James Koster

Designer @automattic

[James Koster @jameskoster]

@satya164 “We’ve been doing it wrong for a long time so we should continue to do it wrong”

[James Koster @jameskoster]

Still rough, still moving. But it's no longer a prototype pretending to be wp-admin; it IS wp-admin.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

Spent some time this week creating a feature plugin for my WP Shell prototype. The Dock is fed straight from WordPress’ own registered menu structure offering one-click access between key workflows. Customisation of items to come later.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

The Dashboard includes a new Quick Launch widget. Per-role recipes will surface relevant items, with per-user overrides on top. A new "shell" color scheme and a small modern-admin polish layer (very WIP) hide the legacy sidebar and give the UI room to breathe.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

@RafalTomal Yes, amongst other things; changing settings, creating custom widgets, post types, plugins. Anything really.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

The last piece of the WP Shell prototype for this week: elevating AI to a first-class surface in WordPress.

Not a sidebar widget. Not a modal. A persistent assistant panel that lives at the system level. Globally accessible, context-aware, and always one keystroke away.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

Deployed my WP Shell prototype here: https://t.co/9QQUAuTdPQ

There will be bugs. Probably many. Feel free to patch: https://t.co/rUxEKorYLi

[James Koster @jameskoster]

A next step would be exploring how the assistant can do more than answer questions e.g. composing dashboards, creating custom widgets, assembling workspaces, and shaping the admin around what you're actually trying to get done. All that plus doing your bidding in the Editor.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

This connects to the broader hypotheses behind WP Shell: WordPress should feel less like a collection of screens and more like a cohesive application.

A first-class AI surface is part of that. An always-available layer that works with the shell, not inside one corner of it.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

@RedDevilFanatix @dgtlchurch @SethRubenstein Come help us build the future of the Dashboard 🙂

https://t.co/KborHGMoVJ

[James Koster @jameskoster]

One of the most interesting things about treating the WordPress Dashboard as a primary navigation surface – with richer, click-into-the-work widgets – is the recipes we can build and share for different site types.

Four early examples 👇

[James Koster @jameskoster]

A UI for managing Custom Post Types in Gutenberg, very cool!

https://t.co/JisziVU8Rz

[James Koster @jameskoster]

Resize, reorder, dismiss, add new widgets from a catalog to create a navigation surface that suits your workflows.

[James Koster @jameskoster]

Membership/Community: Pending applications, recent signups, MRR. Top discussions. Who's active in the forum(s), where they are, click to join them.

The dashboard becomes a community pulse and a one-click route into every conversation.