Backport: Allow template duplication + concept of active templates #8063

ellatrix · 2024-12-30T18:22:16Z

Note: about 80% of the line changes are REST API fixture updates.

This backports the PHP changes from:

Summary:

Adds the active_templates setting, which is an object holding the template slug as a key and template post ID as the value.
To maintain backwards compatibility, any wp_template (post type) not created through the new API will be activated.
get_block_template and get_block_templates have been adjusted to check active_templates. These functions should never return inactive templates, just like before, to maintain backwards compatibility.
The pre-existing /templates endpoint and sub-endpoints remain and work exactly as before.
A new endpoint /wp_template has been added, but this is just a regular posts controller (WP_REST_Posts_Controller). We do register an additional theme field and expose the is_wp_suggestion meta.
Another new endpoint /wp_registered_template has been added, which is read-only and lists the registered templates from themes and plugin (un-edited, without activations applied).

Note: one thing to fix is creating a "fake" post type for wp_registered_template to create the entity client-side. We can address this after Beta 1. We should manually create the entity and manually register the endpoint.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/62755

This Pull Request is for code review only. Please keep all other discussion in the Trac ticket. Do not merge this Pull Request. See GitHub Pull Requests for Code Review in the Core Handbook for more details.

github-actions · 2024-12-30T18:22:32Z

The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

Core Committers: Use this line as a base for the props when committing in SVN:

Props ellatrix, shailu25, ntsekouras.

To understand the WordPress project's expectations around crediting contributors, please review the Contributor Attribution page in the Core Handbook.

github-actions · 2024-12-30T18:35:35Z

Test using WordPress Playground

The changes in this pull request can previewed and tested using a WordPress Playground instance.

WordPress Playground is an experimental project that creates a full WordPress instance entirely within the browser.

Some things to be aware of

The Plugin and Theme Directories cannot be accessed within Playground.
All changes will be lost when closing a tab with a Playground instance.
All changes will be lost when refreshing the page.
A fresh instance is created each time the link below is clicked.
Every time this pull request is updated, a new ZIP file containing all changes is created. If changes are not reflected in the Playground instance,
it's possible that the most recent build failed, or has not completed. Check the list of workflow runs to be sure.

For more details about these limitations and more, check out the Limitations page in the WordPress Playground documentation.

Test this pull request with WordPress Playground.

shail-mehta · 2025-10-21T06:17:34Z

src/wp-includes/rest-api.php

 * @since 4.7.0
 */
 function create_initial_rest_routes() {
+	global $wp_post_types;


Could you please add global documentation for global $wp_post_types ?

What would that documentation be? Looking through other instances of global $wp_post_types, I'm not seeing anything for those. 🤔

Like this @global array $wp_post_types List of post types. ?

Reference PR: #72020

If it's ok I will leave this for a follow-up because we're very close to code freeze.

src/wp-includes/block-template-utils.php

ntsekouras

LGTM, thanks!

mcsf · 2025-10-21T13:31:51Z

src/wp-includes/theme-templates.php

+	// For wp_template, slugs no longer have to be unique within the same theme.
+	if ( 'wp_template' !== $post_type ) {
+		return $override_slug;
+	}
+


This condition overrides the one above it. Should the one above be removed?

Yes, I was too conservative in touching existing code

mcsf · 2025-10-21T13:35:24Z

src/wp-includes/block-template-utils.php

+	$template_files = _get_block_templates_files( 'wp_template', $query );
+	$query_result   = array();
+
+	// _get_block_templates_files seems broken, it does not obey the query.


Can we mark this somehow to see later if that function needs fixing?

* Adds the `active_templates` setting, which is an object holding the template slug as a key and template post ID as the value. * To maintain backwards compatibility, any `wp_template` (post type) not created through the new API will be activated. * `get_block_template` and `get_block_templates` have been adjusted to check `active_templates`. These functions should never return inactive templates, just like before, to maintain backwards compatibility. * The pre-existing `/templates` endpoint and sub-endpoints remain and work exactly as before. * A new endpoint `/wp_template` has been added, but this is just a regular posts controller (`WP_REST_Posts_Controller`). We do register an additional `theme` field and expose the `is_wp_suggestion` meta. * Another new endpoint `/wp_registered_template` has been added, which is read-only and lists the registered templates from themes and plugin (un-edited, without activations applied). These changes are to be iterated on. See #8063. Props ellatrix, shailu25, ntsekouras. Fixes #62755. git-svn-id: https://develop.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@61029 602fd350-edb4-49c9-b593-d223f7449a82

github-actions · 2025-10-21T13:41:21Z

A commit was made that fixes the Trac ticket referenced in the description of this pull request.

