiments Plugin

  • Issues and Mockups: Jeff Paul reported new issues opened, aligning with the roadmap, including the need to wrap up product definition and design mockups for future versions (V0.2 and V0.3).
  • Engineering Starts: Engineering work from the Fueled side is scheduled to begin within the next week or so.
  • Abilities Integration: The key question remains: which Abilities API features (those that will land in 6.9) will be exposed and built upon within the AI Experiments plugin?

Basic Admin Setting Screen UXUX UX is an acronym for User Experience - the way the user uses the UI. Think ‘what they are doing’ and less about how they do it.

  • Two Settings Concerns: There are two main concerns for the settings screen: 1) Provider Credentials and 2) Feature Toggles (enabling/disabling specific AI experiments).
  • Centralized Provider Settings: The ideal approach is to have a single, central screen to configure one or more AI providers, which all AI plugins (both Core and third-party) could then leverage. This prevents users from having to enter the same credentials multiple times.
  • Component-Based UIUI UI is an acronym for User Interface - the layout of the page the user interacts with. Think ‘how are they doing that’ and less about what they are doing.: The team discussed the need for reusable UI components that allow individual feature settings pages to either select a pre-configured provider or offer a graceful flow (e.g., a modal) to add a new one without forcing the user to bounce out to the main settings page.
  • Friction Point: Tammy Lister and Jeff Paul emphasized that provider setup is the highest friction point for user adoption, requiring an emphasis on clear, informative design, especially regarding token usage and potential costs.

#core-ai, #meeting, #summary

neillmcshea 1:29 am on 2 October 2025
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Core-AI Contributor Check-in – Oct 1st, 2025

High-Level Call Summary

The meeting focused primarily on progressing the Abilities 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. and the MCP Adapter for the upcoming 6.9 release, establishing clear next steps, and making key decisions to keep momentum. A spirit of urgency and a commitment to an iterative, “alpha” approach to early development were evident, particularly for the MCP Adapter, to avoid accruing technical debt and to accelerate testing. Key outcomes included narrowing the scope for abilities included in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. 6.9 (focusing on the API itself and a few small, stable tools), agreeing to introduce categories as a required part of ability registration, and setting a plan to merge the major refactor of the MCP Adapter to enable wider testing. The team also celebrated a key personnel announcement regarding a transition to an AI-related engineering leadership role at Automatic.

Topics and Supporting Highlights

Abilities API Update & Milestones

The team reviewed the status of the Abilities API, which is a key focus for the upcoming release. A strong emphasis was placed on making necessary decisions quickly, with a general consensus that decisions could be made asynchronously due to high engagement.

  • The team is aiming for an optimistic release plan of one milestone, but pessimistically planning for a pre-6.9 and a 6.9 milestone.
  • There are several issues currently without milestones that need to be prioritized.
  • The project has 10 open Pull Requests (PRs), with 3 failing tests and 7 needing approval before they can be shipped or slated for a release.
  • A decision on issue #30 related to tooling over repos was postponed to prioritize 6.9 tasks.
  • Decisions regarding milestones were mostly made asynchronously due to team members jumping in and adding comments.

Abilities API: Core Inclusion & Roadmap

A major discussion point centered on the scope of abilities to include in the core 6.9 release, ultimately favoring a limited approach.

  • The Abilities API itself is the primary achievement for 6.9.
  • The decision was made to ship only one or two very small, stable tools with the core Abilities API in 6.9.
  • Greg’s proposed site info was highlighted as a good candidate for a core ability, as it’s a base unit of WordPress with useful information.
  • The longer list of proposed abilities (Issue #52) will be moved to the Experiments 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 to allow for broader testing and exploration of different implementation approaches (e.g., naming conventions).
  • The roadmap for the Abilities API will be updated and shipped following the decision to limit core tools.

Abilities API: Categories Decision

A critical feature for organizing and exposing abilities to the AI was discussed and agreed upon.

