Abilities API: Normalize `required` schema shape for REST responses by gziolo · Pull Request #12013 · WordPress/wordpress-develop

gziolo · 2026-05-29T16:48:11Z

Summary

Normalizes the required keyword in an ability's input and output schemas to its JSON Schema draft-04 form when they are exposed through the REST API (wp-abilities/v1).

Background

The input and output schemas are a public contract: clients — such as the @wordpress/abilities JS client — consume them as standard JSON Schema and validate ability input and output against them, so they must receive a draft-04-conformant shape that standard validators understand. On the server, WordPress accepts either a draft-04 required array of property names on the object schema, or a draft-03 per-property required boolean (see rest_validate_value_from_schema()). Both validate server-side, but only the array form is valid JSON Schema draft-04. Ability schemas registered with the per-property boolean form (as shown in the wp_register_ability() examples) were therefore exposed to clients in a shape that standard validators do not recognize and that does not conform to the draft-04 contract the endpoint advertises via $schema.

Changes

In WP_REST_Abilities_V1_List_Controller::prepare_schema_for_response():

Collect per-property required: true booleans and emit them as a required: [ ... ] array of property names on the parent object schema — applied recursively, so nested objects each get their own array.
Strip required: false and any boolean required that has no draft-04 equivalent (for example on a scalar root schema).
Preserve and merge with an existing draft-04 required array, de-duplicating names.

The transformation only rewrites the REST response copy; server-side validation continues to use the stored schema via validate_input(), so behavior is unchanged. Adds test coverage for the conversion: top-level, nested objects, objects nested inside array items, required: false, mixed draft-04 array + draft-03 booleans, and the scalar-root case.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64955

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github-actions · 2026-05-29T16:48:25Z

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Props gziolo.

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github-actions · 2026-05-29T16:52:30Z

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When exposing an ability's input and output schemas through the REST API, convert any draft-03 per-property `required` boolean into a draft-04 `required` array of property names on the parent object schema, and drop boolean `required` flags that have no draft-04 equivalent (such as on a scalar root schema). WordPress accepts both forms internally, but only the array form is valid JSON Schema draft-04, so clients consuming `wp-abilities/v1` now receive a conformant schema. The transformation only affects the REST response copy; server-side validation continues to use the stored schema via validate_input(). Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>

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Pull request overview

Normalizes Abilities API REST-exposed JSON Schemas so the required keyword is always represented in JSON Schema draft-04 form (parent required: [] array), even when abilities were registered using WordPress’s draft-03-style per-property required: true/false booleans. This keeps the REST schema contract compatible with standard JSON Schema validators consumed by clients.

Changes:

Add server-side schema-response normalization to convert per-property required booleans into a parent required array (and drop boolean-only cases with no draft-04 equivalent).
Preserve/merge existing draft-04 required arrays while de-duplicating entries.
Add PHPUnit coverage for top-level, nested object, array items object, mixed required forms, required: false, and scalar-root cases.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 2 out of 2 changed files in this pull request and generated 1 comment.

File	Description
`src/wp-includes/rest-api/endpoints/class-wp-rest-abilities-v1-list-controller.php`	Adds `required` normalization logic to `prepare_schema_for_response()` so REST responses conform to JSON Schema draft-04.
`tests/phpunit/tests/rest-api/wpRestAbilitiesV1ListController.php`	Adds tests asserting correct conversion/stripping/merging behavior for `required` across multiple schema shapes.

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+			$required = ( isset( $schema['required'] ) && is_array( $schema['required'] ) ) ? $schema['required'] : array();
+			foreach ( $schema['properties'] as $property => $property_schema ) {
+				if ( $this->is_associative_array( $property_schema ) && isset( $property_schema['required'] ) && is_bool( $property_schema['required'] ) ) {
+					if ( true === $property_schema['required'] ) {
+						$required[] = $property;
+					}
+					unset( $schema['properties'][ $property ]['required'] );
+				}
+			}
+			if ( ! empty( $required ) ) {
+				$schema['required'] = array_values( array_unique( $required ) );
+			}


westonruter · 2026-06-01T12:11:42Z

+					unset( $schema['properties'][ $property ]['required'] );
+				}
+			}
+			if ( ! empty( $required ) ) {


Just to avoid empty() in favor of something more specific:

Suggested change

if ( ! empty( $required ) ) {

if ( count( $required ) > 0 ) {

Or alternatively:

Suggested change

if ( ! empty( $required ) ) {

if ( $required ) {

jorgefilipecosta · 2026-06-01T15:06:41Z


+		// Collect draft-03 per-property `required: true` flags into a draft-04
+		// `required` array of property names on the parent object schema.
+		if ( isset( $schema['properties'] ) && is_array( $schema['properties'] ) ) {


I wonder if REST is the right place for this transformation or if it is something that should be considered at the ability registration level. The advantage of being on the ability level, is that for things like wp_ai_client use abilities and MCP adapter the abilities would also have the draft-04 shape.

jorgefilipecosta

Left a comment for consideration but other than that it looks good.

jorgefilipecosta · 2026-06-01T15:23:21Z

+		// Collect draft-03 per-property `required: true` flags into a draft-04
+		// `required` array of property names on the parent object schema.
+		if ( isset( $schema['properties'] ) && is_array( $schema['properties'] ) ) {
+			$required = ( isset( $schema['required'] ) && is_array( $schema['required'] ) ) ? $schema['required'] : array();


In case of a mix where where we use required = array(...) and also required = true/false at the property level, in this code were are using both, but on rest_validate_object_value_from_schema https://github.com/gziolo/wordpress-develop/blob/508a98f4daab5dcc277c07059bcea0da24795eb1/src/wp-includes/rest-api.php#L2378-L2390 we use just required = array(...) if it was set and then propertly level if it was not set, so we have a difference of behavior. Should we align both cases?

gziolo force-pushed the 64955-abilities-rest-required-normalization branch from 6265213 to 03946ca Compare May 29, 2026 17:04

gziolo force-pushed the 64955-abilities-rest-required-normalization branch from 03946ca to 508a98f Compare May 29, 2026 19:40

gziolo requested review from Copilot and jorgefilipecosta June 1, 2026 12:06

Copilot started reviewing on behalf of gziolo June 1, 2026 12:08 View session

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westonruter reviewed Jun 1, 2026

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gziolo self-assigned this Jun 1, 2026

jorgefilipecosta reviewed Jun 1, 2026

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Abilities API: Normalize `required` schema shape for REST responses#12013

Abilities API: Normalize `required` schema shape for REST responses#12013
gziolo wants to merge 1 commit into
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gziolo:64955-abilities-rest-required-normalization

gziolo commented May 29, 2026 •

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	if ( ! empty( $required ) ) {
	if ( count( $required ) > 0 ) {

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gziolo commented May 29, 2026 • edited Loading Uh oh! There was an error while loading. Please reload this page.

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Summary

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Pull request overview

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gziolo commented May 29, 2026 •

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