SVN changeset: 61029
GitHub commit: 8e2c2db

This PR will be closed, but please confirm the accuracy of this and reopen if there is more work to be done.

* Adds the `active_templates` setting, which is an object holding the template slug as a key and template post ID as the value. * To maintain backwards compatibility, any `wp_template` (post type) not created through the new API will be activated. * `get_block_template` and `get_block_templates` have been adjusted to check `active_templates`. These functions should never return inactive templates, just like before, to maintain backwards compatibility. * The pre-existing `/templates` endpoint and sub-endpoints remain and work exactly as before. * A new endpoint `/wp_template` has been added, but this is just a regular posts controller (`WP_REST_Posts_Controller`). We do register an additional `theme` field and expose the `is_wp_suggestion` meta. * Another new endpoint `/wp_registered_template` has been added, which is read-only and lists the registered templates from themes and plugin (un-edited, without activations applied). These changes are to be iterated on. See WordPress/wordpress-develop#8063. Props ellatrix, shailu25, ntsekouras. Fixes #62755. Built from https://develop.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@61029 git-svn-id: http://core.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@60365 1a063a9b-81f0-0310-95a4-ce76da25c4cd

mcsf · 2025-10-21T13:50:39Z

src/wp-includes/block-template-utils.php

+	return $changes;
+}
+
+function wp_maybe_activate_template( $post_id ) {


Aside from documenting, we should audit these new functions to determine which ones to make private.

* Adds the `active_templates` setting, which is an object holding the template slug as a key and template post ID as the value. * To maintain backwards compatibility, any `wp_template` (post type) not created through the new API will be activated. * `get_block_template` and `get_block_templates` have been adjusted to check `active_templates`. These functions should never return inactive templates, just like before, to maintain backwards compatibility. * The pre-existing `/templates` endpoint and sub-endpoints remain and work exactly as before. * A new endpoint `/wp_template` has been added, but this is just a regular posts controller (`WP_REST_Posts_Controller`). We do register an additional `theme` field and expose the `is_wp_suggestion` meta. * Another new endpoint `/wp_registered_template` has been added, which is read-only and lists the registered templates from themes and plugin (un-edited, without activations applied). These changes are to be iterated on. See WordPress/wordpress-develop#8063. Props ellatrix, shailu25, ntsekouras. Fixes #62755. Built from https://develop.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@61029 git-svn-id: https://core.svn.wordpress.org/trunk@60365 1a063a9b-81f0-0310-95a4-ce76da25c4cd

justlevine · 2025-10-24T22:13:17Z

src/wp-includes/block-template-utils.php

+		} elseif ( false === $active_templates[ $slug ] ) {
+			return null;
+		}


Is this nested correctly? We can only get here via the ! empty( $active_templates[ #slug ] ) on L1351 (maybe we want an isset there? )

westonruter · 2025-10-28T00:55:35Z

src/wp-includes/rest-api.php

+	// Register the registered templates endpoint. For that we need to copy the
+	// wp_template post type so that it's available as an entity in core-data.
+	$wp_post_types['wp_registered_template']                        = clone $wp_post_types['wp_template'];
+	$wp_post_types['wp_registered_template']->name                  = 'wp_registered_template';
+	$wp_post_types['wp_registered_template']->rest_base             = 'wp_registered_template';
+	$wp_post_types['wp_registered_template']->rest_controller_class = 'WP_REST_Registered_Templates_Controller';


@ellatrix We need to pick a shorter post type slug which is 20 characters or less, for example wp_registered_tmpl.

