mvanhorn WordPress — Printing Press CLI
Prerequisites: Install the CLI
This skill drives the wordpress-pp-cli binary. You must verify the CLI is installed before invoking any command from this skill. If it is missing, install it first:
- Install via the Printing Press installer. It defaults binaries to
$HOME/.local/binon macOS/Linux and%LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\PrintingPress\binon Windows:npx -y @mvanhorn/printing-press-library install wordpress --cli-only - Verify:
wordpress-pp-cli --version - Ensure the reported install directory is on
$PATHfor the agent/runtime that will invoke this skill.
If the npx install fails (no Node, offline, etc.), fall back to a direct Go install (requires Go 1.26.6 or newer). This installs into $GOPATH/bin (default $HOME/go/bin), so add that directory to $PATH instead:
go install github.com/mvanhorn/printing-press-library/library/developer-tools/wordpress/cmd/wordpress-pp-cli@latest
If --version reports "command not found" after install, the runtime cannot see the binary directory on $PATH. Do not proceed with skill commands until verification succeeds.
WP-CLI is the power tool but it runs on the server and needs SSH, which most shared hosting does not give you. The REST API reaches any site from anywhere with an Application Password, yet every existing client is abandoned, read-only, or hardcoded to a 2018 view of the API. This CLI covers the full modern core surface, adapts to the live route table of whatever site you point it at, and keeps a local SQLite mirror so cross-site and historical questions become one query instead of hundreds of paginated requests.
When to Use This CLI
Use this CLI to read from or write to any WordPress site over HTTPS when you have a site URL and an Application Password. It is the right tool for content operations at scale (bulk publishing, editorial queue triage, taxonomy and media hygiene), for fleet maintenance across many client sites without SSH, and for diagnosing a WordPress REST API that is returning 401, 403, or rest_no_route. It is also the right tool when you need to know what a site's API actually exposes, since it reads the live route table rather than assuming a fixed endpoint list.
Anti-triggers
Do not use this CLI for:
- Do not use this CLI for database work — export, import, search-replace, or arbitrary SQL. WordPress exposes none of that over REST; use WP-CLI over SSH.
- Do not use it to install, update, or activate a theme. The core themes controller is read-only over REST; theme activation is not possible, and tools that advertise it are overclaiming.
- Do not use it to read or write arbitrary options. The settings endpoint exposes roughly twenty whitelisted core options under renamed keys; anything else needs register_setting with show_in_rest.
- Do not use it for WP-Cron, transients, object cache, rewrite rules, wp-config.php, roles and capabilities, or multisite network administration — none have a core REST surface.
- Do not use it to round-trip block-editor content through content.rendered; that strips the block markers and corrupts the page. Use --context edit and content.raw.
- Do not use it as a WordPress.com or Jetpack client. This targets the self-hosted /wp-json surface.
Unique Capabilities
These capabilities aren't available in any other tool for this API.
Managing many sites at once
fleet— See core version, pending updates, admin-account count and sync age for every site you manage, in one table.Reach for this when the question spans more than one site. Every other command answers for a single site.
wordpress-pp-cli fleet --agent
Diagnosing a real site
diagnose— Say in one command why a site's REST API is failing: path-based block, app-layer filter, bot challenge, renamed prefix, or stripped Authorization header.Run this first whenever a WordPress request fails. A 401 can mean bad credentials, a security plugin, or a host stripping the auth header, and the status code alone cannot tell you which.
wordpress-pp-cli diagnose --agentcaps— Report what your credentials are actually allowed to do on each route, with zero writes.Use this before pointing an unattended job at a site, instead of discovering permissions by attempting a write in production.
wordpress-pp-cli caps --agentschema— Find out why a post type, field, or meta key is missing from the REST surface.This is the show_in_rest blind spot. Reach for it when content exists in wp-admin but never appears in an API response.
wordpress-pp-cli schema post --agent
Editorial hygiene from the local mirror
queue— See drafts, pending, and scheduled posts bucketed by how long they have been sitting in that state.Answers 'what has been stuck in pending for three weeks', which wp-admin cannot express at all.
wordpress-pp-cli queue --agentaudit— Find posts and pages missing a featured image, a real category, an excerpt, or tags.Use this for defects on content itself. It reports offending IDs, so the output feeds directly into a bulk fix.