  • The team agreed that categories should be a required part of registering an ability in the API.
  • This feature is necessary for the MCP Adapter to present an “approachable, discoverable set of abilities” to the AI, rather than “throwing every single ability” at it.
  • Ovi is committed to owning the Pull Request (PR) to implement categories in both the Abilities API and the MCP Adapter repos.
  • It was clarified that a way to register a categoryCategory The 'category' taxonomy lets you group posts / content together that share a common bond. Categories are pre-defined and broad ranging. separately will be needed since a category must have a description.

MCP Adapter Update and Stability

The discussion around the MCP Adapter focused on accelerating its release and addressing community concerns about the stability of the protocol itself.

  • The major refactor (0.3/third iteration) is considered a “developer version” or “alpha” and should be merged and released as soon as possible to allow for testing.
  • The team agreed to not worry about technical debt or deprecation warnings at this early, experimental stage, and to simply remove deprecated code in the current PR.
  • The goal is to have the 0.3 version available during 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. period as the officially linked version in announcement posts.
  • Community concern about MCP’s stability was addressed by reiterating that the adapter approach was specifically chosen to future-proof the Abilities API; if the MCP protocol changes or another standard emerges (like “TypeCP”), the Abilities API remains reusable with a new adapter.
  • A plan was made to publish a blog post or strong communication before 6.9 to clarify the adaptive nature of the Abilities API and address these stability concerns.
  • James and (possibly) Jonathan will “tag team” a post to encourage the 70 Core AI contributors to go test the new adapter release.

Action Items & Next Steps for the Week

This heading focuses on the immediate, assigned tasks and plans discussed to be completed before the next check-in.

  • Ship the MCP Adapter: The primary action is for Ovidiu and James to proceed with merging and releasing the major refactor (0.3) of the MCP Adapter after final review, despite its “alpha” state.
  • Write Testing/Announcement Post: James and Jonathan will collaborate on a post (likely a blog post or SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. announcement) to encourage testing of the newly released MCP Adapter, setting clear boundaries and opportunities for community engagement.
  • Implement Categories PR: Ovidiu committed to creating the Pull Requests for the Abilities API and the MCP Adapter to implement categories as a required field for registering an ability.
  • Update and Publish Roadmaps: Tammy will finalize updates to the Abilities API roadmap (Issue #83) and the Experiments roadmap based on the decisions made (e.g., scoping the number of core abilities).
  • Check on Built-in Abilities: James will confirm with Greg (or another team member) the creation of the two basic, built-in abilities for 6.9 core (e.g., site info).

Contribution & Workflow Reminders

This section pulls out a specific process reminder about crediting contributors and mentions general developer exploration.

  • Co-Author Credit for PRs: Jeff reminded the team to be mindful of using the generated co-author-by text on PR comments when merging commits to ensure proper, liberal credit is given to all contributors (filtering out simple “+1, great idea” comments).
  • Modular Architecture Focus: A general architectural desire was restated to keep all features modular to easily pull features in and out, avoiding complex dependencies.
  • Future Ability Exploration: James noted an interest in doing personal exploration (not assigned work) using tools like GPT-5 Pro to test various ability naming conventions (e.g., verb naming) to see which is most effective for different AI models.
  • Potential for Non-AI Adapters: The idea was briefly resurfaced that the Abilities API could potentially be used to create adapters for non-AI contexts, like a command line (CLICLI Command Line Interface. Terminal (Bash) in Mac, Command Prompt in Windows, or WP-CLI for WordPress.) or REST interface, providing “free” functionality for simple plugins.

Contribution & Workflow Reminders

The team addressed internal best practices and forward-looking architectural ideas, focusing on how contributions are credited and the potential future uses of the Abilities API structure.

