WordPress 6.9 Introduces Abilities API to Standardize Site Functionality Exposure

WordPress 6.9 is launching the Abilities API, the first of four AI Building Blocks developed by the WordPress AI Team to address long-standing discoverability problems in the platform. The API lets developers register any unit of functionality as a named, typed, and permissioned 'ability' using a single declarative definition, replacing the fragmented approach of writing separate functions, REST routes, validation logic, and permission checks. Once registered, an ability is automatically accessible via PHP, WP-CLI, the REST API, and AI agents that support the Model Context Protocol. The initiative aims to make WordPress capabilities machine-readable, allowing AI tools and automation systems to query a site directly for what it can do, rather than reverse-engineering its REST routes. Beyond AI use cases, the API also provides developers with automatic input and output validation, colocated permission checks, and a consistent endpoint structure out of the box.