wordpress-pp-cli audit --agentorphans— List media files that no post or page references and that are nobody's featured image.Reach for this when auditing storage or preparing a migration; it is the only way to size unused uploads without shell access.
wordpress-pp-cli orphans --agent
Command Reference
abilities — WordPress Abilities API — the platform-native agent surface (WP 6.9+)
wordpress-pp-cli abilities ability-categories— List ability categorieswordpress-pp-cli abilities ability-category— Describe one ability categorywordpress-pp-cli abilities get— Describe one ability, including its input schemawordpress-pp-cli abilities list— List abilities this site exposes to agentswordpress-pp-cli abilities run— Execute an ability with a JSON input payload
application-passwords — Application passwords for a user
wordpress-pp-cli application-passwords create—wordpress-pp-cli application-passwords delete—wordpress-pp-cli application-passwords get—wordpress-pp-cli application-passwords introspect—wordpress-pp-cli application-passwords list—wordpress-pp-cli application-passwords update—
batch — Atomic multi-request batching (core /batch/v1)
wordpress-pp-cli batch— Execute up to 25 write requests in one round trip
block-directory — Search the block directory
wordpress-pp-cli block-directory—
block-patterns — Block pattern categories
wordpress-pp-cli block-patterns categories—wordpress-pp-cli block-patterns list—
block-renderer — Render a block server-side
wordpress-pp-cli block-renderer <name>—
block-revisions — Blocks revisions
wordpress-pp-cli block-revisions delete—wordpress-pp-cli block-revisions get—wordpress-pp-cli block-revisions list—
block-types — Registered block types
wordpress-pp-cli block-types get—wordpress-pp-cli block-types list—
blocks — Reusable blocks (wp_block)
wordpress-pp-cli blocks create—wordpress-pp-cli blocks delete—wordpress-pp-cli blocks get—wordpress-pp-cli blocks list—wordpress-pp-cli blocks update—
blocks-autosaves — Blocks autosaves
wordpress-pp-cli blocks-autosaves <parent> <id>—
categories — Categories
wordpress-pp-cli categories create—wordpress-pp-cli categories delete—wordpress-pp-cli categories get—wordpress-pp-cli categories list—wordpress-pp-cli categories update—
comments — Comments
wordpress-pp-cli comments create—wordpress-pp-cli comments delete—wordpress-pp-cli comments get—wordpress-pp-cli comments list—wordpress-pp-cli comments update—
font-collections — Font collections
wordpress-pp-cli font-collections get—wordpress-pp-cli font-collections list—
font-faces — Font faces within a font family
wordpress-pp-cli font-faces create—wordpress-pp-cli font-faces delete—wordpress-pp-cli font-faces get—wordpress-pp-cli font-faces list—
font-families — Font families
wordpress-pp-cli font-families create—wordpress-pp-cli font-families delete—wordpress-pp-cli font-families get—wordpress-pp-cli font-families list—wordpress-pp-cli font-families update—
global-styles — Global styles (theme.json)
wordpress-pp-cli global-styles get—wordpress-pp-cli global-styles theme—wordpress-pp-cli global-styles update—wordpress-pp-cli global-styles variations—
global-styles-revisions — Global-Styles revisions
wordpress-pp-cli global-styles-revisions get—wordpress-pp-cli global-styles-revisions list—
media — Media library items
wordpress-pp-cli media create—wordpress-pp-cli media delete—wordpress-pp-cli media edit—wordpress-pp-cli media get—wordpress-pp-cli media list—wordpress-pp-cli media post-process—wordpress-pp-cli media update—
menu-items — Navigation menu items
wordpress-pp-cli menu-items create—wordpress-pp-cli menu-items delete—wordpress-pp-cli menu-items get—wordpress-pp-cli menu-items list—wordpress-pp-cli menu-items update—
menu-items-autosaves — Menu-Items autosaves
wordpress-pp-cli menu-items-autosaves <parent> <id>—
menu-locations — Registered menu locations
wordpress-pp-cli menu-locations get—wordpress-pp-cli menu-locations list—
menus — Navigation menus
wordpress-pp-cli menus create—wordpress-pp-cli menus delete—wordpress-pp-cli menus get—wordpress-pp-cli menus list—wordpress-pp-cli menus update—
navigation — Navigation post type (wp_navigation)
wordpress-pp-cli navigation create—wordpress-pp-cli navigation delete—wordpress-pp-cli navigation get—wordpress-pp-cli navigation list—wordpress-pp-cli navigation update—
navigation-autosaves — Navigation autosaves
wordpress-pp-cli navigation-autosaves <parent> <id>—
navigation-revisions — Navigation revisions
wordpress-pp-cli navigation-revisions delete—wordpress-pp-cli navigation-revisions get—wordpress-pp-cli navigation-revisions list—
oembed — oEmbed discovery and proxying (core /oembed/1.0)