  • Potential for Non-AI Adapters: The idea was briefly resurfaced that the Abilities API could potentially be used to create adapters for non-AI contexts, like a command line (CLI) or REST interface, providing “free” functionality for simple plugins.
  • Future Ability Exploration: James noted an interest in doing personal exploration (not assigned work) using tools like GPT-5 Pro to test various ability naming conventions (e.g., verb naming) to see which is most effective for different AI models.
  • Co-Author Credit for PRs: Jeff reminded the team to be mindful of using the generated co-author-by text on PR comments when merging commits to ensure proper, liberal credit is given to all contributors (filtering out simple “+1, great idea” comments).

Community Feedback & Strategic Communication

Proactive communication is planned to address community concerns regarding technical decisions and highlight the strategic approach being taken.

  • Plan Proactive Announcement: A commitment was made to publish a clear, strategic announcement (likely a blog post before 6.9) to explain the decoupled adapter architecture and celebrate its future-proofing advantage.
  • Defend the Adapter Approach: The response emphasizes that the Abilities API’s decoupled adapter architecture is the precise solution to community questions about the stability of the MCP protocol, allowing the core to remain stable regardless of external protocol changes.
  • Address MCP Stability Concerns: The team acknowledged the recurring community question about the stability of the MCP protocol and the risk of it being superseded by a better standard.

Action Items & Next Steps for the Week

The team established a short list of immediate, assigned tasks to be completed to maintain momentum toward the 6.9 release.

  • Check on Built-in Abilities: James will confirm with Greg (or another team member) the creation of the two basic, built-in abilities for 6.9 core (e.g., site info).
  • Update and Publish Roadmaps: Tammy will finalize updates to the Abilities API roadmap (Issue #83) and the Experiments roadmap based on the decisions made (e.g., scoping the number of core abilities).
  • Implement Categories PR: Ovidiu committed to creating the Pull Requests for the Abilities API and the MCP Adapter to implement categories as a required field for registering an ability.
  • Write Testing/Announcement Post: James and Jonathan will collaborate on a post (likely a blog post or Slack announcement) to encourage testing of the newly released MCP Adapter, setting clear boundaries and opportunities for community engagement.
  • Ship the MCP Adapter: The primary action is for Ovidiu and James to proceed with merging and releasing the major refactor (0.3) of the MCP Adapter after final review, despite its “alpha” state.

#core-ai, #meeting, #summary

Jonathan Bossenger 6:47 am on 26 September 2025
Tags: , , summary   

AI Chat Summary – 18 September 2025

Location: #core-ai Slack Channel 

Agenda: No formal agenda this week

The bi-weekly CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI meeting was held on September 18th, 2025:

Key discussion points:

  • 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. 1: A reminder that the beta is scheduled for October 21st and when the first iteration of the Abilities 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 be merged into core.
  • Changing Package Type: @justlevine raised a topic about changing the package type of the Abilities API from a library to wordpress-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. @isotropic agreed to the change as it doesn’t impact existing plugins. However, he suggests it’s important to note in the docs and messaging that this is going core, and not intended to be a plugin. Currently the suggested way to use this pre 6.9 is using Composer to install it into the vendor directory. A good example of this is how WooCommerce has done it.
  • Composer Package Expectations: The team wants to define what they expect from a Composer package to align with architectural decisions.
  • Client-Side Abilities in 6.9: @isotropic expressed interest in including the client-side abilities in WordPress 6.9, noting that the relevant PRs are in a good state. However, the method of inclusion and the specific abilities to ship need to be determined.
  • Number of Abilities in Core: There was a consensus to include a minimal number of “sparkly” (i.e., impactful) abilities in 6.9, with the option to add more later. @flixos90 cited 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/. as an example of an API shipped with few initial endpoints that were later expanded.
  • “Discover Abilities” as a First Ability: @justlevine suggested making “discovering abilities” the first ability, referencing ChatGPT’s initial connector specification.
  • MCP Adapter 0.2.0 Release: @psykro requested a 0.2.0 version of the MCP adapter, as only 0.1.0 is currently available on Packagist. This would allow for easier access to the latest code for demos. @ovidiu-galatan has a large pull request that could be considered for this release, despite its size, to avoid delaying needed functionality.

