Feature/date calculation ability by infowprobo · Pull Request #116 · WordPress/ai

infowprobo · 2025-11-30T06:36:35Z

What?

Adds ai/calculate-dates ability to calculate dates from natural language patterns.

Closes #55

This PR implements a date calculation ability that helps AI assistants accurately calculate recurring dates from natural language patterns like "3rd Tuesday of each month" or "every other Friday".

Why?

As noted in #55, AI models struggle with date calculations, especially recurring patterns. This ability provides:

Accurate date calculation for AI-powered features
Reusable across different WordPress applications
Handles edge cases like leap years and month-end dates
Consistent date calculation logic

How?

Implementation:

Created Date_Calculation class in includes/Abilities/Utilities/
Registered as ai/calculate-dates ability
Uses WordPress Abilities API
REST API enabled via show_in_rest => true
Follows existing ability patterns (similar to Posts class)

Architecture:

Uses native PHP DateTime class (no external dependencies)
Respects WordPress timezone settings
Input validation via schema
Permission check: requires edit_posts capability
Limits occurrences to 52 maximum (prevents abuse)

Supported Patterns

Relative patterns: tomorrow, next Monday, in 3 days
Nth weekday patterns: 3rd Tuesday, first Friday, last Monday
Recurring patterns: every Monday, every other Tuesday
Interval patterns: every 2 weeks, every month, every 3 days

Testing Instructions

Via WP-CLI

wp shell

$ability = wp_get_ability('ai/calculate-dates');

// Test tomorrow
$result = $ability->execute(array('pattern' => 'tomorrow'));
print_r($result);

// Test 3rd Tuesday
$result = $ability->execute(array(
    'pattern' => '3rd tuesday',
    'occurrences' => 3
));
print_r($result);

// Test every Monday
$result = $ability->execute(array(
    'pattern' => 'every monday',
    'occurrences' => 5
));
print_r($result);

Expected Results

Input:

{
  "pattern": "every monday",
  "occurrences": 3
}

Output:

{
  "dates": [
    "2025-12-01T00:00:00+00:00",
    "2025-12-08T00:00:00+00:00",
    "2025-12-15T00:00:00+00:00"
  ],
  "pattern": "every monday"
}

OR

wp eval "$ability = wp_get_ability('ai/calculate-dates'); print_r($ability->execute(array('pattern' => 'every monday', 'occurrences' => 5)));"

AliShanScreenshot 2025-11-30 at 11  35 06

Testing Instructions for Keyboard

N/A - This PR does not affect the user interface. It only adds backend ability for date calculations.

Screenshots or screencast

N/A - Backend ability with no visual output. The ability is accessible via PHP, WP-CLI, and REST API.

Testing Checklist

Tested locally via WP-CLI
All pattern types working correctly
Error handling working (invalid patterns return WP_Error)
Permission checks working
Input validation working
Timezone handling working
Occurrences limit enforced
PHPUnit tests (TODO)

Code Quality

Follows WordPress Coding Standards
All strings are translatable
Proper PHPDoc comments
Uses sanitization callbacks
Error handling with WP_Error
Follows existing ability patterns in the repo

Notes

Uses same registration pattern as Posts ability
Registered in bootstrap.php alongside other utilities
No external dependencies
Works with any timezone
Future enhancement: Add more complex patterns (e.g., "3 weeks from Friday")

- Triggers on release publish - Reuses existing build-plugin-zip workflow - Downloads built artifact - Uploads ai.zip as release asset Fixes WordPress#109

- Implements ai/calculate-dates ability as requested in WordPress#55 - Supports relative patterns (tomorrow, next Monday, in 3 days) - Supports nth weekday patterns (3rd Tuesday, first Friday, last Monday) - Supports recurring patterns (every Monday, every other Tuesday) - Supports interval patterns (every 2 weeks, every month) - Uses native PHP DateTime (no external dependencies) - Includes input validation and error handling - REST API enabled - Limits occurrences to 52 maximum - Requires edit_posts capability Addresses WordPress#55

github-actions · 2025-11-30T06:36:44Z

The following accounts have interacted with this PR and/or linked issues. I will continue to update these lists as activity occurs. You can also manually ask me to refresh this list by adding the props-bot label.

Unlinked Accounts

The following contributors have not linked their GitHub and WordPress.org accounts: @alishanvr, @jmarx.

Contributors, please read how to link your accounts to ensure your work is properly credited in WordPress releases.

If you're merging code through a pull request on GitHub, copy and paste the following into the bottom of the merge commit message.

Unlinked contributors: alishanvr, jmarx.

Co-authored-by: jeffpaul <jeffpaul@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: mindctrl <mindctrl@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: dkotter <dkotter@git.wordpress.org>
Co-authored-by: infowprobo <wprobo@git.wordpress.org>

To understand the WordPress project's expectations around crediting contributors, please review the Contributor Attribution page in the Core Handbook.

codecov · 2025-11-30T06:39:37Z

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 0% with 197 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 32.56%. Comparing base (ae23fcc) to head (22405f0).
⚠️ Report is 21 commits behind head on develop.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
includes/Abilities/Utilities/Date_Calculation.php	0.00%	195 Missing ⚠️
includes/bootstrap.php	0.00%	2 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@              Coverage Diff              @@
##             develop     #116      +/-   ##
=============================================
- Coverage      38.91%   32.56%   -6.36%     
- Complexity       176      215      +39     
=============================================
  Files             16       17       +1     
  Lines           1010     1207     +197     
=============================================
  Hits             393      393              
- Misses           617      814     +197

Flag	Coverage Δ
unit	`32.56% <0.00%> (-6.36%)`	⬇️

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mindctrl · 2025-12-01T16:56:18Z

includes/Abilities/Utilities/Date_Calculation.php

+	 * @return bool True if pattern is relative.
+	 */
+	private function is_relative_pattern( string $pattern ): bool {
+		return (bool) preg_match( '/^(tomorrow|yesterday|today|next\s+\w+day|in\s+\d+\s+(day|week|month|year)s?)$/i', $pattern );


I'm curious how this, and related methods, might work with non-English languages?

