A single place in WordPress to capture site-wide content standards and context, so publishing tools can manage content that stays on-brand and consistent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019d like to explore Content Guidelines as a GutenbergGutenberg<\/span> The Gutenberg project is the new Editor Interface for WordPress. The editor improves the process and experience of creating new content, making writing rich content much simpler. It uses \u2018blocks\u2019 to add richness rather than shortcodes, custom HTML etc.\rhttps:\/\/wordpress.org\/gutenberg\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span> experiment. The goal is to give site owners a first-class place in WordPress to capture the rules and context that shape how content should be written, edited, and managed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Gutenberg experiment is well-suited for this kind of work:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Gutenberg experiments let us validate whether this concept belongs in core, how it should be modeled, and where it should live in the admin experience before committing to a long-term API.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initial PR is up at #75164<\/a> (we\u2019ll continue to iterate there), and the tracking issue for broader discussion is at #75171<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Most sites already have content standards: voice and tone, structural rules, image guidance, accessibilityAccessibility<\/span> Accessibility (commonly shortened to a11y) refers to the design of products, devices, services, or environments for people with disabilities. The concept of accessible design ensures both \u201cdirect access\u201d (i.e. unassisted) and \u201cindirect access\u201d meaning compatibility with a person\u2019s assistive technology (for example, computer screen readers). (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Accessibility)<\/span><\/span><\/span> expectations, linking practices, and more. Today, those guidelines often live outside WordPress in documents, PDFs, wikis, or institutional knowledge. That makes them harder to find while writing and harder for any tool, human or automated, to apply consistently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Content Guidelines isn\u2019t an AI-only feature. It doesn\u2019t depend on AI, but AI should depend on it. A unified store of guidelines makes standards discoverable, portable, and reusable, whether the person applying them is a writer, an editor, a plugin, or an AI assistant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Having a shared, structured store of guidelines creates compounding benefits over time \u2013 first for the people and tools already managing content, and increasingly as AI-assisted workflows become part of the publishing process.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A single source of truth for content standards.<\/strong> Today, editorial standards are scattered across wikis, PDFs, onboarding docs, and tribal knowledge. Content Guidelines gives them a canonical home inside WordPress, available at the moment they matter \u2013 during writing and editing, not after.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Consistency across authors and tools.<\/strong> On multi-author sites, keeping voice, structure, and formatting consistent is an ongoing challenge. When guidelines are part of the platform, every contributor and every tool works from the same expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More steerable AI behavior.<\/strong> When AI-powered features can reference a site\u2019s actual standards \u2013 voice and tone, preferred terminology, accessibility requirements, structural constraints \u2013 the results are site-specific rather than generic, with less need for repeated prompting or manual correction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Guardrails for agents.<\/strong> As WordPress evolves to support and enable autonomous agents that act on behalf of a digital presence, (handling customer interactions, managing commerce workflows, moderating content) those agents need to understand the site\u2019s voice, boundaries, and standards. Content Guidelines keeps public-facing agents aligned with a site\u2019s brand and expectations, even without human review of every action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A shared, portable foundation across the ecosystem.<\/strong> A consistent source of truth makes it easier for multiple features \u2013 whether core, host, or plugin \u2013 to behave coherently without creating conflicting rules across separate settings panels. With import and export, guidelines can move with a site, be reused across environments, or serve as a starting point for new sites.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The experiment focuses on establishing the foundation needed to make guidelines broadly useful:<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initial emphasis is on capturing and retrieving guidelines. AI-driven experiences like generation, review, and enforcement, which exist in AI Experiments<\/a>, can build on top of that shared foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n If you\u2019d like to track progress or contribute feedback and use cases, the tracking issue is the best place to start: #75171<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most helpful feedback right now is practical:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Kudos to @<\/span>matveb<\/a> for reviewing this post.<\/em><\/p>\n\n
Why this matters<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What Content Guidelines enables<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
What this experiment includes<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n
How to follow along and share feedback<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\n