“Why does this page open in the classic editor?” has four possible answers, and the site default is only one of them.
editor/get-post-editor resolves the editor for one post and names what decided it: a choice remembered from the last edit, block markup already in the content, the site default, or the post type’s own support.
At a glance
| Ability | editor/get-post-editor |
| Toolset | Classic Editor — toolset/classic-editor |
| Group | Classic Editor › Editor Resolution |
| Requires | Classic Editor, active on the site |
| Capability | manage_options |
| Safety | Read-only — changes nothing |
| Repeatable | Idempotent — running it twice leaves the same result |
| Ships in | AcrossAI Abilities Manager 0.0.34 and later |
How it works
A post can remember the editor it was last edited in. That memory only counts while users are allowed to switch — with switching off, a post that remembers the classic editor still opens in the site default, and the result says the memory is being ignored.
Without a remembered choice, a post whose content already contains blocks opens in the block editor.
Pass user_id to resolve the post as that user would see it.
Input
| Name | Type | Required | What it is |
|---|---|---|---|
post_id | integer | Yes | The post, page or custom post type record. |
user_id | integer | No | Resolve as this user would see it. Only consulted when users are allowed to choose. |
What comes back
| Name | Type | What it is |
|---|---|---|
post | object | The editor the post opens in, what decided it, the remembered value if any, and whether that value is being ignored. |
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:
Why does the About page keep opening in the classic editor?
It resolves to one call:
{
"ability": "editor/get-post-editor",
"parameters": {
"post_id": 42
}
}Worth knowing
- A post is pinned to an editor by the post meta key
classic-editor-remember, with the valuesclassic-editororblock-editor— not theclassicandblockthe settings use. - Clearing that meta lets the post fall back to whether its content already contains blocks.
- If a remembered choice is being ignored, the reason is in the site settings: user switching is off.
Related abilities
- Get Editor Settings — the site-wide layer
- Get Post Type Editor Support — when the post type itself decides
Get the plugins:
AcrossAI Abilities Manager · AcrossAI MCP Manager
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