The AI Contributor group met on February 18, 2026, to discuss the upcoming WordPress 7.0 release, the evolution of the AI Client, and architectural decisions regarding Abilities.
WordPress 7.0 and the AI Client
The meeting opened with a heavy focus on the uncertainty surrounding the inclusion of the AI Client in WordPress 7.0. @isotropic shared insights from a recent conversation with @matt, noting a shift in focus toward how credentials and 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. keys are managed globally in WordPress, rather than just for AI.
- Credential Management: There is interest from leadership in a unified “Connectors” screen in coreCore Core is the set of software required to run WordPress. The Core Development Team builds WordPress. for various services (AI, Google Maps, etc.).
- Release Timing: With the 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 deadline looming, the team expressed concern that there is insufficient time to implement a complex credential system. If clarity isn’t reached immediately, the AI Client may be pushed to 7.1 or remain a canonical 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. for the time being.
- Developer Impact: The team discussed the friction of making the AI Client a plugin dependency versus a core feature, noting that core inclusion is vital for widespread developer adoption and a seamless “under-the-hood” experience.
Abilities: Deciding on Nested Namespaces
A significant portion of the technical discussion centered on how Abilities (aka, tools that AI can call) should be named and registered (see #64596).
- The Decision: The team reached a consensus to support nested namespaces (e.g.,
core/settings/getorcore/post-type/update). - Rationale: @justlevine and @jorgefilipecosta argued that nesting is an existing WordPress pattern (similar to 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/) and allows for better progressive disclosure and organization as the number of available abilities grows into the hundreds or thousands. - Path Forward: Existing single-level abilities (like
get_settings) may be reverted or updated to follow the new nested convention to maintain consistency.
Experiments and MCP Updates
- 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.: Version 0.3.1 was released today with a fix for image generation. Plans for 0.4.0 are underway, though some features (like DataViews) are on hold until the core AI Client direction is finalized.
- Model Context Protocol (MCP): @neillmcshea will be diving back into MCP support next week to coordinate with ongoing PRs from the community.
Evolution of Bi-Weekly AI Team Chat (aka 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/ Meeting)
The nature of the bi-weekly Thursday Slack meetings is shifting toward a more community-centric, interactive format. Moving away from rigid agendas, these sessions will now serve as an “Office Hours” and “Show-and-Tell” space.
The goal is to foster a dynamic environment where:
- Community Experiments: Developers can highlight local experiments, like the recently mentioned “Abilities Scout” or MCP integrations, to get immediate feedback.
- Visual Demos: Contributors are encouraged to share videos or screenshots of AI implementations that might otherwise stay hidden on X (formerly Twitter) or private repositories.
- Low-Barrier Entry: By removing the formal meeting structure, the group aims to make it easier for new contributors to join the conversation, ask questions, and understand the “building blocks” of the project in real-time.
Upcoming Events: 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. Asia and Contributor DayContributor Day Contributor Days are standalone days, frequently held before or after WordCamps but they can also happen at any time. They are events where people get together to work on various areas of https://make.wordpress.org/ There are many teams that people can participate in, each with a different focus. https://make.wordpress.org/support/handbook/getting-started/getting-started-at-a-contributor-day/
The team is preparing for WordCamp Asia in March.
- @raftaar1191 (in-person) and @justlevine (virtually) will lead AI table efforts.
- The group aims to overhaul the AI Contributor Handbook by the end of March to provide a lower barrier to entry for new contributors.
Next Steps
- Community Discussion: All contributors are encouraged to share their thoughts on the Merge Proposal for the AI Client to ensure diverse voices are heard by leadership.
- Bi-Weekly Slack Meeting: Tomorrow’s Slack chat will pivot toward an “Office Hours” format, focusing on community show-and-tell and engagement rather than a formal agenda.
- Handbook Audit: Volunteers are needed to review and update specific sections of the AI handbook.
Upcoming meetings
Folks are welcome to join on Wednesday’s at 1700 UTC via Google Meet with in-meeting notes captured in a Slack Canvas and then paired with Gemini meeting notes to help generate this meeting summary post. All team meetings are published to https://make.wordpress.org/meetings/#ai.
- The next bi-weekly AI Team Slack discussion is scheduled for 19 February 2026.
- The next weekly AI Contributor weekly Google Meet video call is scheduled for 25 February 2026.
Props to @jeffpaul for pre-publish review.