seo/update-breadcrumb-settings configures breadcrumb output: whether it is enabled, the separator, the home and prefix labels, whether the blog page is shown, how taxonomies map to post types, and the archive and 404 formats.
It only takes effect where the theme calls Yoast’s breadcrumb function or uses the block.
At a glance
| Ability | seo/update-breadcrumb-settings |
| Toolset | Yoast SEO — toolset/yoast-seo |
| Group | Yoast SEO › Settings |
| Requires | Yoast SEO, active on the site |
| Capability | manage_options |
| Safety | Writes data |
| Repeatable | Idempotent — running it twice leaves the same result |
| Ships in | AcrossAI Abilities Manager 0.0.34 and later |
The theme has to ask for them
Enabling breadcrumbs does not put breadcrumbs on the site. It makes them available, and a theme that never calls the function renders nothing — which produces a settings screen full of carefully configured options that have no effect anywhere.
That is the first thing to check when breadcrumbs do not appear. The setting is almost never the problem.
The taxonomy-to-post-type mapping is the setting that does the real work. It decides which taxonomy a post breadcrumbs through — category for posts, usually, but a custom post type may have several taxonomies and only one of them makes sense as a trail.
Within the chosen taxonomy, which term is used comes from the post’s primary term, set with taxonomies/set-primary-term.
Breadcrumbs are also emitted as structured data, so these settings affect what search results show as well as what the page shows.
Idempotent.
Input
| Name | Type | Required | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
settings | object | Yes | A map of setting key to new value. Keys outside this area are refused. |
What comes back
| Name | Type | What it is |
|---|---|---|
updated | array | The keys that changed. |
settings | object | The area after the write. |
success | boolean | Whether the call completed. |
message | string | A one-line summary of what happened, suitable for showing a human. |
error_code | string | Present only on failure — a stable machine-readable reason, such as a missing field, a wrong field type or an unmet confirmation. |
Example
Ask your assistant:
Turn on breadcrumbs and set the separator.
It resolves to one call:
{
"ability": "seo/update-breadcrumb-settings",
"parameters": {
"settings": { "breadcrumbs-enable": true, "breadcrumbs-sep": "›" }
}
}Worth knowing
- The theme must call the function or use the block. Enabling alone renders nothing.
- The taxonomy mapping decides which trail a post gets.
- The primary term decides which term within that taxonomy.
- Breadcrumbs appear in structured data as well as on the page.
Related abilities
- Set Primary Term — which term the trail goes through
- Get Primary Term — what it currently uses
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AcrossAI Abilities Manager · AcrossAI MCP Manager
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