Complete user and agent documentation for Data Machine, the WordPress automation product layer that combines pipelines, flows, jobs, chat agents, system tasks, policy-gated tools, REST/WP-CLI surfaces, and extension-owned handlers on top of the generic Agents API substrate.

Agent Orientation

If you are an agent landing in this repository, start with this map:

Data Machine core
  -> pipelines/flows/jobs: repeatable automation and execution state
  -> engine/actions: bounded cycle execution and job transitions
  -> AI runtime: request assembly, tools, policies, memory, transcripts
  -> REST/WP-CLI/admin: operator and integration surfaces

Agents API dependency
  -> generic agent contracts, durable conversation loop, memory-store and
     approval vocabulary, transcript/lock/event primitives

Extension plugins
  -> additional handlers, tools, abilities, bundle extras, GitHub/workspace,
     social, business, editor, frontend chat, and events behavior

Core should expose behavior through abilities, hooks, REST, CLI, handlers, and bundle contracts. Extension-specific behavior belongs in extension plugins unless it is a generic Data Machine primitive.

Quick Navigation

Core Concepts

• Overview: Product map, pipeline/flow/job model, agent modes, and extension boundaries (overview.md).
• Architecture: Execution engine, services layer, handler infrastructure, and boundary principles (architecture.md).
• Engine Execution: Bounded execution cycle, Single Item Execution Model, job status logic, and retry behavior (core-system/engine-execution.md).
• Pipeline Execution Axes: Queue, fan-out, per-step iteration, and scheduled runs as separate dimensions (architecture/pipeline-execution-axes.md).
• Troubleshooting Problem Flows: Automated monitoring of consecutive failures/no-items and how to resolve them (core-system/troubleshooting-problem-flows.md).
• Abilities API: Current datamachine/* domain inventory, permission model, and registration contract (core-system/abilities-api.md).
• WP-CLI: Current command surface including cycle, drain, worker, pending actions, retention, bundles, and aliases (core-system/wp-cli.md).

Architecture Deep Dives

• Agents API Boundary: Why durable agent runtime primitives live in Agents API while Data Machine owns product automation (development/agents-api-pre-extraction-audit.md).
• Duplicated Substrate Inventory: Follow-up map for remaining generic seams and Data Machine adapters (development/agents-api-duplicated-substrate-inventory.md).
• Agent Memory Backends: Store selection model for disk-backed memory, optional guideline-backed stores, and the DMC file-projection boundary (architecture/agent-memory-backends.md).
• Pipeline Execution Axes: Queue, fan-out, and per-step iteration semantics (architecture/pipeline-execution-axes.md).
• Policy Resolvers: Why tool, memory, directive, action, and transcript policies stay as single-purpose classes (architecture/policy-resolvers.md).
• Iteration Budget: Shared bounded-iteration primitive backing conversation_turns and chain_depth budgets (architecture/iteration-budget.md).

Engine & Services

• Daily Memory System: DailyMemoryTask lifecycle, deterministic overflow, opt-in daily injection, and daily memory artifacts (core-system/daily-memory-system.md).
• Memory Policy: Per-agent memory injection policy and safe self-memory write gates (core-system/memory-policy.md).
• Agent Bundles: Portable agent package schema, artifact tracking, extras, extension artifacts, run artifacts, and authenticated sources (core-system/agent-bundles.md).
• Universal Engine: Shared AI infrastructure for pipeline, chat, and system agents (core-system/universal-engine.md).
• AI Conversation Loop: Data Machine turn runner over AgentsAPIAIWP_Agent_Conversation_Loop (core-system/ai-conversation-loop.md).
• AI Directives System: Hierarchical directive injection for contextual AI behavior (core-system/ai-directives.md).
• Tool Execution: Resolved tool dispatch, action policy, ability execution, and approval staging (core-system/tool-execution.md).
• Tool Manager: Data Machine tool registry, source-level availability checks, policy resolution, and handler tool expansion (core-system/tool-manager.md).
• Request Builder: Directive-aware construction of wp-ai-client provider requests (core-system/request-builder.md).
• Conversation Manager: Message normalization, logging, and tool call tracking (core-system/conversation-manager.md).
• Prompt Builder: Priority-based directive registration via filters (core-system/prompt-builder.md).
• Parameter Systems: Unified parameter handling across tools and handlers (api/endpoints/parameter-systems.md).
• Tool Result Finder: Utility for interpreting tool responses inside data packets (core-system/tool-result-finder.md).
• OAuth Handlers: Base classes for OAuth1/OAuth2 providers and app-password flows (core-system/oauth-handlers.md).
• Handler Registration Trait: Centralized registration pattern for fetch, publish, and upsert handlers (core-system/handler-registration-trait.md).
• HTTP Client: Standardized outbound request flow for handlers with structured logging and browser-mode header support (core-system/http-client.md).
• Import/Export System: Pipeline configuration backup, migration, and sharing functionality (core-system/import-export.md).
• Ephemeral Workflows: Execute workflow definitions without first saving a persistent pipeline (core-system/ephemeral-workflows.md).
• Memory Policy: Read/write/editability policy for self-memory and file sections (core-system/memory-policy.md).

