WordPress API with Gutenberg

Overview

This skill provides comprehensive guidance for interacting with WordPress REST API to create and manage posts using Gutenberg block editor format. It covers authentication, block serialization, media upload, and publishing workflows.

Quick Start

Before using the API, ensure you have:

1. WordPress site with REST API enabled (default)

2. Authentication credentials:

   • Application Password (WordPress 5.6+): Generate at /wp-admin/admin.php?page=application-passwords
   • JWT Authentication plugin installed (alternative)
   • Username/password for Basic Auth (not recommended for production)

3. Base URL: https://your-site.com/wp-json/wp/v2

Authentication

Application Password (Recommended)

# Set environment variables
export WP_URL="https://your-site.com"
export WP_USERNAME="admin"
export WP_APPLICATION_PASSWORD="xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx"

import requests
import os

wp_url = os.environ.get('WP_URL')
username = os.environ.get('WP_USERNAME')
password = os.environ.get('WP_APPLICATION_PASSWORD')

auth = (username, password)

JWT Authentication

If using JWT plugin, obtain token first:

import requests

wp_url = "https://your-site.com"
username = "admin"
password = "password"

# Get token
resp = requests.post(f"{wp_url}/wp-json/jwt-auth/v1/token", 
                     json={"username": username, "password": password})
token = resp.json()['token']

headers = {"Authorization": f"Bearer {token}"}

Creating Posts with Gutenberg Blocks

WordPress REST API expects posts in Gutenberg's serialized block format. The content field should contain block comments and HTML.

Basic Block Structure

def create_gutenberg_post(title, content_blocks):
    """
    Create a post with Gutenberg blocks.
    
    Args:
        title: Post title
        content_blocks: List of block dictionaries with 'blockName' and 'attrs'
    
    Returns:
        JSON data for POST request
    """
    # Serialize blocks to Gutenberg format
    block_html = []
    for block in content_blocks:
        block_name = block.get('blockName', 'core/paragraph')
        attrs = block.get('attrs', {})
        inner_html = block.get('innerHTML', '')
        
        # Create block comment
        attrs_json = json.dumps(attrs) if attrs else ''
        block_comment = f'<!-- wp:{block_name} {attrs_json} -->'
        block_html.append(f'{block_comment}{inner_html}<!-- /wp:{block_name} -->')
    
    content = '\n\n'.join(block_html)
    
    return {
        "title": title,
        "content": content,
        "status": "draft",  # or "publish"
        "format": "standard"
    }

Common Block Examples

See references/common_blocks.md for detailed examples of:

• Paragraph blocks with formatting
• Heading blocks (h2-h4)
• Image blocks with captions and alignment
• List blocks (ordered/unordered)
• Quote blocks
• Code blocks
• Custom HTML blocks
• Columns and layout blocks

Complete Workflow

Step 1: Prepare Authentication

Set up credentials as environment variables or in a configuration file.

Step 2: Create Post Data

Define title, content blocks, categories, tags, featured image.

Step 3: Upload Media (if needed)

def upload_image(image_path, post_id=None):
    """Upload image to WordPress media library."""
    with open(image_path, 'rb') as f:
        files = {'file': f}
        data = {}
        if post_id:
            data['post'] = post_id
        
        response = requests.post(f"{wp_url}/wp-json/wp/v2/media",
                                 files=files, data=data, auth=auth)
        return response.json()

Step 4: Create Post

def create_post(post_data):
    """Create new WordPress post."""
    response = requests.post(f"{wp_url}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts",
                             json=post_data, auth=auth)
    return response.json()

Step 5: Update Status

Change from draft to publish:

def publish_post(post_id):
    """Publish a draft post."""
    response = requests.post(f"{wp_url}/wp-json/wp/v2/posts/{post_id}",
                             json={"status": "publish"}, auth=auth)
    return response.json()

Advanced Features

Categories and Tags

# Get or create category
def ensure_category(name, slug=None):
    categories = requests.get(f"{wp_url}/wp-json/wp/v2/categories",
                             params={"search": name}, auth=auth).json()
    if categories:
        return categories[0]['id']
    else:
        new_cat = requests.post(f"{wp_url}/wp-json/wp/v2/categories",
                               json={"name": name, "slug": slug or name.lower()},
                               auth=auth).json()
        return new_cat['id']

Featured Image

# Upload image first, then set as featured
image_data = upload_image("path/to/image.jpg")
post_data["featured_media"] = image_data['id']

Custom Fields (ACF)

If using Advanced Custom Fields plugin:

post_data["meta"] = {
    "your_field_name": "field_value"
}

Error Handling

Always check responses:

response = requests.post(...)
if response.status_code in [200, 201]:
    print("Success!")
else:
    print(f"Error {response.status_code}: {response.text}")

Common issues:

• 401: Authentication failed
• 403: User lacks permission
• 404: Endpoint not found (check WordPress version)
• 500: Server error (check PHP error logs)

Scripts

The scripts/ directory contains helper utilities:

• wp_publish.py: Complete publishing pipeline
• block_generator.py: Generate Gutenberg block HTML from markdown
• media_uploader.py: Batch upload images

References

• common_blocks.md: Detailed block examples
• api_reference.md: Complete WordPress REST API reference
• troubleshooting.md: Common issues and solutions

Assets

• templates/article_template.json: JSON template for typical article structure
• block_samples/: Example block HTML for various content types

Example Request

# Using curl with Application Password
curl -X POST https://your-site.com/wp-json/wp/v2/posts \
  -u "admin:xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx xxxx" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "title": "My New Post",
    "content": "<!-- wp:paragraph --><p>Hello World!</p><!-- /wp:paragraph -->",
    "status": "draft"
  }'