wp_posts

Last updated: February 12, 2026

The central content table storing all WordPress content including posts, pages, attachments, revisions, and custom post types.

Schema

Column	Type	Null	Default	Description
`ID`	bigint(20) unsigned	NO	auto_increment	Unique identifier for the post
`post_author`	bigint(20) unsigned	NO	0	User ID of the post author (FK → wp_users.ID)
`post_date`	datetime	NO	0000-00-00 00:00:00	Post creation date in local time
`post_date_gmt`	datetime	NO	0000-00-00 00:00:00	Post creation date in GMT
`post_content`	longtext	NO	NULL	Full post content (HTML/blocks)
`post_title`	text	NO	NULL	Post title
`post_excerpt`	text	NO	NULL	Post excerpt/summary
`post_status`	varchar(20)	NO	publish	Status: publish, draft, pending, private, trash, auto-draft, inherit
`comment_status`	varchar(20)	NO	open	Whether comments allowed: open, closed
`ping_status`	varchar(20)	NO	open	Whether pings allowed: open, closed
`post_password`	varchar(255)	NO	”	Password for protected posts
`post_name`	varchar(200)	NO	”	URL slug
`to_ping`	text	NO	NULL	URLs to ping
`pinged`	text	NO	NULL	URLs already pinged
`post_modified`	datetime	NO	0000-00-00 00:00:00	Last modification date (local)
`post_modified_gmt`	datetime	NO	0000-00-00 00:00:00	Last modification date (GMT)
`post_content_filtered`	longtext	NO	NULL	Filtered/processed content cache
`post_parent`	bigint(20) unsigned	NO	0	Parent post ID (FK → wp_posts.ID)
`guid`	varchar(255)	NO	”	Global Unique ID (permalink)
`menu_order`	int(11)	NO	0	Order for pages/menu items
`post_type`	varchar(20)	NO	post	Content type: post, page, attachment, revision, nav_menu_item, or custom
`post_mime_type`	varchar(100)	NO	”	MIME type for attachments
`comment_count`	bigint(20)	NO	0	Cached comment count

Key Name	Columns	Unique	Purpose
`PRIMARY`	ID	Yes	Primary key
`post_name`	post_name(191)	No	URL slug lookups
`type_status_date`	post_type, post_status, post_date, ID	No	Main query index
`post_parent`	post_parent	No	Child post queries
`post_author`	post_author	No	Author archives
`type_status_author`	post_type, post_status, post_author	No	Author + type queries

Type	Description
`post`	Blog posts
`page`	Static pages
`attachment`	Media library items
`revision`	Post/page revisions
`nav_menu_item`	Navigation menu items
`custom_css`	Customizer CSS
`wp_navigation`	Block-based navigation menus
Custom types	Registered via `register_post_type()`

Status	Description
`publish`	Published and visible
`draft`	Not published, visible to author
`pending`	Awaiting review
`private`	Visible only to logged-in users with permission
`trash`	In trash
`auto-draft`	Auto-saved draft
`inherit`	Used by attachments/revisions (inherits parent status)
`future`	Scheduled for future publication

SELECT * FROM wp_posts 
WHERE post_type = 'post' 
  AND post_status = 'publish' 
ORDER BY post_date DESC 
LIMIT 10;

SELECT p.*, u.display_name, u.user_email 
FROM wp_posts p
JOIN wp_users u ON p.post_author = u.ID
WHERE p.ID = 123;

SELECT * FROM wp_posts 
WHERE post_name = 'my-post-slug' 
  AND post_type = 'post'
  AND post_status = 'publish';

SELECT * FROM wp_posts 
WHERE post_parent = 123 
  AND post_type = 'attachment';

SELECT post_type, post_status, COUNT(*) as count 
FROM wp_posts 
GROUP BY post_type, post_status 
ORDER BY count DESC;

SELECT * FROM wp_posts 
WHERE post_parent = 123 
  AND post_type = 'revision' 
ORDER BY post_modified DESC;