Handler Documentation

• Fetch Handlers: Source-specific data retrieval with deduplication, filtering, and engine data storage.
• Publish Handlers: Modular destination integrations with consistent response formatting and logging.
• Upsert Handlers: Identity-aware create-or-update operations — find existing content by identity strategy, update if changed, create if new.

AI Tools

• Tools Overview: Static, ability-backed, and adjacent handler tools available to AI agents.
• Execute Workflow: Modular execution of multi-step workflows from the chat toolset.
• Static Registry Tools: Research, memory, workflow-management, and site-operation tools registered through datamachine_tools.
• Pipeline Handler Tools: Runtime tools generated from adjacent fetch, publish, and upsert handlers.
• Policy-Gated Tools: Tools are composed from sources and filtered by mode, memory, action, and handler policies before exposure.
• Global Tools: Local Search, Web Fetch, WordPress Post Reader, daily memory, image generation, search-console/analytics, and others used across agents.
• Chat Tools: AddPipelineStep, ApiQuery, ConfigureFlowSteps, ConfigurePipelineStep, CreateFlow, CreatePipeline, RunFlow, UpdateFlow, and other workflow management tools.

API Reference

• API Overview: Canonical REST route inventory sourced from inc/Api registrations (api/index.md).
• Endpoints: Agents, Agent Ping, Analytics, Auth, Chat, Email, Execute, Files, Flows, Internal Links, Jobs, Logs, Pipelines, Settings, System, and other REST resources.
• Workflow Endpoints: Execute, flows, queues, webhooks, jobs, logs, and processed items.
• Agent Endpoints: Chat, chat sessions, agents, access, tokens, memory files, daily memory, Agent Ping callbacks, and pending-action resolution.
• Discovery/Settings Endpoints: Handlers, step types, providers, tools, settings, system tasks, auth, and users.

Development

• Hooks: Core actions, filters, and engine hooks for extension development.
• REST Integration: Patterns for extending the REST API and custom endpoints.
• Extension Boundaries: Core provides generic primitives; data-machine-code, socials, business, editor, frontend-chat, events, and other plugins own their product-specific handlers/tools/abilities.

Admin Interface

• Pipeline Builder: React-based page for creating pipelines, configuring steps, and enabling tools.
• Settings Configuration: Provider credentials, tool defaults, and global behavior settings.
• Jobs Management: React-based job history and admin cleanup actions.

Documentation Structure

docs/
├── overview.md                        # System overview, data flow, and key concepts
├── architecture.md                    # Execution engine, architecture principles, and shared components
├── architecture/                      # Architecture deep dives (axes, policies, primitives)
├── CHANGELOG.md                       # Semantic changelog for releases
├── core-system/                       # Engine, services, and core infrastructure pieces
│   ├── abilities-api.md               # Current datamachine/* ability domains, permissions, and registration contract
│   ├── ai-directives.md               # AI directive system and priority hierarchy
│   ├── ai-conversation-loop.md        # Data Machine turn runner over Agents API conversation loop
│   ├── agent-bundles.md               # Portable agent bundle schema and extras contract
│   ├── daily-memory-system.md         # Daily memory files, task, tool, CLI, and REST surface
│   ├── engine-execution.md            # Execution cycle and Single Item Execution Model
│   ├── troubleshooting-problem-flows.md # Monitoring consecutive failures and no-items
│   ├── http-client.md                 # Centralized HTTP client architecture
│   ├── import-export.md               # Pipeline import/export functionality
│   ├── memory-policy.md               # Memory section policy and pending writes
│   ├── wp-cli.md                      # Command reference and aliases
│   └── [other core system docs...]
├── handlers/                          # Fetch, publish, and update handler specifics
├── ai-tools/                          # AI agent tools, workflows, and tool usage
├── admin-interface/                   # User guidance for admin pages
├── api/                               # REST API for consumers
│   ├── index.md                       # Complete API overview and common patterns
│   └── endpoints/                     # Individual REST endpoint documentation
│       ├── agents.md                  # Agent CRUD, access grants, and tokens
│       ├── agent-ping.md              # Bearer-token ping callback routes
│       ├── email.md                   # Email send/fetch/mailbox routes
│       ├── internal-links.md          # Link audit and diagnostics routes
│       └── errors.md                  # Error handling reference
├── development/                       # Developer-focused documentation
│   ├── agents-api-pre-extraction-audit.md # Agents API/Data Machine boundary record
│   ├── agents-api-duplicated-substrate-inventory.md # Remaining substrate follow-ups
│   ├── hooks/                         # Core actions, filters, and engine hooks
│   └── rest-integration.md            # REST API extension patterns
└── README.md                          # This navigation and orientation page

Current Runtime Surfaces

Use these source files as authoritative anchors when docs and code disagree:

• inc/Cli/Bootstrap.php registers the WP-CLI command tree and aliases.
• inc/Api/ registers the Data Machine REST product API.
• inc/Engine/AI/conversation-loop.php shows the Data Machine turn runner and Agents API loop boundary.
• inc/Engine/AI/Tools/ contains tool sources, execution, and policy resolution.
• inc/Engine/AI/Actions/ contains pending-action adapters, REST/ability surfaces, and resolver plumbing.
• inc/Engine/AI/System/Tasks/ contains background system tasks including daily memory and retention.

Component Coverage

Refer to the individual files listed above for implementation details, operational guidance, and API references.