themes_api( string $action, array|object $args = array() ): object|array|WP_Error

Description

Parameters

$actionstring

API action to perform: Accepts 'query_themes', 'theme_information', 'hot_tags' or 'feature_list'.

$argsarray|objectoptional

Array or object of arguments to serialize for the Themes API. Default empty array.Default: array()

• $slugstringdefault: empty

  The theme slug.

• $per_pageintdefault: 24

  Number of themes per page.

• $pageintdefault: 1

  Number of current page.

• $numberint

  Number of tags to be queried.

• $searchstringdefault: empty

  A search term.

• $tagstringdefault: empty

  Tag to filter themes.

• $authorstringdefault: empty

  Username of an author to filter themes.

• $userstringdefault: empty

  Username to query for their favorites.

• $browsestring

  Browse view: 'featured', 'popular', 'updated', 'favorites'.

• $localestringdefault: is the value of get_locale()

  Locale to provide context-sensitive results.

• $fieldsarray

  { Array of fields which should or should not be returned.

• $descriptionbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the theme full description.

• $sectionsbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the theme readme sections: description, installation, FAQ, screenshots, other notes, and changelog.

• $ratingbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the rating in percent and total number of ratings.

• $ratingsbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the number of rating for each star (1-5).

• $downloadedbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the download count.

• $downloadlinkbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the download link for the package.

• $last_updatedbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the date of the last update.

• $tagsbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the assigned tags.

• $homepagebooldefault: false

  Whether to return the theme homepage link.

• $screenshotsbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the screenshots.

• $screenshot_countintdefault: 1

  Number of screenshots to return.

• $screenshot_urlbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the URL of the first screenshot.

• $photon_screenshotsbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the screenshots via Photon.

• $templatebooldefault: false

  Whether to return the slug of the parent theme.

• $parentbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the slug, name and homepage of the parent theme.

• $versionsbooldefault: false

  Whether to return the list of all available versions.

• $theme_urlbooldefault: false

  Whether to return theme's URL.

• $extended_authorbooldefault: false. }

  Whether to return nicename or nicename and display name.

Return value

object|array|WP_Error

Response object or array on success, WP_Error on failure. See the https://developer.wordpress.org/reference/functions/themes_api/ function reference article for more information on the make-up of possible return objects depending on the value of $action.

Performance profile

How much work a call to themes_api() does, and what it touches: the algorithmic scaling, the Zend instruction count per call across PHP versions, the hooks it hands control to, and the core code that calls it. Measured from the compiled opcodes, not a stopwatch, so every number is identical on any machine running the same PHP version, and every function in core is ranked by cost.

Cost class

Expensive

Reaches an outbound HTTP request via wp_remote_get().

Scaling

Scales with input

The body loops, so the work grows with what you pass in.

Instructions

31–174

Executed per call on PHP 8.4, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 209.

Plugin surface

3 hooks

Third-party callbacks on 'themes_api_args', 'themes_api', 'themes_api_result' run inside this call, and their cost is not bounded by anything here.

Called by

8

8 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.

What it touches

• hookthird-party callbacksapply_filters()called directly
• httpoutbound HTTP requestwp_remote_get()called directly
• serializeserialisationjson_decode()called directly
• querycontent queryget_user_by()one call below themes_api()

Further down the call graph this can also reach option, cache and transient — those are the worst case, several calls deep and usually down an error path, not what a normal call pays.

What one call costs · 100 distinct outcomes

One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost themes_api() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.4.

This body has more branch combinations than are worth enumerating, so the table covers the outcomes found first rather than every one that exists.

Across PHP versions

Oldest PHP that compiles this body: 7.4. An instruction is not a fixed amount of time, so a version with the same count is not necessarily the same speed; what the count rules out is a difference in the work itself.

Hooks and filters fired · 3

3 hooks fire while themes_api() runs, in this order:

1. 1
   apply_filters( themes_api_args )filterline 525 (+30 into the body)

   Filters arguments used to query for installer pages from the WordPress.org Themes API.

2. 2
   apply_filters( themes_api )filterline 542 (+47 into the body)

   Filters whether to override the WordPress.org Themes API.

3. 3
   apply_filters( themes_api_result )filterline 638 (+143 into the body)

   Filters the returned WordPress.org Themes API response.

Uses · 14

• get_user_locale()Retrieves the locale of a user.
• wp_get_wp_version()Returns the current WordPress version.
• apply_filters()Calls the callback functions that have been added to a filter hook.
• add_query_arg()Retrieves a modified URL query string.
• wp_http_supports()Determines if there is an HTTP Transport that can process this request.
• set_url_scheme()Sets the scheme for a URL.
• home_url()Retrieves the URL for the current site where the front end is accessible.
• wp_remote_get()Performs an HTTP request using the GET method and returns its response.
• is_wp_error()Checks whether the given variable is a WordPress Error.
• wp_doing_ajax()Determines whether the current request is a WordPress Ajax request.
• wp_trigger_error()Generates a user-level error/warning/notice/deprecation message.
• __()Retrieves the translation of $text.