Decisions and Next Steps:

  • @isotropic and @gziolo will drive the conversation in the issues next week to decide on client inclusion and what abilities will ship in 6.9, aiming for a decision by mid-next week.
  • A release discussion issue will be created to set up a milestone for the MCP adapter 0.2.0 release.

#core-ai, #meeting, #summary

Jonathan Bossenger 7:20 am on 31 July 2025
Tags: , , , summary   

AI Chat Summary – 24 July 2025

Location: #core-ai Slack Channel 

Agenda: AI Chat Agenda – 24 July 2025

The bi-weekly WordPress CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. AI meeting on July 24, 2025, focused on the AI Building Blocks roadmap. Key celebrations included the publication of the roadmap, all four repositories going live, the first 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/preface.php. AI Client PR being merged, and the growing community interest.

The four interconnected AI Building Blocks discussed are:

  1. PHP AI Client: A provider-agnostic LLM interface that provides a unified way to interact with LLMs, inferring model requirements based on prompts.
  2. Abilities API: Creates a central registry for WordPress capabilities, making them discoverable and accessible to AI agents and automation tools. This transforms WordPress into a unified system for AI interaction and will allow plugins to expose their functionalities. A key consideration is ensuring careful implementation when AI agents are given editing abilities, potentially leveraging the RevisionsRevisions The WordPress revisions system stores a record of each saved draft or published update. The revision system allows you to see what changes were made in each revision by dragging a slider (or using the Next/Previous buttons). The display indicates what has changed in each revision. 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..
  3. MCP Adapter: Implements the Model Context Protocol (MCP) to connect WordPress with external AI assistants like Claude and ChatGPT, enabling them to discover and execute actions on a WordPress site. WordPress aims to act as both an MCP server (exposing its functionality) and client (connecting to other MCP servers).
  4. AI Experiments: A 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 that brings all AI Building Blocks together into practical implementations, serving as WordPress’s AI laboratory and a reference for developers. (This segment was cut short due to time constraints but details were provided for async exploration).

Discussions also touched upon:

  • Local AI Inference: The PHP Client will support local models, with specifics on how this will be surfaced in the AI Experiments plugin yet to be determined.
  • Privacy: The use of site-specific WordPress data by AI agents raises privacy concerns, emphasizing the need for isolated and smart implementations.
  • PHP Version Support: The current PHP AI Client is built with PHP 7.4 backward compatibility, with plans to align with WordPress Core’s PHP requirements when considering merging into Core.
  • Distribution Strategy: The AI Building Blocks will be distributed as Canonical and Feature Plugins using Composer packages, allowing developers to use them in production before potential inclusion in WordPress Core.

Attendees were encouraged to continue discussions on 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 be the repository owner. https://github.com/ issues for the individual projects and in the #core-ai SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/. channel. The next chat is scheduled for August 7.

#core-ai, #docs, #meeting, #summary

Jonathan Bossenger 2:06 pm on 11 July 2025
Tags: , , , summary   

AI Chat Summary – 10 July 2025

Location: #core-ai Slack Channel

Agenda: No formal agenda

This summary covers the key discussion points from the last bi-weekly AI chat in the Make WordPress SlackSlack Slack is a Collaborative Group Chat Platform https://slack.com/. The WordPress community has its own Slack Channel at https://make.wordpress.org/chat/.. This week, the discussion focused on the 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/preface.php. AI Client SDK.