I discovered that this causes a very esoteric error in unit tests. It was difficult to debug, but it comes down to this: wp_registered_template is too long as a post type slug. The maximum length of posts.post_type in the database schema is 20 characters. When attempting to insert a post with this wp_registered_template post type, a database error ensues:

WordPress database error: Processing the value for the following field failed: post_type. The supplied value may be too long or contains invalid data.

This causes the unit tests in the WordPress/performance repo to start to fail. For example:

1) Test_OD_Storage_Post_Type::test_delete_all_posts Failed asserting that false is identical to 'bar'. /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/performance/plugins/optimization-detective/tests/storage/test-class-od-url-metrics-post-type.php:464

The unit test doesn't fail when run in isolation. But it runs when running with all the other unit tests. This is because the Test_OD_REST_URL_Metrics_Store_Endpoint tests call rest_get_server() which now has the effect of running this code here to add wp_registered_template to $wp_post_types. The Test_OD_REST_URL_Metrics_Store_Endpoint tests aren't resetting the global $wp_post_types back to their original value (as this wasn't clear it was needed), so later when Test_OD_Storage_Post_Type runs it is looping over all get_post_types() to create some test posts of each post type to ensure their data remains intact when OD_URL_Metrics_Post_Type::delete_all_posts() is called. However, this ends up failing in the unit test when $post_type is wp_registered_template with the above database error:

$other_post_ids = array_merge( $other_post_ids, self::factory()->post->create_many( 10, compact( 'post_type' ) ) );

Ah, it seems this is being removed in #10425

github-actions bot mentioned this pull request Oct 16, 2025

PHP backports for WP 6.9 WordPress/gutenberg#72379

Closed

ellatrix force-pushed the backport/active-templates branch 4 times, most recently from e7fa52b to 3f3f40f Compare October 20, 2025 20:31

shail-mehta reviewed Oct 21, 2025

View reviewed changes

ellatrix force-pushed the backport/active-templates branch from e3d29b3 to 7b12619 Compare October 21, 2025 08:44

ntsekouras reviewed Oct 21, 2025

View reviewed changes

src/wp-includes/block-template-utils.php Show resolved Hide resolved

ellatrix and others added 11 commits October 21, 2025 15:06

Update site-editor.php

e9c3308

initial changes

064b000

Add registered templates endpoint

7635f18

Restore autosave and revisisions controller

bee1e4a

Update expected endpoints and settings

3b09dae

Make sure to not override meta and tax input

ec3dfd7

Fix unit tests

949cf12

Adjust preload paths

b1d0cce

php lint, update fixtures

2ee34ad

Adjust fixture

ce98ab9

lint

0f85749

ellatrix force-pushed the backport/active-templates branch from 7b12619 to 0f85749 Compare October 21, 2025 13:06

ntsekouras approved these changes Oct 21, 2025

View reviewed changes

mcsf reviewed Oct 21, 2025

View reviewed changes

github-actions bot closed this Oct 21, 2025

mcsf reviewed Oct 21, 2025

View reviewed changes

This was referenced Oct 22, 2025

Template activation: fix unique slug filtering #10397

Closed

Template activation: initialise old autosave and revisions endpoints WordPress/gutenberg#72680

Merged

justlevine reviewed Oct 24, 2025

View reviewed changes

westonruter reviewed Oct 28, 2025

View reviewed changes

Backport: Allow template duplication + concept of active templates #8063

Backport: Allow template duplication + concept of active templates #8063

Uh oh!

Conversation

ellatrix commented Dec 30, 2024 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Dec 30, 2024 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Dec 30, 2024

Test using WordPress Playground

Some things to be aware of

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

shail-mehta Oct 21, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Uh oh!

ntsekouras left a comment

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

github-actions bot commented Oct 21, 2025

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

justlevine Oct 24, 2025 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Choose a reason for hiding this comment

Uh oh!

Reviewers

Assignees

Labels

Projects

Milestone

Development

Uh oh!

6 participants

ellatrix commented Dec 30, 2024 •

edited

Loading

github-actions bot commented Dec 30, 2024 •

edited

Loading

shail-mehta Oct 21, 2025 •

edited

Loading

justlevine Oct 24, 2025 •

edited

Loading