Presence API gives WordPress a system-wide awareness layer. It tracks which users are logged in, which admin screen they are on, and which posts they are editing.
Data flows through the Heartbeat API and is stored in a dedicated wp_presence table with a 60-second TTL. No writes to wp_postmeta means no post-cache invalidation on every heartbeat.
Features
- Who’s Online dashboard widget with idle detection
- Active Posts dashboard widget grouped by post
- Admin bar indicator showing other users on the same page
- Editors column in the post list
- Online filter in the Users list
Try it
Test in WordPress Playground without installing anything.
For Developers
PHP functions, REST endpoints, WP-CLI commands, filters, and room conventions are documented in the GitHub repository.
Background
An experimental feature plugin sponsored by the WordPress Core team, exploring what system-wide presence could look like for a future WordPress release. Follow development on make.wordpress.org/core with the tag #presence-api.