1. PHP AI Client SDK – Project Status and Discussion

2. Defining User Audiences: Extenders vs. Implementors

  • @jason_the_adams highlighted a distinction regarding the SDK’s users and its impact on design:
    • Extenders: Highly technical users who will extend the client by adding providers and models. The APIs for this group will be technical to ensure well-defined integrations.
    • Implementors: Developers who want to use the client for features like generating alt text without needing deep knowledge of AI models. The goal for this 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. surface is ease of use and simplicity, minimizing the need to understand underlying AI complexities.
  • @flixos90 clarified that the implementor API would still allow granular customization, but such advanced options would not be mandatory.
  • @jeffpaul also noted that some users might operate at the intersection of both roles. 
  • The overall idea to “make the easy things easy, and the hard things possible” was reiterated as a guiding principle. 
  • The distinction between the two API surfaces is outlined in the SDK’s architecture requirements.

3. Fluent API vs. Traditional Method Calls

A significant part of the discussion revolved around the proposed shift to a Fluent API for the implementor surface, contrasting it with the traditional method call pattern inspired by the Vercel AI SDK.

  • Fluent API Advocates: @jason_the_adams and @flixos90 provided code examples demonstrating the cleaner, more declarative, and readable nature of a Fluent API (e.g., `Ai::prompt(…)->generateImage();`).
    • They agreed it would reduce errors and typos associated with nested arrays in traditional approaches. 
    • @borkweb later echoed strong support, noting its discoverability in IDEs.
  • Proposed Approach: @flixos90 suggested updating the proposed architecture to prioritize the Fluent API while allowing the traditional method-based API as a wrapper.
    • @jason_the_adams advised starting with the Fluent API first, as it’s easier to add the traditional API later than to remove it.

4. Token Usage and Response Metadata

  • @dunhakdis raised the importance of standardizing token-usage data exposure, suggesting that the SDK should consistently provide metadata regardless of the AI provider. 
  • @jason_the_adams elaborated on three types of prompt returns:
    • Result object: Contains comprehensive data and is synchronously returned.
    • Operation object: For asynchronous, long-running requests.
    • Ease-of-use method: Directly retrieves the intended value from the Result object.

5. Open Floor: Researching Triage Opportunities

  • @karmatosed inquired about collaborating on research into AI systems for easing CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress./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/ ticket triage. 
  • @flixos90 suggested using 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 be the repository owner. https://github.com/ discussions for these asynchronous conversations, a proposal @karmatosed welcomed.

Props to @jeffpaul for review.

#core-ai, #docs, #meeting, #summary

Tammie Lister 9:40 pm on 26 June 2025
Tags: , , , summary   

AI Chat Summary – 26 June 2025

Location: #core-ai Slack Channel

Agenda: AI Chat Agenda – 26 June 2025

Project Administration

  • @isotropic outlined 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 be the repository owner. https://github.com/ project setup to coordinate WordPress AI efforts.
  • Introduced the new php-ai-client GitHub repository.
  • Plans for related repos for other “building blockBlock Block is the abstract term used to describe units of markup that, composed together, form the content or layout of a webpage using the WordPress editor. The idea combines concepts of what in the past may have achieved with shortcodes, custom HTML, and embed discovery into a single consistent API and user experience.” focuses such as MCP and unified tool registry.

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/preface.php. AI Client SDK

TL;DR: The php-ai-client SDK will be a vendor-neutral PHP foundation, extended by a WordPress-specific layer.

  • @flixos90 described the php-ai-client as:
    • A platform-agnostic PHP SDK for connecting to AI models.
    • Designed to be extensibleExtensible This is the ability to add additional functionality to the code. Plugins extend the WordPress core software. and vendor-neutral.
  • @isotropic noted a WordPress-specific layer would build on this foundation.
  • @dan2k3k4 mentioned external contributions from amazee.ai aiming to integrate AI provider support.

Provider Inclusion, Structure, and Extensibility

TL;DR: Provider support will be modular and extensible, starting with initially identified vendors. Proxy architecture and advanced features like cost management are key priorities.

