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Type Ahead

Summary

Adds inline "ghost text" completions to the block editor. When the experiment and global toggle are enabled, typing inside supported blocks (paragraphs by default, optional headings) displays translucent suggestions that can be accepted via keyboard shortcuts.

Key Hooks & Entry Points

  • WordPress\AI\Experiments\Type_Ahead\Type_Ahead::register() hooks wp_abilities_api_init to register the AI ability and enqueue_block_editor_assets to load assets only when the block editor runs.
  • Type_Ahead::register_settings() stores experiment-specific options under the Experiments settings screen (ai_experiment_type_ahead_*).
  • src/experiments/type-ahead/index.tsx registers an editor.BlockEdit filter (HOC) that adds the overlay for each supported block and wires keyboard handlers.
  • Ability implementation lives at includes/Abilities/Type_Ahead/Type_Ahead.php and is registered as ai/type-ahead.

Assets & Data Flow

  1. PHP enqueues the experiments/type-ahead script and experiments/style-type-ahead stylesheet, then localizes aiTypeAheadData with flags like completionMode, triggerDelay, and abilityName.
  2. The React entry point polls for the localized data, then wraps block edits to render the overlay component and keyboard hints, and calls executeAbility( 'ai/type-ahead', ... ) when it is time to request a suggestion.
  3. The ability sanitizes input (post ID, caret position, snippets of block content) and composes a structured payload via prepare_prompt_context().
  4. AI_Client::prompt_with_wp_error() is invoked with the system instruction in includes/Abilities/Type_Ahead/system-instruction.php, returning JSON { suggestion, confidence } that the ability validates before passing back to JS.
  5. The UI caches the last suggestion per block/caret, displays it via a portal near the caret, and dispatches synthetic input events when the user accepts a suggestion so Gutenberg updates its state.

Testing

  1. Enable Experiments globally and toggle Type-ahead Text under Settings > AI Experiments. (Optional: adjust mode/delay/confidence/headings.)
  2. Open the block editor, insert a Paragraph block, and start typing sentences until the caret is at the end of a sentence. After the configured delay a faint suggestion should appear.
  3. Press Tab to accept the full suggestion, Cmd/Ctrl + Right Arrow for a word, or Cmd/Ctrl + Shift + Right Arrow for a sentence. The accepted text should become real content and the remainder should stay ghosted if available.
  4. Press Esc to dismiss a suggestion. Use Cmd/Ctrl + Space to force a manual fetch even when the caret context would not auto-trigger.
  5. Toggle the "Enable in headings" checkbox in settings, then verify core/heading blocks now receive suggestions.

Notes

  • Suggestions are cached briefly (45 seconds) per block/caret combination to reduce provider calls.
  • Permissions require edit_post when a post ID is provided, otherwise edit_posts.
  • The ability trims contexts to 5000 characters and normalizes HTML content before sending it to the model.
  • Settings are stored via the standard options API; sanitizers enforce safe ranges (delay 200-2000 ms, confidence 0-100, etc.).
  • The client aborts long-running REST calls after roughly 15 seconds to avoid default 20s browser/apiFetch timeouts while still giving the server time; writers can press Cmd/Ctrl + Space to manually try again.