WordPress – Core APIs

WordPress Core Application Programming Interface, commonly abbreviated as WordPress Core APIs is a collection of several individual APIs and each API covers the functions involved in adding a particular set of functionalities to WordPress. Together, they provide an interface for WordPress developers to write plugins and themes which can interact with the core.

Using these APIs, you can leave the heavy lifting to WordPress’ Core and be assured that your code is backward-compatible and future-proof.

Now that you have understood what WordPress Core APIs are, you can have a look at the below APIs to understand how to extend the functionality offered by WordPress through plugins.

You have learnt the following Core APIs in the Basic Plugin Development course.

• Metadata API
• Shortcode API
• Administration Menus
• Settings and Option API

Other Core APIs you need to learn and explore.

• HTTP API
  • GET with transient caching
  • GET with basic authentication
• Transients API
• Rewrite API
• Dashboard Widgets API
• Widgets API
• Filesystem API
• File Header API

Explore more APIs from the WordPress Developer APIs Handbook.

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Transient API

Explore these videos for insights and tutorials on Transient API. This section comprises 7 modules with a combined duration of 24 minutes.

Video Content	Time
Introduction to Transient API	03:16
Fetching & Setting Transients	03:41
How Transient API works	03:47
Updating Transients	03:23
Best Practices for Transient API	01:57
Delete expired Transients	01:35

Ideas to Explore:

• Where are transients stored? How transient key is constructed and stored in DB?
• When does transient get deleted and how? Where is the expiration time stored?