  • @flixos90 introduced provider inclusion strategies:
    • No providers bundled (all external).
    • All providers bundled (with strict criteria).
    • Selective bundling based on clear criteria.
    • Highlighted difficulty of setting unbiased, verifiable inclusion rules.
    • Suggested a stakeholder approval process for new providers.
    • Recommended starting with “big 3” providers (OpenAI, Anthropic, Google) in separate branches.
    • Preferred eventual migrationMigration Moving the code, database and media files for a website site from one server to another. Most typically done when changing hosting companies. of providers to separate repositories.
  • @isotropic favored:
    • Bundling widely adopted providers with stable APIs.
    • Documenting unofficial provider modules with potential promotion based on usage.
  • @jason_the_adams and others discussed monorepo versus multiple repositories for managing provider modules.
  • Proxy provider and hosting integration emphasized by @jason_the_adams and @isotropic, with @flixos90 adding SDK architectural support for proxying.
  • Advanced feature support discussed by@zhendershot and @flixos90 including cost management, model routing handled at WordPress-specific layer with extensibility.
  • @jeffpaul referenced WordPress’s OEmbed provider process as a precedent: WordPress Core Trac Ticket #58840
  • Roadmap outlined for integrating AI features into WordPress with no near-term coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. merge planned.

Proxy Providers and Hosting

TL;DR: Hosting providers may bundle AI capabilities via proxies. Integration with hosts like amazee.ai is underway to drive adoption.

  • @jason_the_adams detailed proxy use cases where hosts bundle AI credits and monitor usage.
  • @isotropic and @flixos90 discussed:
    • Host registration of providers versus proxying.
    • SDK’s capability to route requests via proxy endpoints.
  • @dan2k3k4 shared amazee.ai’s intent to be a provider and collaboration efforts with WordPress agencies.
  • @jason_the_adams emphasized hosting adoption is key for WordPress AI success.

Repository Architecture

TL;DR: Monorepo favored for adaptability, but some prefer modular repos for clearer issue and project management.

  • @jason_the_adams advocated for monorepo structure for flexibility and version management.
  • @karmatosed preferred separate repositories for better project and issue management.
  • @isotropic supported monorepo approach for adaptability and hosting flexibility.

Roadmap and Core Integration

TL;DR: Project will roll out as a Canonical/Feature PluginFeature Plugin A plugin that was created with the intention of eventually being proposed for inclusion in WordPress Core. See Features as Plugins. first, with no immediate plans to merge into WordPress core.

  • @sirlouen asked whether the project aligns more with a Feature Plugin than Core at this stage.
  • @flixos90 and @isotropic agreed:
    • Phased approach with separate packages.
    • No immediate core merge planned.
    • WordPress-specific code expected to ship initially as a Feature Plugin.

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/. Handling

TL;DR: REST API specs may live in the SDK repo, but broader design and GraphQL parity are being considered. Further discussion will continue on GitHub.

  • @jason_the_adams expressed enthusiasm for REST API specification residing in the php-ai-client repo: REQUIREMENTS.md in php-ai-client
  • @flixos90 agreed:
    • It’s a good idea worthy of further discussion.
    • Leans pragmatic but sees broader specification’s scalability benefits.
    • Encouraged ongoing discussions in php-ai-client GitHub repository
  • @justlevine hopes:
    • REST handling remains outside core SDK.
    • WPGraphQL aims to offer 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. parity.
  • @jason_the_adams committed to raising topics as GitHub issues.

Props to @jeffpaul for review.

#core-ai, #docs, #meeting, #summary

Tammie Lister 10:29 pm on 13 June 2025
Tags: , , , summary   

AI Chat Summary – 12 June 2025

Location: #core-ai Slack Channel

Theme: Next Steps After WordCampWordCamp WordCamps are casual, locally-organized conferences covering everything related to WordPress. They're one of the places where the WordPress community comes together to teach one another what they’ve learned throughout the year and share the joy. Learn more. Europe + Building Blocks for AI in WordPress

Meeting Overview

The AI Team discussed strategic next steps following WordCamp Europe and recent Hallway Hangouts. The focus was on identifying foundational building blocks to support AI development in WordPress, while balancing innovation with long-term maintainability and backward compatibility.

