superpowers-sage:abilities-authoring

abilities-authoring — WordPress MCP Abilities

An Ability exposes a callable MCP endpoint via the WordPress MCP Adapter. Claude calls it via execute-ability after discover-abilities lists it.

Anatomy of an Ability

class ListProjectsAbility extends Ability
{
    public string $name = 'projects/list';
    public string $description = 'Return all published Project CPT posts.';
    public array $schema = [ /* JSON Schema for input */ ];

    public function execute(array $args): array
    {
        // returns array — serialized as JSON by the adapter
    }
}

Creating an Ability

lando wp acorn make:ability <Name>
# Example: lando wp acorn make:ability ListProjects
# Creates: app/Abilities/ListProjectsAbility.php

Use templates in assets/ability-*.php.tpl for query, CRUD, and search patterns.

Registration

In app/Providers/AbilitiesServiceProvider.php:

use App\Abilities\ListProjectsAbility;

public function boot(): void
{
    $this->app->make(AbilityRegistry::class)->register([
        new ListProjectsAbility(),
    ]);
}

See references/registration.md for full ServiceProvider setup.

JSON Schema

The $schema array follows JSON Schema Draft-07. See references/schema.md.

MCP exposure

For an Ability to appear in discover-abilities, the MCP Adapter must be running. See references/mcp-exposure.md.

Common patterns

See references/patterns.md for query, CRUD, search, ACF field groups, and Livewire components patterns.

Verification

bash scripts/list-abilities.sh

Then in your Claude Code session: call discover-abilities — the Ability should appear.

Failure modes

Problem: Ability not appearing in discover-abilities

• Cause: The Ability is not registered in AbilitiesServiceProvider, or the service provider is not in config/app.php providers array.
• Fix: Verify the Ability class is added to AbilityRegistry::register() in the service provider. Check that the provider is listed in config/app.php and is actually being booted. Claude Code caches discover-abilities — restart the editor after registration changes.

Problem: execute() fails with "schema validation error"

• Cause: Input does not match the $schema definition. The MCP Adapter validates before calling your method.
• Fix: Review the schema properties, required fields, and type constraints. Ensure the input JSON matches enum values, integer ranges, and required field names exactly.

Problem: Ability returns invalid response (not JSON-serializable)

• Cause: The execute() method returns an object, resource, or value that cannot be JSON-serialized (e.g., a WP_Post object).
• Fix: Return plain arrays only. Extract post data with array_map() and map each WP_Post to an associative array.

Escalation

• For complex schema validation, consult the JSON Schema Draft-07 reference in references/schema.md.
• For ACF integration, see the ACF field groups pattern in references/patterns.md.
• If the Ability needs to expose Livewire components or act on multiple post types, see the Livewire pattern in references/patterns.md.