wordpress-pp-cli oembed get— oEmbed response for a URL on this sitewordpress-pp-cli oembed proxy— Proxy an external oEmbed request through this site
page-revisions — Pages revisions
wordpress-pp-cli page-revisions delete—wordpress-pp-cli page-revisions get—wordpress-pp-cli page-revisions list—
pages — Pages
wordpress-pp-cli pages create—wordpress-pp-cli pages delete—wordpress-pp-cli pages get—wordpress-pp-cli pages list—wordpress-pp-cli pages update—
pages-autosaves — Pages autosaves
wordpress-pp-cli pages-autosaves <parent> <id>—
pattern-categories — Block pattern categories (taxonomy)
wordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories create—wordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories delete—wordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories get—wordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories list—wordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories update—
pattern-directory — Patterns from the pattern directory
wordpress-pp-cli pattern-directory—
plugins — Installed plugins
wordpress-pp-cli plugins create—wordpress-pp-cli plugins delete—wordpress-pp-cli plugins get—wordpress-pp-cli plugins list—wordpress-pp-cli plugins update—
post-revisions — Posts revisions
wordpress-pp-cli post-revisions delete—wordpress-pp-cli post-revisions get—wordpress-pp-cli post-revisions list—
posts — Blog posts
wordpress-pp-cli posts create—wordpress-pp-cli posts delete—wordpress-pp-cli posts get—wordpress-pp-cli posts list—wordpress-pp-cli posts update—
posts-autosaves — Posts autosaves
wordpress-pp-cli posts-autosaves <parent> <id>—
settings — Site settings
wordpress-pp-cli settings get—wordpress-pp-cli settings update—
sidebars — Widget sidebars
wordpress-pp-cli sidebars get—wordpress-pp-cli sidebars list—wordpress-pp-cli sidebars update—
site-health — WordPress Site Health checks
wordpress-pp-cli site-health authorization-header—wordpress-pp-cli site-health background-updates—wordpress-pp-cli site-health directory-sizes—wordpress-pp-cli site-health dotorg-communication—wordpress-pp-cli site-health https-status—wordpress-pp-cli site-health loopback-requests—wordpress-pp-cli site-health page-cache—
statuses — Registered post statuses
wordpress-pp-cli statuses get—wordpress-pp-cli statuses list—
tags — Tags
wordpress-pp-cli tags create—wordpress-pp-cli tags delete—wordpress-pp-cli tags get—wordpress-pp-cli tags list—wordpress-pp-cli tags update—
taxonomies — Registered taxonomies
wordpress-pp-cli taxonomies get—wordpress-pp-cli taxonomies list—
template-part-revisions — Template-Parts revisions
wordpress-pp-cli template-part-revisions delete—wordpress-pp-cli template-part-revisions get—wordpress-pp-cli template-part-revisions list—
template-parts — Block template parts
wordpress-pp-cli template-parts create—wordpress-pp-cli template-parts delete—wordpress-pp-cli template-parts get—wordpress-pp-cli template-parts list—wordpress-pp-cli template-parts lookup—wordpress-pp-cli template-parts update—
template-parts-autosaves — Template-Parts autosaves
wordpress-pp-cli template-parts-autosaves <parent> <id>—
template-revisions — Templates revisions
wordpress-pp-cli template-revisions delete—wordpress-pp-cli template-revisions get—wordpress-pp-cli template-revisions list—
templates — Block templates
wordpress-pp-cli templates create—wordpress-pp-cli templates delete—wordpress-pp-cli templates get—wordpress-pp-cli templates list—wordpress-pp-cli templates lookup—wordpress-pp-cli templates update—
templates-autosaves — Templates autosaves
wordpress-pp-cli templates-autosaves <parent> <id>—
themes — Installed themes
wordpress-pp-cli themes get—wordpress-pp-cli themes list—
users — Users
wordpress-pp-cli users create—wordpress-pp-cli users delete—wordpress-pp-cli users get—wordpress-pp-cli users list—wordpress-pp-cli users update—
widget-types — Registered widget types
wordpress-pp-cli widget-types encode—wordpress-pp-cli widget-types get—wordpress-pp-cli widget-types list—wordpress-pp-cli widget-types render—
widgets — Widgets
wordpress-pp-cli widgets create—wordpress-pp-cli widgets delete—wordpress-pp-cli widgets get—wordpress-pp-cli widgets list—wordpress-pp-cli widgets update—
wp_search — Search across post types
wordpress-pp-cli wp-search—
wp_types — Registered post types
wordpress-pp-cli wp-types get—wordpress-pp-cli wp-types list—
Freshness Contract
This printed CLI owns bounded freshness only for registered store-backed read command paths. In --data-source auto mode, those paths check sync_state and may run a bounded refresh before reading local data. --data-source local never refreshes. --data-source live reads the API and does not mutate the local store. Set WORDPRESS_NO_AUTO_REFRESH=1 to skip the freshness hook without changing source selection.
