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 150-second TTL. No writes to wp_postmeta means no post-cache invalidation on every heartbeat.
On a multisite network, Network Admin gets its own view of the same data: a Who’s Online dashboard widget listing the busiest sites and who is on each, an Online column in the Sites list, and an Online view, filter, and column in the Users list. These require the manage_network capability.
Features
- Who’s Online dashboard widget with idle detection
- Active Posts dashboard widget grouped by post
- Admin bar indicator showing who’s online, grouped by who’s on this page
- Editors column in the post list
- Online filter in the Users list
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.