Should pattern keywords also be translatable (e.g., users can type "demain" instead of "tomorrow"), or just the UI strings?

Yeah, don't think this type of pattern matching will work for any languages outside of english. Ideally we find a better way to do this

Didn't see your comment while I was leaving mine but ideally we find an approach that will work irregardless of the language. I'm not sure off the top of my head the best way to do that but having hardcoded strings here will prevent that from working

After thinking about this more, what if we move away from natural language parsing entirely and use a structured input format instead?

Current (language-dependent):

{ "pattern": "3rd Tuesday" }

Proposed (language-neutral):

{ "type": "nth_weekday", "weekday": 2, // 0=Sunday, 1=Monday, 2=Tuesday... "nth": 3 }

===

Some Examples:

Every Monday:

{ "type": "recurring", "weekday": 1, "interval": 1 }

First Friday

{ "type": "nth_weekday", "weekday": 5, "nth": 1 }

Every 2 weeks

{ "type": "interval", "unit": "week", "amount": 2 }

What do you think?

Is there currently a planned use case for this feature? In other words, any plans for a UI to tie into the ability? I get the concept and how it might be used in individual projects, but I'm struggling to see how this experiment applies across a broader range of use cases and languages. It almost feels like a fit for custom projects and not a generalized experiment.

dkotter · 2025-12-01T20:28:24Z

.github/workflows/release.yml

I'm assuming this file wasn't meant to be part of this PR?

Yes, it's related to #109

Ideally this PR stays focused on just the needed changes and doesn't include code from #109

You're right, that file shouldn't be here! It was from #109 and got included accidentally. I've removed it now in d63ba54

dkotter · 2025-12-01T20:29:16Z

includes/Abilities/Utilities/Date_Calculation.php

+/**
+ * Date calculation utility WordPress Abilities.
+ *
+ * @since 0.2.0


Can update all @since statements to x.x.x and these will be updated during release

Ok, I will use x.x.x

I will update it by the end of this week.
is this ok? Or you need it more urgent?

That is fine, no rush on my end

Fixed in cf1c7c0

dkotter · 2025-12-01T20:30:56Z

includes/Abilities/Utilities/Date_Calculation.php

+				'execute_callback'    => array( $this, 'execute_calculate_dates' ),
+				'permission_callback' => array( $this, 'permission_callback' ),
+				'meta'                => array(
+					'show_in_rest' => true,


Does this need to be surfaced in the REST API? Seems like surfacing this via MCP would suffice

I was not sure. So, I added to show in rest as well.
If we don't need to show in rest then I will remove it. Please confirm!

For now I would leave this argument off

Removed the show_in_rest in 5f7681b

dkotter · 2025-12-01T20:31:21Z

includes/Abilities/Utilities/Date_Calculation.php

+	 */
+	public function execute_calculate_dates( array $input ) {
+		// Validate pattern is provided.
+		if ( empty( $input['pattern'] ) ) {


Since this is set as required in our schema, no need for the extra check here I don't think

ok, i will fix this

Fixed in 78a870a

dkotter · 2025-12-01T20:33:01Z

includes/Abilities/Utilities/Date_Calculation.php

+	 */
+	public function permission_callback( array $args ) {
+		// Anyone who can edit posts can use date calculations.
+		if ( ! current_user_can( 'edit_posts' ) ) {


What is the thought process behind this permission check? It doesn't seem like we're interacting with any WordPress data so could argue no need for a capability check and maybe fine with just a user logged in check

Good point! My thinking was to require some minimum capability to prevent anonymous users from making potentially resource-intensive date calculations.

However, I agree - since we're not reading/writing WordPress data, just doing date math, a logged-in check would be sufficient.

Should I change it to:

public function permission_callback( array $args ) { return is_user_logged_in(); }

Or remove the permission check entirely and allow public access?

Let me know your preference!

I could see a case to make for keeping this open to everyone but for now, probably safer to have the is_user_logged_in check

Fixed/Updated in 8f2687a

…set as required already in base

alishanvr added 2 commits November 30, 2025 09:37

Add GitHub Action to automate ai.zip release asset

dad690e

- Triggers on release publish - Reuses existing build-plugin-zip workflow - Downloads built artifact - Uploads ai.zip as release asset Fixes WordPress#109

jeffpaul requested a review from dkotter December 1, 2025 03:29

jeffpaul assigned infowprobo Dec 1, 2025

jeffpaul added this to the Future Release milestone Dec 1, 2025

mindctrl reviewed Dec 1, 2025

View reviewed changes

dkotter reviewed Dec 1, 2025

View reviewed changes

alishanvr and others added 6 commits December 6, 2025 23:18

Remove release.yml - belongs to WordPress#109, not this PR

d63ba54

changed the @SInCE 0.2.0 to @SInCE x.x.x

cf1c7c0

removed show_in_rest from Date_Calculation

5f7681b

Removed the validation from execute_calculate_dates, because this is …

78a870a

…set as required already in base

permission changes to is_user_logged_in

8f2687a

Merge branch 'develop' into feature/date-calculation-ability

22405f0

Conversation

infowprobo commented Nov 30, 2025

What?

Why?

How?

Supported Patterns

Testing Instructions

Via WP-CLI

Expected Results

Testing Instructions for Keyboard

Screenshots or screencast

Testing Checklist

Code Quality

Notes

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