Covered paths:
wordpress-pp-cli abilitieswordpress-pp-cli abilities getwordpress-pp-cli abilities listwordpress-pp-cli abilities searchwordpress-pp-cli abilities-categorieswordpress-pp-cli abilities-categories getwordpress-pp-cli abilities-categories listwordpress-pp-cli abilities-categories searchwordpress-pp-cli block-patternswordpress-pp-cli block-patterns getwordpress-pp-cli block-patterns listwordpress-pp-cli block-patterns searchwordpress-pp-cli block-patterns-categorieswordpress-pp-cli block-patterns-categories getwordpress-pp-cli block-patterns-categories listwordpress-pp-cli block-patterns-categories searchwordpress-pp-cli block-typeswordpress-pp-cli block-types getwordpress-pp-cli block-types listwordpress-pp-cli block-types searchwordpress-pp-cli blockswordpress-pp-cli blocks getwordpress-pp-cli blocks listwordpress-pp-cli blocks searchwordpress-pp-cli categorieswordpress-pp-cli categories getwordpress-pp-cli categories listwordpress-pp-cli categories searchwordpress-pp-cli commentswordpress-pp-cli comments getwordpress-pp-cli comments listwordpress-pp-cli comments searchwordpress-pp-cli font-collectionswordpress-pp-cli font-collections getwordpress-pp-cli font-collections listwordpress-pp-cli font-collections searchwordpress-pp-cli font-familieswordpress-pp-cli font-families getwordpress-pp-cli font-families listwordpress-pp-cli font-families searchwordpress-pp-cli mediawordpress-pp-cli media getwordpress-pp-cli media listwordpress-pp-cli media searchwordpress-pp-cli menu-itemswordpress-pp-cli menu-items getwordpress-pp-cli menu-items listwordpress-pp-cli menu-items searchwordpress-pp-cli menu-locationswordpress-pp-cli menu-locations getwordpress-pp-cli menu-locations listwordpress-pp-cli menu-locations searchwordpress-pp-cli menuswordpress-pp-cli menus getwordpress-pp-cli menus listwordpress-pp-cli menus searchwordpress-pp-cli navigationwordpress-pp-cli navigation getwordpress-pp-cli navigation listwordpress-pp-cli navigation searchwordpress-pp-cli pageswordpress-pp-cli pages getwordpress-pp-cli pages listwordpress-pp-cli pages searchwordpress-pp-cli pattern-categorieswordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories getwordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories listwordpress-pp-cli pattern-categories searchwordpress-pp-cli pattern-directorywordpress-pp-cli pattern-directory getwordpress-pp-cli pattern-directory listwordpress-pp-cli pattern-directory searchwordpress-pp-cli pluginswordpress-pp-cli plugins getwordpress-pp-cli plugins listwordpress-pp-cli plugins searchwordpress-pp-cli postswordpress-pp-cli posts getwordpress-pp-cli posts listwordpress-pp-cli posts searchwordpress-pp-cli sidebarswordpress-pp-cli sidebars getwordpress-pp-cli sidebars listwordpress-pp-cli sidebars searchwordpress-pp-cli statuseswordpress-pp-cli statuses getwordpress-pp-cli statuses listwordpress-pp-cli statuses searchwordpress-pp-cli tagswordpress-pp-cli tags getwordpress-pp-cli tags listwordpress-pp-cli tags searchwordpress-pp-cli taxonomieswordpress-pp-cli taxonomies getwordpress-pp-cli taxonomies listwordpress-pp-cli taxonomies searchwordpress-pp-cli template-partswordpress-pp-cli template-parts getwordpress-pp-cli template-parts listwordpress-pp-cli template-parts searchwordpress-pp-cli templateswordpress-pp-cli templates getwordpress-pp-cli templates listwordpress-pp-cli templates searchwordpress-pp-cli themeswordpress-pp-cli themes getwordpress-pp-cli themes listwordpress-pp-cli themes searchwordpress-pp-cli userswordpress-pp-cli users getwordpress-pp-cli users listwordpress-pp-cli users searchwordpress-pp-cli widget-typeswordpress-pp-cli widget-types getwordpress-pp-cli widget-types listwordpress-pp-cli widget-types searchwordpress-pp-cli widgetswordpress-pp-cli widgets getwordpress-pp-cli widgets listwordpress-pp-cli widgets searchwordpress-pp-cli wp_typeswordpress-pp-cli wp_types getwordpress-pp-cli wp_types listwordpress-pp-cli wp_types search
