wp_get_ability( string $name ): WP_Ability|null
- Since
- 6.9.0
- Source
wp-includes/abilities-api.php:401
Description
Returns the ability instance for inspection or use. The instance provides access to the ability's configuration, metadata, and execution methods.
Example:
// Prints information about a registered ability.
$ability = wp_get_ability( 'my-plugin/export-data' );
if ( $ability ) {
echo $ability->get_label() . ': ' . $ability->get_description();
}Compatibility
- WordPress
- since 6.9.0
- PHP
- 7.4–8.6-dev
- 6.7.7
- 6.8.8
- 6.9.7
- 7.0.4
- 7.1.0
Present in 3 of the 5 tracked releases, added in 6.9.0, and compiles on PHP 7.4 through 8.6-dev.
Parameters
$namestring- The name of the ability, including namespace prefix (e.g., 'my-plugin/my-ability').
Return value
WP_Ability|null- The registered ability instance, or
nullif not registered.
Performance profile
How much work a call to wp_get_ability() 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
- Trivial
- Scaling
- Constant
- Instructions
- 7–11
- Plugin surface
- None
- Called by
- 6
Touches nothing outside its own arguments.
No loop in the body: the same number of instructions runs whatever you pass in.
Executed per call on PHP 8.5, depending on the branch taken. The body compiles to 12.
Nothing here hands control to plugin code.
6 places in core call this, so the cost is paid more often than your own code shows.
What one call costs · 2 distinct outcomes
One number would be a lie: the work depends on which branch runs. These are every distinct cost wp_get_ability() can have, taken from its control-flow graph on PHP 8.5.
| When | Instructions | Calls it makes |
|---|---|---|
$registry === null | 7 | ::WP_Abilities_Registry() |
$registry !== null | 11 | ::WP_Abilities_Registry(), ->get_registered() |
Across PHP versions
Compiles the same on PHP 7.4, 8.1, 8.2, 8.3, 8.4, 8.5 and 8.6-dev: 12 instructions, 7–11 executed per call, 1 branch. The work does not change between versions.
An instruction is not a fixed amount of time, so a matching count is not necessarily the same speed; what it rules out is a difference in the work itself.
Uses · 1
- WP_Abilities_Registry::get_instance()Utility method to retrieve the main instance of the registry class.
Used by · 6
- WP_AI_Client_Ability_Function_Resolver::execute_ability()Executes a WordPress ability from a function call.
- WP_AI_Client_Prompt_Builder::using_abilities()Registers WordPress abilities as function declarations for the AI model.
- WP_REST_Abilities_V1_List_Controller::get_item()Retrieves a specific ability.
- WP_REST_Abilities_V1_Run_Controller::check_ability_permissions()Checks if a given request has permission to execute a specific ability.
- WP_REST_Abilities_V1_Run_Controller::execute_ability()Executes an ability.
- WP_REST_Abilities_V1_Run_Controller::sanitize_input_for_ability()Sanitizes the run input by coercing it to the ability's input schema.
Source code
function wp_get_ability( string $name ): ?WP_Ability { $registry = WP_Abilities_Registry::get_instance(); if ( null === $registry ) { return null; } return $registry->get_registered( $name );}Changelog
Introduced in 6.9.0. Unchanged from 6.9.7 through 7.1.0.
Signature, return type and hooks compared across 3 parsed releases.
About this page
- Parsed data
- Generated from the wordpress-develop 7.1.0 tag, from
src/wp-includes/abilities-api.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.