Used by · 8

• Theme_Upgrader::check_parent_theme_filter()Checks if a child theme is being installed and its parent also needs to be installed.
• WP_Customize_Manager::handle_load_themes_request()Loads themes into the theme browsing/installation UI.
• WP_Theme_Install_List_Table::prepare_items()
• get_theme_feature_list()Retrieves list of WordPress theme features (aka theme tags).
• install_theme_information()Displays theme information in dialog box form.
• install_themes_feature_list()Retrieves the list of WordPress theme features (aka theme tags).
• wp_ajax_install_theme()Handles installing a theme via AJAX.
• wp_ajax_query_themes()Handles getting themes from themes_api() via AJAX.

Source code

View on Trac ↗View on GitHub ↗

495function themes_api( $action, $args = array() ) {496	if ( is_array( $args ) ) {497		$args = (object) $args;498	}499 500	if ( 'query_themes' === $action ) {501		if ( ! isset( $args->per_page ) ) {502			$args->per_page = 24;503		}504	}505 506	if ( ! isset( $args->locale ) ) {507		$args->locale = get_user_locale();508	}509 510	if ( ! isset( $args->wp_version ) ) {511		$args->wp_version = substr( wp_get_wp_version(), 0, 3 ); // x.y512	}513 514	/**515	 * Filters arguments used to query for installer pages from the WordPress.org Themes API.516	 *517	 * Important: An object MUST be returned to this filter.518	 *519	 * @since 2.8.0520	 *521	 * @param object $args   Arguments used to query for installer pages from the WordPress.org Themes API.522	 * @param string $action Requested action. Likely values are 'theme_information',523	 *                       'feature_list', or 'query_themes'.524	 */525	$args = apply_filters( 'themes_api_args', $args, $action );526 527	/**528	 * Filters whether to override the WordPress.org Themes API.529	 *530	 * Returning a non-false value will effectively short-circuit the WordPress.org API request.531	 *532	 * If `$action` is 'query_themes', 'theme_information', or 'feature_list', an object MUST533	 * be passed. If `$action` is 'hot_tags', an array should be passed.534	 *535	 * @since 2.8.0536	 *537	 * @param false|object|array $override Whether to override the WordPress.org Themes API. Default false.538	 * @param string             $action   Requested action. Likely values are 'theme_information',539	 *                                    'feature_list', or 'query_themes'.540	 * @param object             $args     Arguments used to query for installer pages from the Themes API.541	 */542	$res = apply_filters( 'themes_api', false, $action, $args );543 544	if ( ! $res ) {545		$url = 'http://api.wordpress.org/themes/info/1.2/';546		$url = add_query_arg(547			array(548				'action'  => $action,549				'request' => $args,550			),551			$url552		);553 554		$http_url = $url;555		$ssl      = wp_http_supports( array( 'ssl' ) );556		if ( $ssl ) {557			$url = set_url_scheme( $url, 'https' );558		}559 560		$http_args = array(561			'timeout'    => 15,562			'user-agent' => 'WordPress/' . wp_get_wp_version() . '; ' . home_url( '/' ),563		);564		$request   = wp_remote_get( $url, $http_args );565 566		if ( $ssl && is_wp_error( $request ) ) {567			if ( ! wp_doing_ajax() ) {568				wp_trigger_error(569					__FUNCTION__,570					sprintf(571						/* translators: %s: Support forums URL. */572						__( 'An unexpected error occurred. Something may be wrong with WordPress.org or this server&#8217;s configuration. If you continue to have problems, please try the <a href="%s">support forums</a>.' ),573						__( 'https://wordpress.org/support/forums/' )574					) . ' ' . __( '(WordPress could not establish a secure connection to WordPress.org. Please contact your server administrator.)' ),

Changelog

Introduced in 2.8.0. Unchanged from 6.7.7 through 7.1.0.

1. 6.7.7
2. 6.8.8
3. 6.9.7
4. 7.0.4
5. 7.1.0

Signature, return type and hooks compared across 5 parsed releases.

About this page

Parsed data

Generated from the wordpress-develop 6.8.8 tag, from src/wp-admin/includes/theme.php, and regenerated for each WordPress release so it tracks the code rather than a snapshot of it.

Corrections

Something wrong on this page? Report it and it gets fixed in the next regeneration.