When JSON output uses the generated provenance envelope, freshness metadata appears at meta.freshness. Treat it as current-cache freshness for the covered command path, not a guarantee of complete historical backfill or API-specific enrichment.
Finding the right command
When you know what you want to do but not which command does it, ask the CLI directly:
wordpress-pp-cli which "<capability in your own words>"
which resolves a natural-language capability query to the best matching command from this CLI's curated feature index. Exit code 0 means at least one match; exit code 2 means no confident match — fall back to --help or use a narrower query.
Recipes
Triage a site that just started failing
wordpress-pp-cli diagnose --agent
Classifies the failure as a path-based block, an app-layer filter, a bot challenge, a renamed REST prefix, or a stripped Authorization header, instead of leaving you with a bare 401.
Pull only the fields you need from a verbose endpoint
wordpress-pp-cli posts list --per-page 20 --agent --select id,title.rendered,status,modified
WordPress post objects carry 29 properties plus embedded links; narrowing with --select keeps large listings from flooding an agent's context.
Check what a credential may do before automating with it
wordpress-pp-cli caps --agent
Walks the live route table reading the Allow header with and without authentication, so permissions are discovered without performing a single write.
Find content defects across a synced site
wordpress-pp-cli audit --agent
Joins posts against media and term links locally to report missing featured images, categories, excerpts, and tags with the offending IDs.
See what this specific site actually exposes
wordpress-pp-cli schema post --agent
Reconciles the post-types registry, the live route table, and the OPTIONS schema against real rows, surfacing fields registered without show_in_rest.
Auth Setup
WordPress authenticates CLI clients with Application Passwords over HTTP Basic. Create one at Users -> Profile -> Application Passwords in wp-admin (the REST root also advertises the exact authorize-application.php URL for the site), then set WORDPRESS_USER and WORDPRESS_APP_PASSWORD. Public read endpoints work with no credentials at all, so posts, pages, and taxonomies are browsable immediately. Two things commonly break this and neither is a wrong password: Wordfence disables Application Passwords by default on its 5,000,000+ installs, and many Apache and CGI hosts strip the Authorization header entirely. Run 'diagnose' to tell those apart.
Run wordpress-pp-cli doctor to verify setup.
Agent Mode
Add --agent to any command. Expands to: --json --compact --no-input --no-color --yes.
Pipeable — JSON on stdout, errors on stderr
Filterable —
--selectkeeps a subset of fields. Dotted paths descend into nested structures; arrays traverse element-wise. Critical for keeping context small on verbose APIs:wordpress-pp-cli abilities list --agent --select id,name,statusPreviewable —
--dry-runshows the request without sendingOffline-friendly — sync/search commands can use the local SQLite store when available
Non-interactive — never prompts, every input is a flag
Explicit retries — use
--idempotentonly when an already-existing create should count as success, and use--ignore-missingonly when a missing delete target should count as success
Response envelope
Commands that read from the local store or the API wrap output in a provenance envelope:
{
"meta": {"source": "live" | "local", "synced_at": "...", "reason": "..."},
"results": <data>
}
Parse .results for data and .meta.source to know whether it's live or local. A human-readable N results (live) summary is printed to stderr only when stdout is a terminal AND no machine-format flag (--json, --csv, --compact, --quiet, --plain, --select) is set — piped/agent consumers and explicit-format runs get pure JSON on stdout.