Foundational Strategy & Technical Architecture

CoreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. Building Blocks for AI in WordPress

TLDR: Foundational technical architecture to enable flexible AI development.

The AI Team outlined a three-part “Building Blocks” strategy for AI in WordPress:

  1. Provider-Agnostic LLM Client Abstraction – A shared 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/preface.php. abstraction layer for interacting with different LLM providers.
  2. Tool & Resource Definition / Registration – A system to register site features (“abilities”) that LLMs can understand and interact with.
  3. Integration Bridges (e.g., MCP) – Support for protocols like MCP to connect WordPress to external AI tools and ecosystems.

A showcase 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 also planned to demonstrate these concepts working together and help developers build on top of the stack.

Shared LLM Abstraction Layer

TLDR: A PHP package to enable provider-agnostic LLM support across plugins and frameworks.

  • PHP lacks a shared LLM abstraction; most WP plugins today hard-code provider-specific integrations.
  • @flixos90 shared ai-services, a plugin that abstracts LLM provider access, with plans to extract it into a PHP-agnostic package.
  • @isotropic confirmed similar needs exist in Laravel and other PHP projects.
  • @swissspidy  noted this as a leadership opportunity for WordPress within the PHP ecosystem.
  • @schnitzel86 (Drupal) expressed interest in collaborating on shared tooling.
  • @johnbillion added that Laravel/Symfony contributors likely face the same challenges.

Tool & Resource Registry + MCP Integration

TLDR: Defining features that AI can understand and interact with, using standards like MCP.

  • MCP (Model Context Protocol) allows LLMs to connect with tools across software platforms.
  • Tools like data fetching, publishing, and media access can be exposed via MCP or standalone.
  • @isotropic noted MCP is maturing rapidly and may signal converging best practices around tools/resources.
  • @flixos90 suggested MCP integration could support both external use (e.g. desktop clients) and internal use (e.g. admin-side agents).
  • @swissspidy highlighted WordPress media handling as an ideal “resource” use case.

AI Feature Registration and Cross-System Integration

TLDR: Inspired by the Feature 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.: registering “abilities” LLMs can use via protocols like MCP.

  • Inspired by the Feature API, the team envisions a system for registering “abilities” that LLMs can query.
  • Enables workflows from simple button-triggered AI actions to multi-tool agents.
  • Protocols like MCP act as bridges, exposing these capabilities to other systems or importing tools from platforms like 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 be the repository owner. https://github.com/.
  • Early prototypes include AI-Command and WordPress MCP.

Sustainable Development and Tech Debt Strategy

TLDR: Avoiding early lock-in by using canonical plugins and adapter-based architecture.

  • AI tech is evolving rapidly; WordPress must guard against locking into unstable patterns.
  • The team favors:
    • Canonical plugins as the main innovation space.
    • WordPress-first adapters to shield internal APIs from volatile protocols.
    • Keeping most work Core-adjacent unless clearly stable.
  • @isotropic emphasized an “adapter-style” approach.
  • @flixos90 added that AI is still early and most tooling doesn’t belong in Core yet.
  • @jeffpaul supported this modular approach as a way to iterate quickly and responsibly.

Implementation Focus: Use Cases & Experiments

AI-Powered Triage for Plugins, Themes, and Tickets

TLDR: Exploring how AI can assist with reviews and moderation across WordPress.orgWordPress.org The community site where WordPress code is created and shared by the users. This is where you can download the source code for WordPress core, plugins and themes as well as the central location for community conversations and organization. https://wordpress.org/.

