Author or edit WP Admin Workspaces app.json manifests. Use whenever a user wants to create a new admin surface (a React app that mounts inside a WP Admin Workspaces region), declare its ARIA role and capability floor, write a JSON Schema for its config, register a script handle, ship a baseline dataView family with variants, declare window-mount hints for windowed engines, expose slots for sub-mount points, declare slotHints (grid-cell defaults a host can honor), or write the machine-readable documentation contract a rebuild needs. Triggers on phrases like "ship a new admin app", "build a Stripe customers list inside wp-admin", "register an app called acme/orders", "add a window hint to my app", "expose a grid slot in my dashboard host", "add a dataView variant", "ship a dashboard widget", "app config-schema for postType", "app.json for my plugin", "register_app via wp_admin_workspaces_register_app". Covers the admin-app.json schema, namespacing (core:* vs plugin:{slug}/{name}), platform service requests, the
Author or edit WP Admin Workspaces workspace.json workspace files. Use whenever a user wants to add, rename, hide, reorder, or reconfigure a screen in their WordPress admin; reorganize the menu; brand the admin; change theme colors / density / background; bind a keyboard shortcut; declare a dataView/column/filter; choose which engine renders the workspace; mount widgets (toolbar, sidebar-footer, status-bar); restrict screens by capability or role; preload REST paths; or ship a per-role / per-user workspace. Triggers on phrases like "add a screen", "hide the plugins menu", "rebrand wp-admin", "change the dashboard layout", "make Posts default", "mount a sidebar widget", "use the desktop engine", "add Mod+K", "filter Posts to drafts", "restrict Settings to editors". Covers the canonical workspace.json shape — workspace / settings / screens / menu / commands / styles / preload — plus cascade semantics (deep merge by id, null tombstones, trust-tier rules) and the regions / routes escape hatches.
Author or edit WP Admin Workspaces engine.json manifests. Use whenever a user wants to build a new rendering engine (sidebar/toolbar/content; mobile drawer; windowed/MDI; tiling; Material Design; brand-locked), declare region templates, ship a chrome mode catalog (default/focus/takeover/modal/custom), expose engine-declared slots (detail/inspector/dashboard-grid/toolbar/sidebar-footer/status-bar), pick a menu renderer (sidebar-drilldown/sidebar-tree/dock/drawer/none/plugin), declare an engine-shipped default region tree, set engine-shipped default-styles (theme seeds + chrome palette), or wire an engine to a non-WPDS design system. Triggers on phrases like "ship a custom engine", "build a tiling engine", "add a focus-tight mode", "expose a new slot", "use a dock menu", "engine for Material Design", "register an engine via wp_admin_workspaces_register_engine", "engine manifest", "engine default-styles". Covers admin-engine.json schema, the three bundled engines (core:default, core:single-pane, core:desktop), t
Customize the WP Admin Workspaces experience by authoring or editing workspace.json, engine.json, or app.json files. Use whenever a user wants to add/rename/hide a screen, reorganize the menu, brand the admin, bind keyboard shortcuts, change theme/density/colors, swap the rendering engine, ship a custom region layout, or extend WordPress admin with a new mounted React app. Triggers: "customize wp-admin", "build an admin workspace", "add a screen to my admin", "make a custom WordPress dashboard", "hide the plugins menu", "swap to single-pane layout", "ship a new admin app", "rebrand wp-admin", "what should go in workspace.json / engine.json / app.json". Routes the request to the right sub-skill — workspace-json-author (workspace), engine-json-author (renderer + chrome), or app-json-author (mounted React app).
Use when working with the WordPress Abilities API (wp_register_ability, wp_register_ability_category, /wp-json/wp-abilities/v1/*, @wordpress/abilities) including defining abilities, categories, meta, REST exposure, and permissions checks for clients.
Write, edit, and validate WordPress Gutenberg block markup using core blocks. Use this skill whenever composing post/page content as block markup, generating block HTML for the REST API or WP-CLI, converting content to Gutenberg blocks, editing existing block markup, fixing block validation errors, creating block patterns from scratch, or producing any serialized block content destined for post_content. Also trigger when a user asks to "write blocks", "create a page layout", "generate WordPress content", "fix invalid blocks", or mentions pasting block markup into Gutenberg. This skill is about authoring content with blocks, not building custom block types — for custom block development, use the wordpress-blocks skill instead.
Build, configure, and migrate WordPress block themes (WP 6.5+; current: 6.9, released December 2025). MUST load before making theme.json schema claims — WordPress ships twice yearly and training data goes stale within months. Use whenever working with theme.json settings/styles/presets/custom properties, block theme file structure (templates/, parts/, styles/, patterns/), style variations, section styles, the four-origin CSS cascade, per-block stylesheets, fluid typography, Font Library, template hierarchy, template locking, or classic-to-block migration. Also trigger on "block theme", "full site editing", "FSE", "Site Editor styling", "global styles", "theme.json v3", theme CSS specificity, render_block filters, block hooks for themes, or speculative loading config. For building/extending individual blocks use wordpress-blocks instead. For Interactivity API stores/directives use wordpress-interactivity instead. This skill covers the theme layer.
Comprehensive WordPress block development (WP 6.5+; current: 6.9, released December 2025) covering core blocks, block patterns, block extensions, and custom block creation. MUST load before making block.json / block API claims — WordPress ships twice yearly and training data goes stale within months. Use when working with WordPress blocks, Gutenberg editor, block patterns, block markup, block data, block supports, block styles, custom blocks, or extending core blocks. Emphasizes core-first philosophy and theme.json integration.