Paths and state
Agents should treat the CLI's path resolver as part of the runtime contract:
Use
--home <dir>for one invocation, or setWORDPRESS_HOME=<dir>to relocate all four path kinds under one root.Use per-kind env vars only when a specific kind must diverge:
WORDPRESS_CONFIG_DIR,WORDPRESS_DATA_DIR,WORDPRESS_STATE_DIR,WORDPRESS_CACHE_DIR.Resolution order is per-kind env var,
--home,WORDPRESS_HOME, XDG (XDG_CONFIG_HOME,XDG_DATA_HOME,XDG_STATE_HOME,XDG_CACHE_HOME), then platform defaults.configcontains settings likeconfig.tomland profiles.datacontainscredentials.toml,data.db, cookies, and auth sidecars.statecontains persisted queries, jobs, andteach.log.cachecontains regenerable HTTP/cache files.Stored secrets live in
credentials.tomlunder the data dir. Existing legacyconfig.tomlsecrets are read for compatibility and leaveconfig.tomlon the first auth write.Run
wordpress-pp-cli doctor --fail-on warnto surface path and credential-location warnings.agent-contextexposes a schema v4pathsblock for agents that need the resolved dirs.For MCP, pass relocation through the MCP host config. The MCP binary does not inherit CLI flags:
{ "mcpServers": { "wordpress": { "command": "wordpress-pp-mcp", "env": { "WORDPRESS_HOME": "/srv/wordpress" } } } }
Fleet precedence: an inherited per-kind env var overrides an explicit --home for that kind. Use WORDPRESS_HOME or per-kind vars as durable fleet levers, and use --home only for a single invocation. Relocation is not reversible by unsetting env vars; move files manually before clearing WORDPRESS_HOME, or doctor will not find credentials left under the former root.
Automatic learning
This CLI ships a self-capturing learning loop. The CLI does its own bookkeeping: every invocation is journaled locally, a failed flag followed by a corrected retry auto-derives a flag_alias candidate, and a teach on a query family without a playbook auto-synthesizes a playbook_candidate from the session's journal. Your job is judgment only: recall first, act on surfaced candidates, teach the final answer, playbook amend when you observe a correction. You never record failures by hand.
Step 1: recall before any discovery
Before list/search/drill commands on a new user question, run:
wordpress-pp-cli recall "<user's question>" --agent
The response envelope:
{
"query": "...",
"normalized": "<normalized form>",
"query_entities": ["..."],
"found": true | false,
"match_score": 0.0,
"results": [
{ "resource_id": "...", "resource_type": "...", "venue": "...",
"confidence": 2, "entity_match": "exact|partial|unknown",
"source": "taught|preseed|pattern", "warnings": ["..."] }
],
"mismatches": [ /* only when --debug-mismatches */ ],
"warnings": [ /* top-level */ ],
"candidates": [
{ "id": 12, "class": "flag_alias | playbook_candidate",
"summary": "...", "sightings": 3, "last_seen": "...",
"rationale": "...",
"next_action": ["<trial command>", "wordpress-pp-cli learnings confirm 12"] }
],
"playbook": {
"query_family": "...",
"playbook": {
"steps": [ { "cmd": "<command with {slot} substitution>", "purpose": "..." } ],
"entity_slots": ["$ENTITY"],
"expected_tool_calls": 3
},
"slots_resolved": { "$ENTITY": { "token": "<live token>", "canonical": "<canonical>" } },
"notes": "<workarounds + gotchas for this query family>"
},
"notes": "<duplicate surface for non-playbook callers>"
}
Empty-store short-circuit: if the store has no learnings, playbooks, or candidates yet (recall finds nothing and learnings list and learnings candidates are both empty), skip recall for the rest of this session instead of taxing every query; resume recall-first once something has been taught.
Step 2: decision tree
Read candidates, playbook, notes, results[0], and warnings in that order:
if Candidates present (warnings include "candidates_present"):
-> candidates are try-then-confirm, never facts. Follow each candidate's
two-step next_action verbatim: run the trial command first, then run
`learnings confirm <id>` only after the trial verified the behavior.
Reject a wrong candidate with `learnings reject <id>`.
