Chagency is built directly on the AI Client that shipped in WordPress 7.0: wp_ai_client_prompt(), Connectors, and the Abilities API. Every prompt flows through WordPress core, every provider is a Connector you already configured under Settings Connectors, and the assistant can call the abilities your site registers.

That last part is what makes it an agent rather than a chat box. Tick the abilities you want it to reach, and the model can use them mid-conversation to answer you: WordPress converts each one into a tool the model understands, runs it, and checks that ability’s own permissions first. Ask “what’s my site running on?” and it goes and looks, instead of guessing.

It runs in the WordPress admin and, when you turn it on, on every page of your public site. The name (chat + ai + ency) is meant as a small bridge between the new AI primitives shipped with WordPress and the broader world of chat and agents.

🪨 Built on WordPress, period

Chagency relies entirely on what WordPress 7 ships in core:

wp_ai_client_prompt(), the AI Client API.
using_abilities() and WP_AI_Client_Ability_Function_Resolver, core’s own tool-calling bridge.
wp_get_connectors(), the Connectors API.
wp_register_ability() / wp_get_ability() / wp_get_abilities(), the Abilities API.
@wordpress/components, @wordpress/element, @wordpress/boot, the Gutenberg toolkit.

That is the entire dependency surface. No bundled AI vendor SDKs, no third-party JavaScript libraries beyond the Gutenberg stack, no telemetry, no phone-home. The plugin stays small on purpose: fewer moving parts means less friction, fewer security holes, less to break when WordPress, browsers, or providers change.

You will need at least one AI provider plugin (e.g. AI Provider for Anthropic, AI Provider for Google, AI Provider for OpenAI) to talk to a model. That is WordPress 7’s architecture: providers are separate plugins that register a Connector. They are not a Chagency dependency.

💡 Tip: For the smoothest setup, install AI Engine. It registers every AI provider it manages as a Connector, so a single configuration covers all your WordPress 7 AI plugins (including Chagency). Every request then flows through one clean, unified system.

🪄 What you get

A floating chat panel pinned to the bottom-right of every page (admin and / or public site, controlled by two independent toggles).
A single settings page under Settings Chagency, with the bare minimum: where to show the chatbot, the chat title, the greeting, the system instruction, the model preference, and which abilities the assistant may use.
Abilities, opt-in one by one. Every ability registered on your site (by core, by Chagency, by any other plugin) can be handed to the assistant, and each call is shown under the reply so you can see what it actually did.
Live updates: flipping a toggle in Settings shows or hides the launcher immediately on the same page, no reload needed.
Per-provider Test buttons that fire a canary prompt and report round-trip time.
Conversation persistence in your browser’s localStorage, scoped per user.
Failures explained in plain words (rejected key, rate limit, provider down, conversation too long) with a Try again button, so a hiccup never costs you what you typed.
Placeholder expansion ({user_name}, {site_name}, {current_page}, {current_url}, {user_role}, {site_url}) so the assistant always knows who and where it is.
Exposed as an Ability (chagency/send-message) so other plugins, MCP clients, and AI agents can invoke Chagency directly.

🚀 Getting started

Install and activate Chagency.
Install and configure at least one AI provider plugin under Settings Connectors (we recommend AI Engine, which exposes all its providers as Connectors at once).
Click the chat launcher in the bottom-right of any admin page and start talking.
Want it on the public site too? Open Settings Chagency and flip the second toggle.

🙋 Frequently Asked Questions

Why “Chagency”?

It’s a portmanteau of chat, AI, and a bit of agent. Not “agency” in the sense of a marketing shop. The plugin starts as a minimal chatbot for the new WordPress 7 AI framework and grows alongside the Abilities API into a true agent.

Does it need WordPress 7?

Yes. It uses wp_ai_client_prompt(), wp_get_connectors(), and the Abilities API, all added in WordPress 7.0. On older versions it refuses to boot and tells you why. WordPress 7.1 is recommended.

How do abilities work, and is it safe?

Open Settings Chagency, turn on Let the assistant use abilities, then tick the ones you want to allow. Nothing is allowed by default.

Three things keep it tight. Only the abilities you ticked are ever offered to the model. WordPress runs each ability itself and checks that ability’s own permission_callback for the person chatting, so the assistant can never do more than that user could. And abilities are admin-only: the public widget never gets them, even when you turn the public site on.

Each reply lists the abilities it used, so nothing happens off-screen.

Which abilities can it use?

Whatever is registered on your site. WordPress ships core/get-site-info, core/get-user-info and core/get-environment-info, and any plugin can register more. They all show up in the list.

Which AI providers are supported?

Whatever you configure under Settings Connectors. Chagency is provider-agnostic. Anthropic, Google, OpenAI, or any third-party Connector are treated equally.

Can visitors on the front end use it?

Yes. Open Settings Chagency and turn on Show on the public site. The chat then appears for every visitor, signed in or not.

Does it store my conversations?

No. Conversations live only in your own browser (localStorage, per user). Hit Reset in the panel to clear them. Nothing is stored server-side.

Can I use it as a building block in my own plugin?

Yes. The chagency/send-message Ability is registered on wp_abilities_api_init and can be called with wp_get_ability( 'chagency/send-message' )->execute( array( 'message' => '...' ) ).

Source code

The unminified React / JavaScript source is shipped inside the plugin folder under src/, alongside the compiled output in build/. Public source repository: https://github.com/jordymeow/chagency

To rebuild from source:

pnpm install && pnpm run build

The build is @wordpress/scripts (webpack) with no custom plugins or transforms.