  • Triage (plugin/theme/ticket review) is a prime use case for AI.
  • @karmatosed: wants to apply AI to triage but with “just enough structure.”
  • Unattributed: many OSS projects are already experimenting here.
  • @isotropic: pointed to dosu.dev as a model.
  • @SirLouen: cautioned against skipping over simple automation.
  • @flixos90 noted traditional tools may be more effective for well-defined tasks.
  • @justlevine: urged reinforcing static analysis and quality tooling first (e.g. PHPStan).

AI for Documentation and Contributor Support

TLDR: Generating user-facing docs with LLMs and streamlining onboarding materials.

  • @estelaris is testing LLMs (e.g. ChatGPT) to generate user-facing docs using the WordPress glossary and style guide.
  • Current content is inaccurate or off-tone, but long-term goal is full automation from feature videos or releases.
  • @jeffpaul confirmed AI Team support for helping Make teams adopt AI — especially #docs.

RAG and Vector Support in WordPress

TLDR: Future consideration for retrieval-augmented generation and vector-based search as MySQLMySQL MySQL is a relational database management system. A database is a structured collection of data where content, configuration and other options are stored. https://www.mysql.com/. evolves.

  • @pbiron: asked about support for RAG workflows and vector-based search.
    • Noted MySQL 9’s experimental vector data types.
  • @isotropic: shared past prototype wpvdb.
    • Suggested future support for vector/hybrid search in WP_Query or 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/..
  • @jeffpaul: emphasized exploring early so the community is informed when it’s time to act.

Governance, Culture & Infrastructure

Culture of Collaboration, Governance, and Experimentation

TLDR: Creating a space for decentralized innovation, sharing results, and team autonomy.

  • @isotropic: proposed a collaborative “opportunity areas” list for AI across teams.
  • @isotropic: proposed publishing it on Make/Core to help teams self-organize vs needing AI team ownership.
  • @estelaris: encouraged publishing experiments and results on Make blogs.
  • @flixos90: urged matching the right tool to the job — not every problem needs an LLM.
  • @justlevine: emphasized we need stronger foundations before layering AI on top.

Technical Planning: GitHub Strategy and Infra

TLDR: Deciding between monorepo vs multi-repo setups to support scalable collaboration.

  • Discussed whether to use a monorepo or individual GitHub repos.
  • This will impact collaboration, package structure, and release processes.
  • Team will aim for clarity by mid-next week via async discussion.

Philosophy: Canonical First, Core When Ready

TLDR: A clear development ethos: iterate fast in plugins, stabilize before touching Core.

WordPress’s long-term success with AI depends on:

  • Starting with canonical plugins and packages.
  • Building adapter-style architecture to insulate Core from churn.
  • Encouraging a culture of open experimentation, documentation, and shared learning.
  • Letting the best ideas bubble up through real-world usage and community support.

Open Next Steps & To-Dos

  • Decide GitHub Repo Structure
    Async discussion this week to determine whether to use a monorepo or split repositories for AI-related work.
    Target: Clarity by mid-next week (June 19–20).
  • Extract ai-services into Shared PHP Package
    @flixos90 shared an early version. Action needed to extract and formalize this for community use.
  • Prototype Showcase Plugin
    A new plugin is planned to demonstrate how LLM client abstraction, tool registration, and MCP integration work together. Contributors welcome.
  • Document AI Opportunity Areas
    @isotropic suggested publishing a public list of cross-team AI opportunities (e.g. Docs, Design, Triage).
    Goal: Help Make teams self-organize without AI team bottlenecks.
  • Encourage Make Team Experiments
    Encourage publishing early use cases and learnings (e.g., Docs experiments from @estelaris) on Make/Core or respective team blogs.
  • Explore RAG + Vector Support Path
    Initial interest flagged around integrating MySQL 9 vector types and reviving the wpvdb prototype. More research needed.
  • Continue Triaging AI in Contributor Workflows
    Discussion to continue on how to balance static analysis tools (e.g., PHPStan) with LLM-based systems like dosu.dev.

Props to @jeffpaul for review.

#core-ai, #meeting, #summary