-> NEVER re-teach something recall surfaced as a candidate; confirm or
reject that candidate instead of teaching a duplicate.
-> candidates ride alongside playbooks and resource hits, not instead of
them; continue with the branches below after acting on them.
if Playbook present:
-> READ Playbook.notes verbatim FIRST (workarounds + gotchas the CLI surface doesn't expose)
-> replay Playbook.steps in order, substituting Playbook.slots_resolved entries
for the entity slot tokens. If a step's slot is unresolved, fall back to
discovery for that step only.
-> the Playbook's expected_tool_calls is a budget; if you find yourself running
materially more, record the divergence via `wordpress-pp-cli playbook amend`
at end-of-session.
elif Notes present (no Playbook):
-> read Notes verbatim before any discovery step; they carry known gotchas
for this query family even when no structured choreography exists yet.
elif Found AND Results[0].EntityMatch == "exact" AND Results[0].Confidence >= 2:
-> skip discovery; fetch live data for Results[*].ResourceID in parallel
elif Found AND Results[0].EntityMatch == "partial":
-> candidate hint, NOT a hit; read the resource title to validate before trusting
elif (any row in Mismatches[] when --debug-mismatches was passed):
-> treat as cold start; the stored learning is for a different entity
(different canonical resolved from query_entities)
else: // Found == false, no playbook, no notes
-> cold start; run discovery normally; teach the answer afterward (Step 4).
If the family has no playbook yet, that teach auto-synthesizes a
playbook candidate from this session's journal - you do not need to
record one by hand.
Playbook and Notes are orthogonal to the per-resource path. A recall response can carry both a Playbook AND a Results[] hit - use both: the Playbook tells you which choreography to run; the resource hits short-circuit specific steps. Default to skipping mismatches; pass --debug-mismatches only when investigating cold-start surprises.
Candidate judgment details: learnings confirm <id> prints the candidate's full payload before materializing it - check that the printed payload matches the behavior you verified. learnings reject <id> tombstones the derivation signature so the same candidate does not resurface. The envelope carries only the few candidates worth acting on now; wordpress-pp-cli learnings candidates lists the full open set.
Graceful degradation: if learnings confirm is an unknown command, you are driving an older binary - ignore the candidates guidance and follow the rest of the protocol.
Step 3: always read warnings
low_confidence: row exists atconfidence<2. Treat as a hint, not a skip-discovery hit.resource_not_in_store: the local store doesn't have the resource the learning points at. The match validator couldn't classify entities — direct-fetch and re-evaluate.cross_alias_match(per-result): the row was taught under a different alias and matched the live query's canonical viaentity_lookups(e.g., a "USA" teach satisfying a "United States" recall). Trust the resource_id.similar_shape_different_entity:<canonical>(top-level): a structurally matching row exists but its canonical entity differs from the live query's. Treated as cold start; the warning carries the conflicting canonical as a hint, but the row is NOT promoted into Results.ambiguous_alias(top-level): a single query entity resolved to multiple canonicals (e.g., "Cards" → Arizona Cardinals + St. Louis Cardinals). Surface the ambiguity from context before committing to a resource.candidates_present(top-level): the envelope carries acandidatessection. Handle it via the candidates branch in Step 2 before anything else.lookup_refresh_available(top-level): an entity in the query has no lookup row yet, but synced data could provide one. Runwordpress-pp-cli syncto refresh entity lookups.- Top-level
no_learnings_for_query_family: the table had no rows above the Jaccard floor. Pure cold start.
Step 4: teach & after finalizing your response - always
Teaching is unconditional. After resolving a query the store could not answer, background-teach the final resource mapping - no call-count threshold, no judging whether it was "worth" learning. The teach is the anchor of the loop: it triggers playbook synthesis for a family without a playbook, and same-referent phrasings fold into one family so near-duplicate teaches do not fragment the store. Fire it after assembling your user-facing response but BEFORE emitting it, with a shell & so the call returns immediately:
wordpress-pp-cli teach --query "<user's question>" --resource-type <type> --resource <id1> --resource <id2>
# (append shell `&` to background it)
Silent on success. Errors only land in teach.log under the resolved state dir. Teach the most specific resource - if the user asked a broad question and you walked through parent records to find the specific answer, teach the leaf id, not the parent. The CLI uses seeded entity_lookups for cross-alias resolution at recall time, so a teach under one alias (e.g., "Niners") satisfies future queries under another alias (e.g., "49ers", "San Francisco") automatically.
PII rule: teach the structural question with identifiers stripped - never include names, emails, phone numbers, account ids, or other personal identifiers in taught queries or notes. The CLI scans teach queries for obvious email/phone shapes and warns, but does not block; strip before teaching rather than relying on the warning.
Step 5: playbooks - optional flags, automatic synthesis
You do not need to decide whether a session "deserves" a playbook: a teach on a family without one auto-synthesizes a playbook_candidate from the session's journal, and the next session judges it via confirm/reject. Attach explicit playbook flags only when you already hold choreography worth recording verbatim - workarounds the CLI didn't surface (silently-dropped flags, undocumented params, pagination tricks, payload gotchas). Prefer the integrated one-call form - record the resource learning and the playbook in the same teach invocation:
# Common case: record both the resource learning AND the playbook in one call.
wordpress-pp-cli teach \
--query "<user's question>" \
--resource <id> \
--playbook-file ~/playbooks/<shape>.json \
--playbook-notes-file ~/playbooks/<shape>-notes.md
# (append shell `&` to background it)
# Alternate: playbook-only (no resource to record alongside).
wordpress-pp-cli teach-playbook \
--query "<user's question>" \
--playbook-file ~/playbooks/<shape>.json \
--notes-file ~/playbooks/<shape>-notes.md
Playbook files are JSON with steps, entity_slots, expected_tool_calls. Notes files are markdown carrying the gotchas verbatim. File-free callers (MCP-only agents) pass the same content inline: --playbook-json and --playbook-notes on the integrated teach form, --playbook-json and --notes on teach-playbook. On the integrated teach form, the playbook flags are optional - omit them entirely for a resource-only teach. On the standalone teach-playbook form, at least one of the playbook and notes flags must be set; both empty is rejected. Playbooks are keyed on the structural query family (entities stripped) so a recipe taught from one entity-shaped query applies to every other query of the same shape, with slots_resolved binding the live query's canonical at recall time.
When you DO find a playbook on a future recall, treat it as ground truth: replay the steps with slots_resolved substitutions, skip the discovery that the choreography already documents, and read notes before any step.
Step 6: playbook amend & when your debug response identifies a correction
If your debug-protocol response identifies a concrete correction the notes or playbook should know — a workaround, an undocumented endpoint shape, a stale field name, observed schema drift, an empty-payload fallback — fire playbook amend BEFORE emitting your user-facing response. Same fire-and-forget posture as teach.
wordpress-pp-cli playbook amend \
--query "<exact recall query string>" \
--add-note "<your concrete correction>"
# (append shell `&` to background it)
What counts as worth amending: a behavior you OBSERVED this session that future-you would benefit from knowing. Examples worth amending:
- A workaround for a CLI surface that silently drops or misorders a flag.
- An undocumented endpoint shape (response wrapped in
{meta, results}, payload nested two levels deeper than the docs claim). - Observed schema drift (a field renamed, an index that shifted between seasons, a category label that the API now returns lower-cased).
What does NOT belong in notes:
- The year-specific or entity-specific answer to the user's question. That's the response, not a learning.
- Per-team / per-athlete / per-row data the playbook already retrieves at runtime.
- Statements that paraphrase what the existing notes already say.
The amend command appends to the family's existing notes with a timestamped marker ([amend YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MMZ]: <text>). Multiple amends accumulate; the audit trail is visible. If no playbook exists yet for the family, amend creates a notes-only one (so cold-start corrections still land).
PII discipline for amend notes
playbook amend notes are designed to potentially flow upstream as shared knowledge in future versions of the Printing Press. Keep them clean of user-identifying content so the upstream-contribution path stays open without retroactive scrubbing:
- Do NOT embed paths to user filesystems, personal API keys or tokens, user email addresses, user GitHub handles, or specific query histories tied to a single user.
- Acceptable: endpoint shapes, undocumented field names, API gotchas, observed schema drift, workarounds for CLI surfaces, generalizable pagination or retry tactics.
If a correction is only meaningful with user-specific context, it belongs in a personal note, not in the playbook amend.
Measuring the loop
wordpress-pp-cli learnings stats reports recall hit rate, teach-to-reuse, playbook resolution rate, and candidate confirm/reject
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